Winterizing Laying Hens

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Jim

The following is an article from Jeff Mattocks from the Fertrell Co.

Until this year, no one had ever asked what they need to do to prepare their laying hens for winter. If you are counting on the hens for winter income, the winterizing process actually begins in the third week of August.

There are several steps involved in properly managing layers for winter profitability:

1-Supplemental lighting

2-Diet change

3-Temperature corrections

Supplementing Light

It is important to maintain a consistent length of daylight in order to maintain consistent rate of lay. Laying hens require 12-16 hours of day length to maintain production, with the optimum length being 14.5 hours. Light supplementation is the first season requirement that should occur in the third week of August, because by then, day length is becoming noticeably shorter and for us in the Northeast is very near 14.5 hours of natural daylight. Light should be added at 15 min increases per week until the 14.5 hours total has been met. This doesn’t mean that the light should be on for 14.5 continuous hours. I use a timer that allows 2 “On times” per 24 hours period. I set the timer to come on at 5 am and go off at 8 am, and also set it for 5 pm till 9 pm. This provides our flock with 16 hours of total light and 7 hours of supplemental light. Meanwhile this same incandescent light provides some temperature correction. The minimum light required is a 40 watt bulb for an area 10ft X 10ft. I personally use a 60 or 75 watt bulb for an area 4ft X 8ft, but this would be on the extreme end of the spectrum, and I would not suggest anything higher. If electricity is not an option, I have been recommending the use of a Coleman gas lantern. The length of burn or light can be controlled by measuring the fuel that is supplied. The typical lantern will burn for 6 hours on approximately 8 oz of fuel. Therefore, the lantern would require 1.33 oz of fuel per hour of burn. You should verify this when you purchase a lantern, as each one is slightly different. The lantern can be used at both ends of the day but appears to work best only in the mornings. Also, when using the lantern in the evenings, it will slowly burn down and out, as would a normal sunset. This allows the layers to get to the roost before the switch goes out and provides a very mellowing environment. A gas lantern would supply approximately the equivalence of a 60 watt incandescent light. Lastly, another important benefit of the lantern is really good supplemental heat.

Diet Changes

The reason for the diet changes during the winter are in response to temperature and instinct. As the 24 hour ambient temperature declines, the hens will start eating more to compensate. They are eating for their energy needs, which is what all forms of poultry will do. During the summer months, typical layers will eat (not including spillage and waste) .25 lb per bird per day. This would be the average for 75 degree 24 hour average temperatures. During the winter months when the temperature average would be 40 degrees, we can expect feed consumption to increase to .33 lb to .40 lb per bird per day. This is solely due to energy requirements to maintain warmth and add fat for insulation, which explains the instinct portion of the reasoning. Nearly all forms of life that experience temperature variances to any extreme will tend to increase body fat for winter self-preservation. Layers are no different. With what little instinct they may have remaining after intense breeding, they will store up fat for winter. The negative side effect of this is an increase in egg size. The egg size was probably already correct during the summer months, and if the size increases it may take you out of the market that you have established. Sales trends show that marketing Jumbo egg or larger is difficult and/or not cost effective. There is not enough additional mark-up to compensate for the increase in management and feed consumption. So, I said all that to stress that during the winter months the layer ration should be changed to increase the energy and slightly decrease the protein content to adjust for temperature and instinct.

Some sample ration examples:
Winter Laying Ration 15.5%

Ingredients: LBS

Alfalfa Meal 100

Limestone 100

Oyster Shell 75

Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60

Shell Corn Grain 1115

Soybeans, Roasted 550

Total 2000

Nutrient Name: Amount

Crude Protein 15.5%

Crude Fat 7.1%

Crude Fiber 4.2%

Calcium 3.87%

Phosphorus 0.73%

Energy 1,284 Kcal/LB

For those of you who are forced to use soybean meal, 48% the following ration would be an example of a winter ration. I feel that soybean meal is a cheap by-product that should only be used due to availability - not cost. Roasted soy will enhance layers’ health, production and egg flavor. Roasted soy also provides protein along with energy values equal to corn.

