Breeder male management, key to success in the poultry business

Dr. Cristiano Pereira, Technical Manager for Cobb, was in charge of the presentation on “Breeder male management, key to success in the poultry business” during the LPN Congress 2018.

The management of a breeder integration requires experience and dedication, many indicators are clear and straightforward, however the vast majority of the control elements that must be routinely reviewed are subjective and require knowledge, field presence, attention to numbers and clear goals to be pursued.

The main goal of a breeder integration is to supply broiler production with as many chicks as possible, with the highest quality. But achieving this is no easy task and a robust routine needs to be established and maintained by everyone on the technical team.

Proper control of the growth curve, following the recommended weight patterns for the lineage on a weekly basis, body conformation, conferring exactly what is expected in muscle development each week and adequate nutrient intake are critical, just to cite the most obvious control points.

These controls are not isolated. They depend on a strict control of:

• Environment
• Equipment density
• Density of males per square meter Sanitation

Determining an evaluation routine, with clear check-list criteria, is essential for younger and even more experienced technicians.

The result of an accompanying routine will lead to well-formed males ready to deliver the best fertility results in production, but that’s only part of the job:

• During the production phase, even well-trained males can lose quality and performance in a few weeks, due to wrong decisions, again based on hasty interpretations, without clear criteria.

We need to look at many aspects, this time, also related to females.

It is impossible to talk about fertility, hatching and production of quality chicks without having a varied list of patterns to follow that involve the females, from:

• Growth indicators Weight gain
• Conformation
• Ration supply program Egg quality
• Methodology used in the cleaning and disinfection of the same.

Each element is related when the topic is male management and top quality chick production, aspects that are complementary and synergistic.

However, we cannot forget that our margins in poultry farming are getting smaller and smaller and it is not enough to produce the highest number of chicks, with the highest quality to supply the poultry production, but we also need to do it at the lowest possible cost. To this end, control of the formulation of the ration used for males and females, of the additives used and of the volumes of feed needed for production, without wastage, are vital for maintaining the viability of broiler chick production.

We have very clear all the operations involved in this production, all the control elements, all the necessary routine for the proper conduction of this chain, we need to invest the necessary time to have our teams with good training, with all the necessary knowledge to offer the best service in the conduction and management of breeder flocks with the maximum performance in the production of quality chicks with the lowest cost, otherwise, our path will be longer in the search for the best results.