POULTRY FARMING: FACTORS AFFECTING EGG PRODUCTION

1. Feed-related problems, diseases and bad management practices in intensive layer houses can result in a decreased number of eggs and also eggs which are abnormal in shape and colour.

2. Decreased egg production results in a smaller profit to farmers and less money in their pockets. Therefore, it is important to know how to prevent these factors affecting egg production.

3. Not enough drinking water

Clean and cool water must always be available to avoid heat stress. Lack of water results in reduced egg production.

4. No feed or decreased feed intake
Chickens tend to eat less when the feed is not tasty or when they are stressed because of environmental temperatures, especially when it gets too hot. Feed should be available at all times.
When chickens are not well fed, egg production decreases

5. Low calcium in the feed

This result in few and smaller eggs, soft-shelled eggs, shell-less eggs, cracked eggs, eggs losing colour and hens having leg problems.
If calcium deficiency is suspected, take a feed sample to the laboratory to check the calcium level.
Commercial rations have calcium added. When mixing your own ration make sure that calcium added is 3,5 %.
If calcium deficiency is a problem, limestone grit should be given as a top dressing at least twice a week at 5 gm/bird.

6. Low salt in the feed

This results in a sharp decrease in egg production. Chickens will also start pecking each other and eating feathers.

If salt deficiency is suspected, a sample of feed should be taken to the laboratory to check the level of salt. Take care when mixing your own chicken ration at home. Add the required quantity of salt, which is 0,4 %.

7. DISEASES

-Newcastle disease (NCD)
NCD is a viral infection that can result in a mortality rate of 100 % in chickens. It also leads to a drop in egg production and quality.

-Infectious bronchitis (IB)
This is a rapidly-spreading viral infection of chicken characterised by respiratory signs. It also causes drop in egg production (up to 50 %) and egg quality. Egg shells are deformed. There is a vaccine for this disease.

-Epidemic tremor
This is a viral infection that results in a drop in egg production. Layers are vaccinated on the thirteenth week of age. The vaccine is given in the drinking water.

-Egg drop syndrome
This is a viral infection that affects the reproductive organs of chickens. The signs are a drop in egg production, thin shells, soft shells and shell-less eggs. There is a vaccine available to prevent the disease. Layers are vaccinated on the sixteenth week of age. The vaccine is given in the muscle.
Other diseases causing a drop in egg production are salmonellosis, mycoplasmosis, infectious laryngotracheitis and internal parasites (when the chickens are kept on the ground).

8. MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS

-Lighting

In housed chickens, lighting is important.
When the lights are off, chickens do not eat and this results in low egg production. Lights should be checked regularly and cleaned so that they do not get dimmer.
Bulbs should be changed when necessary.
Chickens should be exposed to light for a minimum of 14 hours and a maximum of 17 hours per day.
Exposure to light for less than the minimum time required results in a drop in egg production.
When chickens are exposed to too much light, they reach sexual maturity at an early stage and they lay very small eggs.

CHICKEN FACTORS

Layers are usually kept for 52 weeks. After this period, they undergo a stage called moulting where they lose their feathers and stop producing eggs. Egg production will start again in the second laying period after moulting, but the eggs will be bigger, shells thinner and production lower.
Older birds produce eggs with thin shells.
Indigenous chickens do not lay as many eggs when compared to commercial layers.

CONCLUSION

When egg production and egg quality in your flock is unsatisfactory, seek help from the state or private veterinarian or animal health technician.

Source:
Animal Health for Developing Farmers
ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute,
Private Bag X05, Onderstepoort 0110
Tel. (012) 529 9158

Raising Rabbits for Profit – All you need to Know about Feeding, Cages and Care

Raising rabbits for meat and fur is a good way to make money but only if you do it on a large scale, and it should be done as supplementary income only. The initial costs in setting-up is small, rabbits breed quickly and frequently, they have large litters and grow to a good marketable size in a very short time. However, it is a full time job with daily rabbit care and good feeding needed.