Winter Laying Ration 15.5%

Ingredients: LBS

Alfalfa Meal 100

Limestone 100

Oil, Soy Bean 75

Oyster Shell 75

Poultry Nutri-Balancer 60

Shell Corn Grain 1165

Soy Bean Meal,48% 425

Total 2000

Nutrient Name: Amount

Crude Protein 15.5%

Crude Fat 3.1%

Crude Fiber 4.4%

Calcium 3.84%

Phosphorus 0.70%

Energy 1,274 Kcal/LB

In these rations, you will notice alfalfa meal. The alfalfa meal is important to help keep the color in the yolk from paling. You will also notice that the protein has been lowered to 15.5% for winter. This is to maintain the egg size by reducing the grams of protein ingested. These changes also increase the energy values to slightly above recommended rates for body warmth.

Posted in Egg Handling, Egg-Marketing, General Information, Poultry Production | Leave a comment

Poultry Shrink Bags

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Jim

We have talked about raising pastured poultry, processing the poultry and now I would like to talk about packaging your finished poultry products.

You have raised one of the freshest, best tasting products for your customer and they will take it home and probably put it in the freezer. The problem that arises is freezer burn. Freezer burn is a condition that occurs when frozen food has been damaged by dehydration and oxidation, due to air reaching the food. It is generally induced by non-airtight packaging. While freezer burn is not a food safety risk, it appears as grayish-brown leathery spots on frozen food and is unsightly. The picture to the left show the brown freezer burn on the legs and edges of the bird.

One way to inhibit freezer burn is through the use of Poultry Shrink Bags. Poultry shrink bags are a shrinkable plastic that when placed in hot water shrink up to 35% of their original size. The bag shrinks forming a tight seal around the skin of the bird greatly reducing the potential for freezer burn. Most of you have seen poultry shrink bags if you have purchased a frozen turkey form the supermarket. It is that tight fitting plastic bag that you have to cut off before you cook the bird.

Poultry shrink bags greatly increase the freezer life of poultry. Once when cleaning our chest freezer I found a chicken at the bottom of the freezer that had been there for one and a half years. I fully expected it to be all freezer burned and was very surprised to find that there was virtually no freezer burn on the bird at all. That bird (picture to the right) was from the first batch of birds that I had packaged in poultry shrink bags. Needless to say that made a believer out of me.

To use poultry shrink bags all you have to do is place the packaged bird into 190°F water for 1-2 seconds and it is done. It is literally that easy. Some folks complain that it will take too long, however you have to put the bird into a poultry bag anyway and seal it. The only extra step is to dip it into the hot water.

In addition to longer freezer life the product presentation is so much better than a regular bag. Your customers are paying top dollar for your product don’t you think you should give them a top quality package?

We carry many sizes of poultry shrink bags from bags for parts up to shrink bags for turkeys. Stop by our website or call to order. www.cornerstone-farm.com 607.334.9962

As Always Thanks For Stoppin By And Keep Lookin Up!

Posted in General Information, Marketing Poultry Products, Poultry Marketing, Poultry Processing | Leave a comment

Poultry Feeders

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Jim

We talked last time about poultry watering. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out if you own poultry you have to feed them. Therefore, in this blog we want to talk about poultry feeders. Round, rectangle, trough, self-feeder, automatic feeder which one is for you?

Unlike watering systems, there are only two different poultry feeders, automatic fill, and manual fill. Most small pastured poultry operations use manual fill and all commercial poultry houses use automatic fill.

Manual fill is as the name implies gets filled by hand from another source. Manual fill poultry feeders usually come in round galvanized or plastic containers that will hold from a few pounds of feed to a hundred pounds of feed. The other style is a trough feeder that range from 12 inches to 5 feet in length. The main factor that usually determines which feeder a farmer uses is availability at the local feed store. However, with the internet one can purchase poultry supplies online and make the correct choice for their applications.

An important rule of thumb when deciding on a poultry feeder is one inch of feeder space as chicks and then four inches of feeder space as an adult bird. Round feeders will feed more chickens than a trough of equal liner space because when standing around a feeder with the narrow part of the bird facing in they only need an inch or so to get their head into the feed. With a trough feeder because birds are standing next to each other the wide part of the body determines how many can stand side by side in a row.

Another determining factor is whether you will keep feed in front of the birds at all time or limit feeding. If limit feeding there must be ample space for ALL birds to be able to eat at the same time. The pecking order determines which birds eat first if there is not enough space then some birds well not be able to eat, that equates to weight loss and dollars lost.

