With barely 15weeks to Christmas we agreed that some seasonal farmers are already taking advantage by preparing to rear some birds for sales during the season. These people rear the birds for the purpose of earning some income after sales. From personal experience, I have noted that some of these seasonal farmers do not achieve their aim because some mistakes in the poultry farm traced to inadequate poultry knowledge . Their poor knowledge consequently impact on the profitability of their venture.
To optimize the profitability of your investment in poultry farm, here are some common mistakes that must be avoided on your poultry farm –
- BUYING BIRDS FROM UNKNOWN SOURCES –This is a mistake with a high risk. It is always good to verify the source from which you get your birds, this enables you to know the history of the birds and detects quickly if there are sicknesses affecting the birds which may not be showing (on the birds yet). Remember that rearing a sick bird is like pouring water into a licking pot (your effort to earn profit may end up as a waste due to the poor health status of the bird)
- NOT GIVING QUALITY FEED TO THE BIRDS – Some seasonal farmers do not understand the feed requirement of the birds. To them – FEED IS FEED. There are different kinds of feeds giving different nutritional benefit, thus, it is important to feed the birds with the right feed per time.
- OVERCROWDING AND POOR VENTILATION – These people are not real farmers, so, they do not have the necessary facility for housing the birds. However, with their focus on rearing the birds for money, they overcrowd the housing system of the birds. The poor housing system adversely impacts on the welfare of the birds for growth and in the case of disease outbreak the consequence becomes more devastating.
- POOR FINANCIAL PLAN – Sometimes due to inadequate knowledge about what is needed in caring for the birds, farmers tend to underestimate what would be needed within specified period in catering for the birds. The poor financial plan leads to bottlenecks along the way. One aspect that is mostly affected is feeding. Poor feeding due to poor funding results to the birds loosing weight (retarded growth), consequently impacting of the market value of the bird at maturity and the farmer’s profitability.
- NEGLECTING BIOSECURITY – Failure to ensure strict biosecurity measures (like limiting visitors, proper sanitation) can result to introduction of disease into the flock – It is always better to prevent disease from getting into the flock.
Other errors of the seasonal poultry farmer are –
- Poor location selection for the farm leading to issues like odor and noise in the neighborhood. Most of the time the poor location for the poultry house is responsible for disease transmission among the birds
- Ignoring market research – Inadequate knowledge about demand, pricing, competition and customer preference in the industry leads to difficult y for the farmer to find consistent market for their farm produce and be able to sell at a profitable price
- Poor waste management plan which often promote disease, especially respiratory disease like coccidiosis
- Poor health care practice like skipping of vaccination or failing to identify and separate sick birds. This negligence lead to disease outbreak that might cause significant loss on investment.
- Ignoring record keeping make it impossible to track history of the farm activities and expenses , consequently making it difficult to monitor the farm profitability and identify potential problems for proactive corrective measures.
These error as led to huge loss for some of the seasonal farmers and have been the reasons many have been discouraged from investing more. Whether you poultry farm is active seasonally or all-year-round, it is necessary to take proactive steps to improve your farm operations or practices which will help you achieve better productivity and profitability on your investment
Ciao.