Successful Rabbit Raising means Determining a Market

Like any business, if you are wanting to make a profit with rabbits you really need to assess the market. Do your homework first, before making an investment to see if there is a market and where the market is. Is there a market for rabbit meat, rabbit fur or both?

Once you have established whether there is a market or not, find out where you will be able to slaughter the animals. Some slaughter houses will expect you to transport the live animals to them. And sometimes you can find a local butcher who will be able to slaughter and dress the rabbits.

Rabbit Raising and Choosing the right Rabbit Breed

Once you have established your rabbit market and have found outlets to sell to, you will need to find the perfect rabbit for your climate. Most rabbits will tolerate cooler weather, but those who live in a more temperate area will be able to be bred 4 times a year if you are keeping NZ Whites. Chinchilla Rex rabbits, kept for fur, usually give birth twice a year.

Although there are more than 60 rabbit breeds and varieties, most of these can be divided into 3 different groups:

• 1. Small Breeds that weigh little than a 2 pounds fully grown, such as the Polish rabbit.
• 2. Medium Breeds that have an average adult weight of about 10 pounds. Rabbits in this category are the New Zealand, California and Palomina.
• 3. Large Breeds that have an average adult weight of 14 pounds.

Good profits really come down to starting with a good breed.

Good Dual-Purpose Rabbit Breeds

One of the most popular rabbits for raising rabbits on a commercial scale is the New Zealand white rabbit, which is not from New Zealand, despite its name, but from America. It has good white fur and a good percentage of flesh to bone. Therefore the New Zealand White is a good dual-purpose rabbit. Other good dual-purpose rabbits are the American Chinchilla and the Californian Rabbit.

Rabbit Breeds for Fur

For those raising rabbits for their fur then the Angora Rabbit and the Rex Rabbits are breeds that are best suited for this purpose and fetch good prices, especially the Chinchilla Rex and other Rex breeds like the Castor Rex and the White Rex Rabbits.

One thing to remember though is that where the turn around time for meat rabbits is about 2 months, fur rabbits are kept for 3-5 months before being slaughtered.

Rabbit Raising and Look for Good Rabbit Breeding Stock

Your New Zealand white rabbit should have a low set body, deep shoulders, and short neck, legs and ears.

Your rabbits will continue to make money for you as long as you maintain good breeding stock. Therefore, not all your rabbits will be sent to the slaughter house. Your breeders will soon need replacing and your litters should be examined for breeding potential. These then should be kept back and used as breeding stock when you need to replace or increase your stock.

Rabbit Raising,  The Doe and her Kittens

A good New Zealand white doe can be bred at the age of 6 months and if conditions are ideal she can be bred 4 times a year. Breeding does are usually kept for 2 years before they are slaughtered. On average they can give birth to 80 young a year. The buck may be bred up to 7 times a week effectively. He can be used for mating at the age of 7 months.

The young are born within 28–31 days of mating and a normal rabbit litter is around 6-8 kittens but can range from two to twelve. The rabbits should be kept until they weigh about 1.8-2 kg each before sent to be butchered. This normally takes about 2 months. However, one should also be aware that by the time the rabbit is butchered and dressed it will have lost about 33% of its original weight. The bigger the breed, the more loss there will be, sometimes as much as 45%. Therefore a 3 kg rabbit before being butchered will weigh about 2 kg after being butchered.

The other advantage of raising rabbits is that they can be bred throughout the year bringing a steady income. A person on their own with no extra help can easily manage to look after 500 does. However, most people who raise rabbits for profit as a backyard venture operate much smaller farms. However, even working with 100 does will bring in a healthy and steady monthly income.

Just because you are raising rabbits for profit doesn’t mean that don’t have to give them the same treatment you would if it were a pet. In fact, because these animals are the lynch pin to your profit they should be given extra care and attention. The most important is of course housing and food.