As with drinkers, the poultry feeders should be mounted so the feeder is at the height of the birds back. That is the height where the neck of the bird meets the birds back. This will keep the feed clean, as the birds can’t defecate in it. The main contributor to disease spread is contaminated feeders and waterers.

If the farmer is housing their birds in a movable pen then they will want to use a poultry feeder that is moved into and out of the pen. Trough feeders work well for this type operation. Feeders can also be suspended from inside the pen to eliminate handling the feeder. However, it will have to be removed periodically out for cleaning. Cornerstone Farm Ventures sells 4 foot and 5 foot trough feeders made from PVC, galvanized steel and stainless steel. All will provide years of service though the galvanized does have a shorter life span then the others.

Automatic fill poultry feeders are only used in permanent structures as they have to be installed in a stable manner. The automatic feeders require the use of a feed bin located in an area that a bulk feed truck can access in order to receive deliveries. An auger, chain drag, or other material moving system delivers the fed to the poultry. The feed bin is filled with one to several ton of feed and will last for a month or so. As the birds eat the feed, troughs are refilled either automatically or by the farmer insuring the poultry have access to feed at all times.

The automated poultry feeders can be very expensive to purchase, while the manual feeders are inexpensive but you will need enough to go all around your pens or houses.

Cornerstone Farm Ventures has many types of poultry feeders available please visit our website to check them out www.cornerstone-farm.com .

As always “thanks for stopin by and keep lookin up!”

Posted in General Information, New Products, Poultry Production, Poultry feeders | Leave a comment

Poultry Waterers

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Jim

If you have poultry, you’re going to have to water them. We would like to talk about a couple poultry waterers that will work for backyard chickens, small poultry farms and large operations.

Chickens can drink up to two cups of water per day so it is important to keep that in mind when designing your watering system. If you decide to use a hard plumbed system, it is not as important as if you use a gravity flow waterer as water is always available unless the pump fails. Watering systems that are hard plumbed into a well or city water will usually need a pressure regulator to drop the pressure down to 5-10 psi. Inexpensive regulators run in the $50 range and once they have been set are good at holding the pressure so you can set it and forget it.

We have a number of poultry waterers that can be used on both plumbed and gravity systems. The nice thing about pastured poultry operations is that the commercial poultry waterers can be adapted to work on gravity flow and still have the benefits of not having to water several times a day.

One of the most common poultry drinkers for the pastured poultry farm is the Plasson Bell Drinker. Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Virginia made these famous back in the 80-90’s with his book Pastured Poultry Profits. At the time, there were many poultry farms closing down and the Plasson bell drinker was very readily available for a very low price if you lived in a region that had poultry farms. In the northeast where we’re from, they were not available so we pretty much had to buy them new. In any event, we have found these waterers to be the best ones to use. Once set up they are nearly bullet proof, working for years with no adjusting or problems. Plasson drinkers will work on both pressure systems and gravity flow. The manufacturer recommends 100 birds per bell but we like to keep it down to 50-75 birds. Price for bell drinkers is $30-$45

Remember, with any poultry waterer always set the height of the waterer at the height of the birds back. That is the height where the neck of the bird meets the birds back. This will keep the water clean as the birds can’t poop in it and bedding is less likely to soil it.

The next type of waterer is a cup drinker. Cup drinkers look like the water bowls found in dairy barns. They have a cup to hold the water and a paddle the birds peck to get the water to flow. A number of our customers have used these in their pasture pens and have found them to be very efficient. Installation is a little more difficult in that you need to glue the cup fittings to a piece of PVC pipe and then secure it to a wall. The cup twists off the holder to allow easy cleaning and there is nothing to go wrong with them except an occasional repair of an O ring. You can water 10-15 birds per cup in a pasture operation. We recommend mounting several in the pen to eliminate competition between boss birds. Cost on cup drinkers with a fitting is in the $3-4 range.

Next drinker is called a nipple drinker. Nipple drinkers are not as popular with pastured poultry operations as they are in commercial poultry houses where today they are almost exclusively used. The nipple waterer is a stainless steel piece of metal that the birds peck at and when they do a small drop of water comes to the tip of the steel and they drink it. Nipple waterers are probably the neatest of all poultry waterers as only a small amount of water comes out each time. if you have ever watched poultry as they graze you will notice them pecking at shiny objects such as a water drop on a leaf of grass. It is the same principle that is behind the nipple waterer, the birds are attracted to the shiny drop of water and go over and peck at it. One nipple will serve 10-12 birds and are the least expensive at $2-$3 each. You will need a fitting and then attach it to the water source as well.

