If you’re in the poultry farming game – I’ve got news for you: you’re actually in the feed conversion game.
Fundamentally speaking, that’s what a poultry farming business owner is…
A professional feed converter.
In other words, you specialise in taking poultry feed (namely corn, soya, wheat, sorghum etc.) and converting it into chicken meat or eggs to feed people, at a profit.
The more economically and agriculturally efficient your ability to convert:
- The more chicken and eggs are produced, and sold at higher prices.
- The less poultry feed is consumed, and bought at lower cost.
- The more people are fed and the more profit is made.
Therefore, as a poultry farmer (…or, professional feed converter), your #1 business metric and marker for success is the FCR or feed conversion ratio of your farm:
“The feed conversion ratio is a measure of the amount of feed required (in kilogrammes) to produce one kilogramme of poultrymeat (dressed carcase weight).” – Gov.UK
Now, for the takeaway:
- Identify the feed conversion ratio of your chosen layer or broiler breed.
- Learn how to measure FCR, feed conversion ratio, on your farm.
This way, you can benchmark your farm’s performance against the genetic potential of your birds.
- Anything less than target FCR indicates suboptimal operational performance & therefore room for improvement.
- On target, you’ve hit the ceiling. Top marks – keep it up.
Do you know the FCR your breed?
Do you know how to measure FCR?
Look out for future posts to help you discover these key metrics for your poultry successes.
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