Rabbit Raising and Housing your Rabbits

Housing will probably be your most expensive outlay.  There is always the possibility of buying second hand cages, or making your own. There are some rabbit breeders who hang the cages in unused sheds, and others who place the cages outside, under some old tree. However, if you are serious about raising rabbits for meat and profit, then you should think about raising them in a controlled environment, as this will give you a better feed-to-meat conversion.

Rabbits need plenty of light and fresh air. Their hutches can be simple structures of wood and wire. One problem with wood however, is that many rabbits who have a close encounter with wood are susceptible to ear mites.

Rabbits should have a roof that protects them from the sun as a rabbit’s fur should not be exposed to the sun if you are raising rabbits for fur. Also, there should be a canvas curtain that can be dropped over the cases to prevent chilling winds and rain from entering. In the hot summer months a sprinkler system can be placed on the roof to cool the hutches down.

The rabbit hutches should be 10 feet square in space for each rabbit. Individual hutches can be made using the following dimensions: 4 ft x 2.5 ft x 2 ft. If you live in area where you have cold winters then the top, sides and backs should be built of wooden board to give added protection. If, however, you live in a warm climate you will need to give your rabbits better circulation and to take advantage of any breeze.

The cages here can be made out of wire netting on all sides. Using a 1 inch wire netting is sufficient. The floor of the cages should be 1/2 inch metal hardware cloth that allows the rabbit stability when walking and allows for the droppings and urine to fall through to the ground. The smaller diameter holes is also important for rabbit safety, as bigger holes can result in baby rabbits breaking their legs if they end up slipping through the bigger gaps in the netting.

Having a floor like this on the cages allows for the rabbits to be free from most diseases as they are in clean, sanitary conditions.

Anything made to house your rabbits should be strong enough to protect them against predators and the elements. This is especially important when a doe has kittens. Any nervous doe faced with danger may end up standing all over kittens and killing them.

Raising rabbits has an excellent by-product for your garden and veggie patch! Rabbit manure is very good for the compost heap and for growing vegetablesand so it is advisable to buy or make deep metal trays and place these directly under the cages. This then makes for easy cleaning and easy transportation of the manure to the compost heap when they are full. Cleanliness is vital for good rabbit raising.

When the young rabbits have reached the age of 8-10 weeks of age they will need to be separated and placed in individual cages. This is to prevent the rabbits from fighting, as they will if you don’t separate them.

Rabbit Raising and Breeding Boxes

When raising rabbits your breeding does should have their own nesting boxes. These rabbit nesting boxes should be 1 1/2 feet long, 1 foot wide and 1 foot high. There should be a 7 inch door cut in the box which is cut 5 inches from the bottom. This then prevents the young rabbits from falling out of the boxes.

You will know when your doe is needing her nest box when she starts pulling the fur from her dewlap. She will also take the hay that you are feeding her to create a nest.

When the kittens are born they are hairless and born with their eyes closed. Fur begins to grow in by day 5 or 6 and after 10 to 12 days their eyes will open. At the age of three weeks their mother will begin to wean them off milk and they will then begin to eat hay and pellets.

Rabbit Raising and What and What not to Feed your Rabbits

Greens:

Rabbits eat a lot of grass and leaves, but any food given to them should never be placed on the bottom of the cages in case they peed on or pooped on. A manger should be built for each cage that would allow the food to be kept under sanitary conditions.

If you are not able to build managers, then the food should be placed in bundles and then hung from the sides of the cage, allowing the rabbits to help themselves when hungry. Any wire or string used to do this should be short pieces to prevent the rabbits from coming to any harm.

They should be fed twice a day and greens and water are the basis to your rabbit’s diet but if you introduce anything new to your rabbits do it slowly, as their digestive systems can become upset.

