By Matt Donald, pig and poultry farmer, north Yorkshire
Bird flu in Brazil could shake up global markets due to it being such a large player when it comes to exports, with Brazilian chicken accounting for 35% of the global trade, avian influenza could cause turmoil if it was to get a hold throughout the country.
This alongside all the other geopolitical tensions and global issues, reiterates once again the requirement for us to focus on domestic production to ensure we have enough poultry meat produced in the UK. This relies on policies enabling us to build new sheds and sites, we therefore need limited environmental red tape and support from planning departments, to build the infrastructure of the future now.
At long last the broiler sector is slightly more upbeat and people are starting to invest in some new infrastructure to secure the future, this is good for us as breeders as it gives confidence that going forwards the chicks are going to be needed.
We constantly look at our KPIs and all three sites are on target to surpass 160 chicks a bird, this is credit to a great team we have within the business looking after the birds. This number is viable chicks out of the hatchery per point of lay pullet. It is a measure used with broiler breeders as opposed to EPEF or FCR like you see on broilers.
We need production and good egg numbers to achieve this, but we also require those eggs to be fertile and hatch out, the higher the fertility, the higher the hatchability is likely to be. The higher fertility makes it more efficient for the hatchery, where incubation space isn’t being wasted on eggs less likely to hatch out.
As a business our income comes from chicks not eggs, so management of both male and females within the sheds is vital. Our newest site is on target to be our best performing flock yet, so we look forward to seeing the results in due course.