The last poultry waterer we’ll talk about this time is a trough type waterer. The trough waterer consists of a piece of pipe with a float valve the is used to regulate both flow and volume of water. All one needs is a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe, 2 end caps, a float valve, and tubing to attach to a water supply. The nice thing about the trough waterer is you can make it as long as you like just cut the pipe to the length you want, put the ends on it, drill a hole to install the float valve, and you’re ready to go. A float valve will cost $12-$15 and most everyone has some old PVC left over from another job to keep it real inexpensive.

Well there you have a quick overview of four different types of poultry waterer systems. We didn’t get into the smaller self-contained water fountains but will do so at another time. Stop by our website to see all of these poultry waterers.

Visit our website www.cornerstone-farm.com to get more information or to purchase poultry watering systems.

As always “Thanks For Stopping By and Keep Lookin Up!

Posted in General Information, Poultry Production, Poultry Waterers | Leave a comment

Organic Poultry Have Fewer Drug-resistant Bacteria

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Jim

Study: Organic poultry have fewer drug-resistant bacteria

11 Aug 2011

Poultry farms that have adopted organic practices and ceased using antibiotics have significantly lower levels of drug-resistant enterococci bacteria that can potentially spread to humans, according to a new study by the University of Maryland.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives is the first to demonstrate lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria on newly organic farms in the United States and suggests that removing antibiotic use from large-scale US poultry farms can result in immediate and significant reductions in antibiotic resistance for some bacteria.

Antibiotic-resistant enterococci

“We initially thought we would see some differences in on-farm levels of antibiotic-resistant enterococci when poultry farms transitioned to organic practices. But we were surprised to see that the differences were so significant across several different classes of antibiotics even in the very first flock of birds that was produced after the transition to organic standards,” explained Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health. “It is very encouraging.”

Sapkota and her team investigated the impact of removing antibiotics from US poultry farms by studying 10 conventional and 10 newly organic large-scale poultry houses in the mid-Atlantic region. They tested for the presence of enterococci bacteria in poultry litter, feed, and water, and tested its resistance to 17 common antimicrobials.

“We chose to study enterococci because these microorganisms are found in all poultry, including poultry on both organic and conventional farms. The enterococci also cause infections in human patients staying in hospitals. In addition, many of the antibiotics given in feed to farm animals are used to fight Gram-positive bacteria such as the enterococci. These features, along with their reputation of easily exchanging resistance genes with other bacteria, make enterococci a good model for studying the impact of changes in antibiotic use on farms,” Sapkota said.

Organic poultry resistance

While all farms tested positive for the presence of enterococci in poultry litter, feed, and water as expected, the newly organic farms were characterized by a significantly lower prevalence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci. For example, 67% of Enterococcus faecalis recovered from conventional poultry farms were resistant to erythromycin, while 18% of Enterococcus faecalis from newly organic poultry farms were resistant to this antibiotic.

Dramatic changes were also observed in the levels of multi-drug resistant bacteria (organisms resistant to three or more antimicrobial classes) on the newly organic farms. Multi-drug resistant bacteria are of particular public health concern because they can be resistant to all available antibiotics, and are, therefore, very difficult to treat if contracted by an animal or human. Forty-two percent of Enterococcus faecalis from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant, compared to only 10% from newly organic farms, and 84% of Enterococcus faecium from conventional farms were multi-drug resistant compared to 17% of those from newly organic farms.

“While we know that the dynamics of antibiotic resistance differ by bacterium and antibiotic, these findings show that, at least in the case of enterococci, we begin to reverse resistance on farms even among the first group of animals that are grown without antibiotics, said Sapkota. Now we need to look forward and see what happens over five years, 10 years in time.” Sapkota said she expects that reductions in drug-resistant bacteria on US farms that “go organic” are likely to be more dramatic over time as reservoirs of resistant bacteria in the farm environment diminish.