Not all greens are good for rabbits. Never feed them lettuce. Lettuce contains lactucarium, which can give your rabbit diarrhea so badly that it can become fatal. Other common foods to avoid include cabbage, parsnips, swedes, potato tops, and tomato leaves.

Hay should be given as part of their diet. It should be well dried and free of mold. Alfalfa, clover and even peanut hay is acceptable. Oats, wheat, barley and corn can also be fed to give a more balanced diet, with occasionally small amounts of sulfur, charcoal and cod liver oil.

Watch rabbits though! They are very crafty animals and will favor barley and wheat over corn. Rabbits also like carrots and should be fed the odd one now and again. Finally, a block of salt should be placed in each hutch so that the rabbit can nibble on it when needed.

Water:

Water is very important and they should never be without. It must be replaced daily and using an automatic water container is usually the best option which can be fixed to the cages.

Rabbit Illnesses

If your rabbit hutches are kept clean and they are fed properly they will suffer from few illnesses, especially when compared to other livestock. However, there are 2 illnesses that can occur with raising rabbits and that is the snuffles and coccidiosis which is a worm infection that chickens also suffer from.

Any rabbit that has either of these 2 diseases should be destroyed immediately and their hutches thoroughly sanitized and sterilized to prevent the rest of your rabbits from contamination.

Rabbit Raising and How Profitable is It?

When you start with rabbits you will soon realize that it doesn’t take long to increase your stock. If you started with just 2 doe and 1 buck you could soon have 50 rabbits or more after the 1st year. If you had 50 – 150 does, this would definitely mean a steady source of income and would also take up a substanial amount of time during the day for their care.

People are beginning to see that rabbit meat is good for you. It may be firmer than chicken, but the taste is very similar. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat and calories.

Not only can one use these animals for their meat, but another by-product is their fur. The pelts can be used to make a number of items such as slippers, fur trimmed garments, hats etc.

Rabbit manure is also highly valued, and can be bagged and sold to gardeners. It is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. The beauty of using rabbit manure on plants is that it can be used straight away without having to worry about whether it will burn the plants after application.

At one stage, farmers in Europe were getting 2 Euros a kilo for their rabbit meat, which they considered to be a good price. When you have a dual-purpose rabbit like the New Zealand white rabbit then the sale of those pelts can range from anywhere from 15-50 cents depending on who your market is. However, the Chinchilla Rex commands the most money. Next comes the Castor Rex and then the White Rex.

One has to remember too that when the kittens are born you will also suffer losses. Many rabbit breeders expect losses of 25%. Rex animals are more difficult to breed and their average litter is about 6 kittens. Their conditions are different too. They have to be kept in separate cages to protect the fur. They are sent to slaughter in individual boxes and their slaughtering is done manually and slowly so as not to damage the fur.

In the USA, meat is sold at various prices, depending on where you live. On average, however, at 2013 prices, rabbit meat can be sold retail for $6 -8 a pound, dressed.

Rabbit Raising; Conclusion

Raising rabbits is a pleasurable experience. Success to raising rabbits for profit are determined by 3 things:

• A good breeding program
• Proper equipment
• Good care

However, with all food products there are rules and regulations that you will need to abide by set by your local council body. Make sure that you know these before you decide to go into raising rabbits for meat.

Culled from:http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com®

SUCCESS IN DAIRY FARMING

Investing in dairy farming needs to be done in a cautious manner in order to optimise the efficiency of available farm resources, or, simply put, to help you do more with less.

Taking precautions will help you achieve a sound health, good animal welfare, social responsiveness, high milk production and improved cost control – all that defines a profitable dairy farm.

Unlock your dairy farming implies that you start smart as soon as you begin. This is however built on four simple but very important interlinking pillars:

1. Dairy investment plan
This is the initial step and the most vital player in getting dairy farming right. Producing and sustaining high-quality milk in today’s competitive dairy is complex, allowing no room for mistakes, thus more time should be spent for informed decision making when setting up plans.

