In this opportunity, aviNews International talked with Dr. Martin Zuidhof at the World’s Poultry Congress 2022 about the “Use and effects of precision feeding in broiler breeders.”
>> Due to the current challenges that modern broiler breeders are facing, any feeding program or nutritional change plays an important role in birds’ development and consequently in egg production. Therefore by knowing what precision feeding is, the producers could have a new strategy to improve their breeder systems. Let’s see what Dr. Zuidhof explained to us.
Dr. Zuidhof is a professor at the University of Alberta in Canada. His lab research is focused on precision feeding, broiler breeder, and layer management, optimizing pullet body weight and composition for lifetime reproductive efficiency. Dietary energy partitioning to maintenance, growth, reproduction, and broiler growth and development.
Could you please indicate what precision feeding is?
Precision feeding is about providing the right amount of the right feed to the right bird at the right time. It is a subset of precision livestock farming which is about using sensors to collect data and then act on that data to implement optimum decisions in real-time, and precision feeding is doing that with a feeding system.
There are different technologies, but the one from Dr. Zuidhof involves a feed station that actually has two stages. The birds enter. They stand on body weight scales, and they are identified as individuals. After birds are weighted, the staff must compare the body weight with the “white” they should be.
- If birds don’t weigh enough, the staff allows them to access some feed and got the birds gently from the station.
- If the bird’s weight is enough, it does
TO CONTINUE READING REGISTER IT IS COMPLETELY FREE Access to articles in PDF
Keep up to date with our newsletters
Receive the magazine for free in digital version REGISTRATION ACCESS
YOUR ACCOUNT LOGIN Lost your password?