Source: University of Maryland

From Worldpoultry.net

Posted in General Information, Poultry Marketing, Poultry Processing, Poultry Production | Leave a comment

Poultry Production Equipment

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Jim

When we started Cornerstone Farm Ventures in 2001 our primary focus was on poultry processing equipment. But like our reason for starting the company, which was because people began asking us to source processing equipment, we are receiving requests from customers to supply poultry production equipment as well.

There is a growing desire from people across America who want to raise their own poultry. In order to produce poultry one must have poultry production equipment. By poultry production equipment I mean poultry brooders, poultry feeders, poultry water systems, egg collection, egg cleaning and of course poultry housing.

Once you have ordered your chicks they will arrive at the post office or feed store ready for you to pick up. As with all living beings chicks need oxygen, food and water to survive. There are different ways to provide these to the birds. On a small scale the air will usually take care of itself as long as you make certain that the air is available to the birds. You do want to make sure that you keep bedding clean and nitrogen levels low.

Poultry producers can either purchase fertile eggs and place them in an incubator, then into a brooder, or can purchase day old chicks from hatcheries located near you anywhere in the country.

For feed and water we offer both plastic and metal poultry feeders and waterers. You will want to provide feed, water and grit to the birds immediately upon receiving them from the post office. Initially calculate 1inch of feeder and waterer space per bird. Increase space to 4 inches by the time they are out of the brooder stage (about 3 weeks).

Once the birds are out of the brooder you can switch them to more automated feeders and waterers. We offer several simple inexpensive watering systems that can be found on our website.

If you are going to raise the birds outside on pasture we also have electric netting that is used to both contain the birds as well as protect them from predators.

If your poultry production system includes egg laying chickens we also offer a complete line of poultry production equipment for the laying side of the poultry farm. Egg nests, egg handling, egg cleaning equipment and like our processing equipment we can help you if you have only one bird or thousands.

I hope to go more in depth with the various production equipment you will need over the next few weeks.

As always Thanks For Stopping By and Keep Looking Up!

Posted in Egg Handling, General Information, New Products, Poultry Production | Leave a comment

Where Do I Start?

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Jim

This blog is a little longer than most due to the nature of what I want to cover.

Are you interested in starting an agricultural business? If you’re here it is probably because you have heard about pastured poultry. Pastured poultry is an inexpensive way to raise your own food and if you desire you can raise and sell the most eaten meat in the US. The average American eats close to 90 lbs. of poultry each year compared to about 65 lbs. of pork and beef. Turkey is still relatively low consumption at less than 20 lbs.[1] it seems most everyone eats poultry and you can capitalize on that demand. Combine peoples taste buds with a new national move that people want to eat local and you have a money maker.

I have found over the years that I can teach anyone how to raise livestock. The problem comes when you try to process and market the fine products you raise. Marketing is a separate issue, here I want to help you figure out where to start.

The first thing you want to consider is product flow. This needs to be given some consideration as once machines are in place you don’t want to have to move them around. The first consideration is where and how the birds will enter the process. I highly suggest you invest in good quality transport coops. Take it from my experience cardboard boxes don’t work, putting them into a closed vehicle doesn’t work and using burlap bags doesn’t work very well either. So figure 10-12 birds per average size transport coop. It is good to place the loaded transport coops on an elevated stand to save your back as you bend over to take birds out of the coops.

The next consideration is the kill cone placement. There needs to be a way to contain the birds while they are dying, poultry tends to flop around an awful lot while they are dying. If you don’t restrain the bird, Chickens will literally run around with their heads cut off once you chop off their head and set them on the ground, so you need to restrain them. The least expensive way to restrain the birds is with individual kill cones. Kill cones are made of various material with stainless steel being the longest lasting and probably the easiest material to clean. There are also built in units that have a number of cones built into a frame, they are more permanent but due to the size are more difficult to move around.

Another option for killing is with a stun knife and shackle. The stun knife has a high voltage, low amperage electrical current that passes through the bird causing it to go into shock and therefore going unconscious. There are concerns with both cutting the throat and stunning that I won’t discuss here at this time.

The next step is scalding. Scalding is done to loosen the feather follicle to enable easier feather removal. Scalding is done in a by heating water in a container that is able to maintain anywhere from 125°F to 165°F depending on the type of scald you will desire. There are electric and gas (natural and propane) fired units available. The most effective heating source is gas and the least effective method is electric.