Just to summarise, a dairy investment plan outlines the finances required — cow house design, land required and feeding plans, etc. It also takes care of all the logistics for future expansion.

For example, if you want to begin with three heifers, dairy investment plans will show you how much you will incur to buy the cows with regard to price variations, the conventional running costs you will incur till you start milking and the cost of inputs you are using to produce a litre of milk.

This means you will be able to tell if you are making profits plus the margins. This will clearly pin point your weak areas requiring adjustments since it is not strange to find a dairy farm with a large herd of cattle making less profit than one with few herd of cattle with higher production.

A good investment plan also frameworks future expansion aspects; you are able to tell how long it will take you to grow your herd to some specific number you target with all the cost implications assuming now new cows are bought.

2.Feed

Helps you plant, conserve and preserve enough fodder for resilience and realise a noticeable lift in feeding to sustain your farm even over dry periods.

Feeding entails the use of forages, fodder, concentrates or preserved feed sources. Decent planning may require you to make some silage in advance, stock enough bales of hay, plant grasses land other protein rich sources before you bring in your animals.

The choice of feeding depends upon your decision and availability of feeding materials. This implies that you may decide to go Total Mixed Rations or use conventional fodder plus supplements; either way, you are on the right track.

A well-planned feeding strategy will ensure you have plenty of quality feeds for your incoming animals and cushion you from feed related risks and threats that come by.

For example, you can tell how much silage you need to take you for certain period of time with your current dairy stock if you want to make silage.

Water is the cheapest feed, thus should not pose much threat to your dairy farming.

3. Cow house construction

Keeping your cows in top health conditions starts with cow comfort. Cows cannot explain all that make them comfortable and keep them in optimal production; it stems from having a good cow barn.

Installing sustainable cow barns require considerable investments and proper designing to take care of cow comfort, offer sound health and hygiene, production and future expansion.

Best designed cow barns are made from what is readily available to achieve environmental friendliness, simplicity and cost efficiency from construction materials available, whether timber or metals.

Most countries have led dairy centres who have developed a modular cow barn design to give farmers room for future expansion as you grow your stock gradually provided site selection provide space to grow with minimal cost implications.

These designs also take care of easily accessible feed and water trough placements, fresh air flow, soft and clean sleeping cubicles and coarse ground for sound animal footing.

It also offers opportunities for use of renewable sources of energy such as solar lighting and biogas production to help you save on costs on conventional energy sources.

Other physical structures that accompany cow house include hay barn, silage shed and stores. Construction of error-free housing structures or units require that dairy experts to work with building contractors.

4. Buy a cow

The trend in poultry production is that one-day-old chicks arrive after brooders and feeds are secured, this applies to dairy farming. With your cow barn and feeding programme set, now you can embark on identification and buying of dairy cows.

Source animals from reputed farms using records to have a glimpse of origins and performance of the animals you intend to buy.

5. Other things to consider

Works with professionals: Experts empower you with dairy standard operational procedures to support you up to the last production goals. Identify and build trust to get the best out of them.
Herd fertility and calf rearing: Future of any dairy enterprise heavily relies on these; using the right breeding techniques and managing your calves well are steps forward in achieving these.
Labour efficiency: Good rapport and mutual working relationship with the farm assistants.
Waste management: Manure from dairy animals is not environmentally friendly if left to accumulate or when not properly disposed of. Develop a system to allow for easy removal of manure from the barns. Other useful options include construction of a biogas.
All these coupled with high-level standards hygiene and best management practices will make dairy cows work for you, not vice versa!

source: daily nation®

COMMON PESTS WITH PIGS, PREVENTION & MANAGEMENT USING NATURAL METHODS

PEST 1: TICKS

A ticks is a small, round, parasitic pest that stick to an area of the host, insert its head under the skin sucking out blood. They are of different types e.g. the blue tick, brown ear tick, ambylomma, red legged tick.

