Saskatchewan Breeder Meeting. July 7, 2015 Mark Belanger

Transcription

1 Saskatchewan Breeder Meeting July 7, 2015 Mark Belanger

2 Where do Breeders fit Understand that the industry has changed and we are not doing business the same Goal of feeding the world is counting on chickens to be the leader Genetic companies are selecting birds and moving much faster now than past generations

3 Breeding Structure of Chickens 75,075 Tons of Meat 48,750,000 Broilers ,000 PS GPs GGPs x 10 Genetic Improvement Pedigree Selection 2016

4 Parent Stock (Breeder Farms) These farms have the most difficult task of the whole chain that makes up the poultry industry The birds that are being used have become more feed efficient, with less fat and are aggressive eaters that grow very fast (all good attributes for feeding a low cost protein to the world) Not so good attributes for the breeder farmers (us)

5 Breeder Farms What do we do to manage our farms with that kind of change Don t follow a Recipe Accurately measure the birds and react to what you are measuring Body weights, Uniformity of the flock, Feather drops, Eating times, Egg Production, Egg Weights, Bird Behaviors, Etc. Know Your Farms and Know your birds

6

7

8 What is the Difference Bring a uniform flock of birds into production together so they are all in the same cycle Give this uniform group the feed that is needed to trigger them to lay an egg a day Make sure the males and females are maturing together so that they stay compatible

9 Brooding Make sure all the chicks you receive get off to good start Important for the birds to absorb nutrients and develop intestines Also important for cocci immunity

10 Adequate Equipment Feeders and Drinkers have to be able to deliver nutrients to help produce uniform flocks Understand what is happening in your flock daily

11 Breeder Recommendations For Saskatchewan Achieve 4 week body weight according to our standard females 450 grams (1lb) males 635 grams (1.4lb) Slowly fall below published weight goals to achieve female wt 1360 grams (3.0lb) male wt 2000 grams 15 weeks(4.4) Gain 90 grams weekly on females after weeks of age

12 Breeders Continued Manage males depending on how well you can get separate male and female feeding once you mix them in the breeder house Raise feed to get optimum peak egg production Use egg weights to manage the flock and realize these birds have no reserves (all meat)

13 Common Problems

14 Another Common Problem

15 See the trends to help you manage

16 Feather Drops

17 Uniformity of the flock

18 Even Feed Distribution??

19 What I d like to See in Canadian Flocks

20 Ross Hybrid Males

21 Male Line Genetics (Yield Plus) Aggressive Appetite Breast Meat Yield Rapid Growth Feed Conversion Social Pattern (pecking order) All these traits lead to a bird that can grow on very little feed that will become heavy fast and won t have a long fertile life

22 Managing Flock Behavior When males and females are mixed together and you add hormones there is a potential for Disaster Monitor bird behavior and make sure there is plenty of mixing through out the day Mating ratio and synchronizing of maturity of the two lines is critical Know males need extra attention anytime we change things (not the brightest of animals)

23 Physiological Development

24 Male Chick Issues Male chicks are usually quiet and slow moving at placement (compared to females) They have had more procedures done to them at the hatchery (beaks, combs, toes, etc) Brooding chambers at the farm tend to be overly spacious (leading to poor cocci vaccinations)

25 Feeding Males to Achieve Top Fertility 0-4 weeks of age it s difficult to achieve body weight standards but very important 4 week weight of 1.65 lbs or 755 grams (goal) Appetite on males is low 0-3 weeks of age but sometime around 3 rd week of age appetite increases Because of these two phenomena: it may be necessary to give males more time to eat (12 hours of light)

26 Growing Males Crucial that feeding equipment evenly distributes feed. (Not uncommon for feed time to be 15-20minutes) Managing males in the growing barns often means to limit bird activity by dimming lights so birds don t get themselves in trouble

27 Males According to Mark Achieve big framed males by having males on body weight standard and 6 weeks of age Slowly fall behind body weight standard 7-15 weeks of age (2 weeks behind). This keeps them from maturing. Stay 2 weeks behind BW standard through out their life if you can (Easy to catch them up to standard with extra feed)

28 Males According to Mark (2) Mix males with females only a couple of weeks before egg production. (Cuts the time males can steal female feed down) Achieve separate feeding as soon as possible (Need good female grill and high male feeder) Know when males are not able to steal female feed so an increase of male feed goes to mating activity instead of body weight gains

29 Challenge at the Onset of Production Synchronize male and female sexual maturity Getting mating ratio right Be observant of flock (bird) activity and mating activity. Females are the key. Are the females staying on the slats or are there too many females squatting in front of you

30 Feeding Males This is a challenge through out their life When they eat too much they get too big to balance themselves to carry out mating When they don t get what they need they tend to have leg issues They have a tendency to gain weight fast but in order to keep fertility they need to gain weight slowly.

31 What a rooster wants to eat vs What we feed them

32 Roosters Love to Eat

33 Managing Males once Egg Production Starts Walk through the flock at least once a week just to look at the males and cull (1%/week) Watch flock eating to verify males are eating in the male feeder and females are eating in their own feeders Pick up and grade males based of breast confirmation and vent wear once they get old enough

34 Vent Feather Wear

35 Rooster s Faces

36 Flock Fertility It s not about the quality of semen that determines fertility but the number of mating in the flock 35 week old male mates times in a day 50 week old male mates 5-10 times in a day 8000 bird flock we start with 20,000 matings/day and then end with 6,400/day if we ve done things right.

37 Ugly vs. Pretty

38

39 Discussions?