Once the birds are scalded they go to the plucking process. Again there are several methods for feather removal form 1 bird at a time to 10-15 birds at a time. The entry level is a single bird table top plucker which run in the $400 range. The next step up is a multi-bird machine that will do between 3-15 birds at a time. Once you scald the birds you drop them into a plucker and in about 30-45 seconds they are completely clean of feathers. Interestingly with a single bird picker you can do one at a time in about the same time, 45 seconds or so.

After killing, scalding and plucking the birds than have to be eviscerated or gutted. This is done either on a table or hanging form shackles. I have taught gutting both way and neither is better from an operational standpoint. Once you learn either way than you just need to practice to be quick.

I prefer shackle eviscerating because the birds are hanging above a table and therefore are less likely to be contaminated if you should cut an intestine or spill manure from the vent. You can also use gravity to help have the viscera drop onto the table freeing up a hand in the process.

Lastly is chilling the birds. This is probably one of the most overlooked areas but one of the most important. By law you must lower the internal temperature of the bird to below 40°F within 4 hours of death. This slows pathogen development. It doesn’t stop it but slows it considerably. This requires either an ice bath or air chill. Air chill is rather expensive so for this article we’ll discuss ice chilling. You will need a chill tank of some sort that you can place both water and ice into than began placing the finished birds into the tank. It is best to use chip or cube ice rather than block ice as the chips cool the birds faster. For chilling, estimate 1½ to 1¾ pounds of ice per bird.

As pastured poultry producers we must make certain that we provide the safest, healthiest processed bird we can. If one person gets sick from a pastured bird it will cause our whole movement to suffer. By the way in my almost 20 years of being involved in pastured poultry I have not heard of a single sickness or death caused by contaminated on farm processed poultry.

That pretty much sums up in a nutshell the process and equipment to process poultry.

As always, thanks for stopping by and keep looking up!

[1] American Meat Institute

Posted in General Information, Poultry Processing | Leave a comment

Price Increases

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Jim

The government keeps telling us that there is no inflation but we are paying $4 bucks a gallon for fuel and a grocery bag of food is 4 times what is used to be. I was told last week that stainless steel prices have increased 20% in the last few months. I also received an immediate price increase on rubber picker fingers.

I am writing this to inform you that we have been forced to raise our prices on many of our products not the least on our shrink bags. We have received a 6% increase on top of a 3% increase last year that we absorbed. Unfortunately we cannot absorb a 9% increase without passing it on. We have not had a price increase in at least a year and a half.

This is a good opportunity to remind you that you also need to pass the increases on to your customers. A 9×16 shrink bag now cost 27¢ if you divide that by a 4 pound chicken it adds an extra 7¢ per pound to your price. Unfortunately as we have to pass it on, it will require you to increase your per pound price by 7¢ as well.

Our intention, as I believe is yours, is to provide superior service and price to our customers. We provide the best service and price we are able, however that doesn’t mean Wal-Mart pricing, (I hope not Wal-Mart service either!). So, while we don’t like to have to increase our prices we believe that you, our customers, understand that small business can’t give mega store prices and at time increases are unavoidable.

Thanks for your loyalty and being the best customers in the world. Thanks for stopping by, and keep looking up!

Posted in General Information, New Products, Poultry Marketing | Leave a comment

Ethanol Scam

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Jim

While I don’t totally agree with the following article it does bring up some very good points. What it doesn’t mention is that it takes more energy to make ethanol then it produces. So it is costing us more to produce the ethanol then if we used regular gasoline. It is also not helping the environment, there is no advantage to reducing greenhouse gases, nor are there lower carbon emissions.

But from a poultry raising and poultry processing standpoint the article does point out ethanol production is costing us in food costs. Even small scale poultry producers are being effected due to the cost of corn.

The good news is corn grain farmers are making a profit but everyone is paying the price for them.

US chicken industry urges Congress to cut ethanol mandate

//20 Apr 2011 The chicken industry in the US has called on Congress to slash the amount of ethanol required to be added to motor gasoline which has helped drive the cost of corn to unprecedented highs.

“The National Chicken Council (NCC) recommends a plan be implemented that would reduce the Renewable Fuels Standard when the stocks-to-use ratio for corn drops to low levels, as the situation is now,” industry executive Michael Welch said on NCC’s behalf at a hearing held by the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.