SYMPTOMS

* Cause itching and irritation, blood loss
* May spread east coast fever, heart water and red water diseases.
* Death especially with hybrids.

PREVENTION & CONTROL

* Maintain sanitation in animal houses
* Clear bushes surrounding the grazing areas
* Avoid mixing animals from different areas
* Avoid mixing infected animals with normal ones as this may lead to infection of others
*
TREATMENT

Crush 500 grams of young, dried tephrosia leaves in 10 litres of water and, mix in 200g bar soap to make a spray against them. These help to break the life cycle of the ticks there by preventing more spread. Dip or spray the animals at least once a week.

PEST 2: LICE

Lice are small, insect like soft bodied parasites that live mainly on the skin or hair of animals and humans sucking out blood. They may be black or white.

SYMPTOMS

* Body itching and irritation.
* Skin rash.

PREVENTION & CONTROL

Keep the house clean all the time with no dust. Dirt acts as a breeding ground for lice.

TREATMENT

Get tephrosia and add water 1-2 parts of water to 1kg pounded leaves into 2liters of water and smear on the infected animal.

PEST 3 : FLEAS

Fleas are small 1.5 to 3.3 mm long, dark coloured wingless insects with tube-like mouthparts which feed on blood of their hosts. They attack livestock and cause irritation, itching and anemia.

CAUSES: Poor hygiene

SIGNS

* Itching
* Standing hair

PREVENTION

Keep the pigs’ house clean all the time especially with no dust.

TREATMENT

Get dry ash and smear on the body after cleaning it at least once a week.

PEST 4: WORMS

A worm is an elongated soft-bodied invertebrate animal that attack animals

CAUSES

* Poor hygiene like Dirty (Contaminated) places, water and food.
* Contaminated grass with larvae.
* Failure to de-worm animals on time.

SYMPTOMS

* Swelling of the stomach.
* Loss of appetite.
* Larvae found in feaces
* Emaciation.
* Animals may refuse to eat.
* Diarrhea
* Rough coat
* • Standing hair
• Vomiting
• Coughing incase of lungworms

PREVENTION & CONTROL

* De-worm at least every after 3 months after weaning.
* Decongest (reduce numbers) to allow proper spacing for better hygiene.
* Animals should eat at the right time to avoid eating un wanted feeds.
* Avoid feeding them on wet grass because these may have larvae
* Keep pigs in doors to avoid eating contaminated dirty food.
* Use boiled food.

TREATMENT

* Get leaves of marijuana and cook, then give solution to the pigs to de-worm.
* Get pawpaw seeds or peel un ripe paw paws dry, grind and mix 2 table spoons with food. Give twice a day in the morning and evening for 7 days.
* Boil emolokony (cow’s legs) and give the animals to drink the soup.
* Get a handful of fresh moringa leaves and mix with pig feeds.
* Get aloe Vera, add water, cook and give as drinking water.
* Get 2 handfuls of asthma weed, add 2 liters of water and boil for 30 minutes. Leave it to cool then give the animal 1/2 a mug 2 times i.e. morning and evening for 7 days.

PEST 5: JIGGERS

Jiggers are small insects which result from fleas. They enter the body of the animal and suck out blood causing anemia and irritation.

CAUSES

Poor hygiene

SYMPTOMS

* Rotting of the feet.
* Irritation

PREVENTION

Keep hygiene in the house and remove all the dust to destroy the breeding grounds.

TREATMENT

Get 1kg of ripe endod (olwoko), crush to a paste then smear on the areas affected with jiggers atleast once a week until the animal heals

URINE AND DUNG

Get 2 cups of pig urine; mix with a handful of crushed neem tree leaves and spray on crops to repel pests.

Tips
* Keep records of activities carried out on the farm.
* Don’t sale animals which are not in good health.
* Inspection should be done before slaughter.

NEVER EAT dead animals.

Culled from: farmafripedia.ikmemergent.net®