Hello,
Running a business is a journey.
You set-off from A and plan to arrive at your destination, B…
…safely, on-time and on-budget.
What’s your roadmap to success?
Progress metrics (measurements).
These key performance indicators tell you if you are on track for making it according to plan.
Quantifying and qualifying the progress of any investment is your only way of setting realistic expectations.
How else can you trust that your endeavour is on track for bringing in projected returns?
- You need to measure and,
- You need to keep consistent records.
METRICS PER BATCH
Average weight: uniformity is a key indicator of broiler farming success. Every bird counts. The average weight of bird gives you a mid-point for how well your flock has done.
Breed: Keeping track of which breed you used per batch gives a reference point when looking back. This way you are able to link every batch performance to a particular breed.
Dates started: Time-sensitive factors, like seasonality – leading to humidity etc., will be acknowledged by recording the dates started.
From whom bought: Auditing suppliers can inform better (more profitable) buying decisions for the future.
Daily Mortality Record: everyday recording any bird deaths gives you a daily count of operational loss.
Daily Feed Record: broiler growth and weight are directly correlated to feed consumption. Recording the daily amount of feed eaten by birds gives you the reassurance that you have administered the necessary input.
No. chicks started: absolute numbers are required for the more revealing comparative measures like percentage etc.
No. birds sold: revenue per bird is a principal metric for a broiler farm. It helps you say, “…for every bird sold, we have made [so much] income or profit.”
Per cent livability: percentage of total original flock alive at processing is a fair measure of your handling success.
Date sold: you may in one way or another want to tie down the sale of a batch to a particular date, perhaps for buyer or market analysis, for example. Recording the date a batch of broilers was sold helps you pinpoint a trade to a given day.
Age when birds sold: linking age to outcomes like weight helps estimate profit more accurately through costs incurred every day.
Bags of feed used: feed is often bought per bag (25kg, for example). Rounding up feed consumption per bag gives you a simple round number to correlate pricing and use.
Kg meat per bag: To know how much meat produced per bag of feed consumed, keeps you well informed when negotiating feed purchases.
Kg feed per kg meat: otherwise known as feed conversion ratio or FCR – this is perhaps, the single most important and revealing business metric for the broiler farmer. Feed cost amounts to as much as 70% of operational cost. Knowing exactly how much input is converted to output gives an accurate measure for your future yield and profits.
Amount feed per bird: how much feed each bird consumed allows you to break down and build up an approximate cost model for growth. Such numbers off the top of the head help you to construct future plans more readily.
Total weight sold: broilers are bought and sold in batches. Effectively you are selling a combined weight of meat at the end of the cycle. Keeping track on total weight sold helps remain sensitive to changes in the economic environment.
Price per kg: how much do I get paid for every kg of meat sold? A key question to answer. A healthy view to have of your broiler farm business. Prices continually fluctuate and being able to track price to events in time help provide foresight ongoing.
Total sales: money received for all meat traded within that batch.
Total expenses: profit isn’t all about incoming monies from sales. To keep tight tabs on all outgoings incurred helps you make better margins on future rounds.
Total profit: the rewards of your labour. This is what you actually have left in your hand on every batch reared. A critical take-home point on every cycle of investment. By recording this you get to see the bottom-line impact on the contributing factors above. A good point of reflection for acknowledging important lessons learned.
The bottom-line…
Collecting raw data on the operational progress of your broiler farm takes an investment of time.
But the investment pays off in maintaining your milestones.
This is how you stay on track for reaching your long term destination of agribusiness success.
And now, over to you:
Are you an experienced broiler farmer looking to tighten up your performance analysis?
Or, are you just starting out and need help getting a better grasp on the finer detail?
Either way, write me back and let me know.
I read every comment.
Speak soon,
Temi
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