Chicken feed
Corn is the primary component of chicken feed, which accounts for 55% of the wholesale cost of whole, ready-to-cook chickens. Corn has rocketed from about $2 per bushel in 2006 to more than $7.50 per bushel today, which Welch said resulted largely from the fact that 40% of the corn crop is being diverted into federally mandated ethanol usage. Ethanol makers benefit from the mandate, a tax credit on usage of ethanol, and a protective tariff on imports.

“Mandating the use of ethanol, subsidising its cost, and protecting ethanol from competition is triple overkill,” said Welch, who is president and chief executive officer of Harrison Poultry in Bethlehem, Georgia, and a former chairman of NCC.

Less than 700 million bushels of corn are expected to be left at the end of this crop year, he said, meaning there is virtually no margin for error in the crop to be harvested in the fall.

No corn cushion
“There is no cushion, no extra bushels in inventory to carry the needs of the users of corn through the next crop year in the event of a shortfall in this fall’s corn harvest,” Welch said. “To assume an adequate number of acres will be planted to corn this year and the next few years and to further assume favorable weather conditions for crops this year and the next few years are not assumptions the US chicken industry is prepared to make, nor should prudent US government policymakers be willing to make.”

Welch urged Congress to adopt a contingency plan or “off-ramp” from the Renewable Fuels Standard, which is the law requiring that a fixed amount of ethanol be added to motor fuel every year.

“Unless there are perfect crop conditions this year to plant, grow, and harvest a record quantity of corn, animal agriculture will experience major disruptions while ethanol producers will continue to outbid non-subsidized buyers of corn,” he warned.

The mandate should be reduced to allow non-ethanol users greater access to corn, he said. Farmers should also be allowed to withdraw non-environmentally sensitive acres from the Conservation Reserve Program without penalty.
“More acres are needed, not just for corn, but also for soybeans, wheat, cotton, and other crops that compete with corn for acreage,” he said.

Source: National Chicken Council

Posted in General Information, Poultry Production | Leave a comment

Mobile Poultry Processing Units

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Jim

In the last decade there has been a considerable increase in the direct marketing of meat products processed at the farm. One of the largest areas of processing and sales has been in what is commonly know as pastured poultry. Pastured poultry is a production model where broiler chickens are raised on pasture in some form of movable structure. The birds spend a considerable part of their life on pasture in these enclosed pens. Due to the relatively small numbers of birds raised per year and the seasonality it has been very difficult to find poultry processors that are able to process theses birds.

In the mid 1990’s there were several Mobile (Poultry) Processing Units designed and built for use in New York State. As we have covered elsewhere in the publication there are regulations as to the processing and sale of poultry within New York State. Due to an exemption of both the USDA and New York Ag and Markets farmers are allowed to process and sell poultry processed on their farms. There is currently an exemption that allows a farmer to process up to one thousand chickens on there farm. This number is based on Article 5-A of the Agriculture and Markets Law which states that “…any person who slaughters not more than two hundred fifty turkeys or an equivalent number of birds of all other species raised by him on his own farm during the calendar year for which an exemption is sought (four birds of other species shall be deemed the equivalent of one turkey),…”. This exemption allows 250 turkeys or the equivalent number of birds to be processed on farm. Exemption does not mean “no regulation”. Birds must be processed in a sanitary way and all products sold must be identified as exempt.

Due to a shortage of facilities where producers can have their poultry processed a number of mobile units have been developed. The first of these units were basically open trailers with poultry processing equipment mounted onto them. The concept was the same as an individual going to an equipment rental store and renting whatever equipment was needed to do a particular job on the farm. The trailers consisted of killing cones, hot water scalder, poultry defeathering machine, evisceration table and ice water chilling tanks. The trailers could be pulled by a small pickup or delivered by the owner of the unit.

Recently (as of this writing) several state agencies have been interested in licensing mobile poultry proceeding units for use by farmers in their states. These units are much more complex then the early models in that they are completely enclosed 35-40 foot trailers, they have separate kill and eviscerating rooms, with climate controlled work environments, on board bathrooms and offices for state inspectors, and on board generators.

As on farm processing of poultry continues to increase, the cleanliness of the processing systems will need to be maintained and mobile units will continue to grow in popularity.

Posted in General Information, New Products, Poultry Processing, Poultry Production | Leave a comment