County Fair Prep Time!!! We are only 3 weeks away from county fair. This Post is for the Market broiler exhibitors. We are now just short of half way through the feeding program. You need to weigh all broilers and cull the bottom 10-15% of your pen. You can cull harder is you only entered 1 pen of 3. Birds should be rigidly culled to optimize performance. Small, sick, stunted or deformed birds should be removed when detected. Reduce flock size at 3-4 weeks of age by removing the smaller and poorer fleshed birds. Keep two or three birds for each one to be shown. Fleshing, uniformity and finish will be improved by the increase in floor and feeder space and the reduction in social pressure. Trim nails to help prevent carcass damage. Leg band the birds kept for easy identification when selecting the show pen.
UnLike other meat animals, broilers and sometimes roasters are shown in pens of three. This exhibit is intended to determine if the exhibitor understands the basic principles of meat chickens. Pens are intended to be matched as closely as possible.
This means that they should appear as ―peas in a pod.‖ A pair exhibit simulates the industry’s need for uniformity in birds that ultimately produce a uniform product that the consumer demands. The industry has uniform methods of processing millions of broilers and the consumer demands that each broiler or cut of meat purchased be identical to the previous.
The amount of muscling is determined by feeling the width of the breast and back particularly over the loin region. The breast meat is the most valuable cut of meat on the meat chicken because it yields ―white meat‖ which commands the highest market price. The width of the loin is an indicator of muscling throughout the carcass much like the loin eye area of a beef steer or market hog. The thickness of bone also indicates muscling due to the fact that the more muscling an animal has the larger the bone must be to hold the muscle. Excessive bone is not desirable because of decreased dressing percentage.
Most broiler starter rations are crumbles, which contain 20-23% protein and are fed the starter ration for about 3 weeks. Then switch to a grower ration for the remaining period. Grower feeds should be pelleted and contain 18-20% protein. Be sure to follow any label recommendations if you use medicated feeds.
Some participants develop their own special formulas for feeding their broilers. One point that is important to remember is that food intake will effect the growth rate tremendously. Therefore, any method that you can think of that will increase food intake will probably increase the growth rate of your birds. One example would be simply working with the birds and moving around the pen. This disturbs them and makes them move around the feeders and waterers. Stirring the litter will move the birds around. Keeping the birds from becoming overheated will stimulate them to eat more feed. Anytime you see the birds with their beaks open and breathing heavily you should suspect that the birds may be too hot.
Another way to stimulate feed intake is to give the birds small amounts of feed that have been moistened with water, milk, or cooking oil. You can do this several times a day. It has been observed that broilers prefer feeds with higher moisture levels, however, this additional moisture can also lead to mold and spoilage. If you are going to moisten feed then you should only make enough that the birds will consume it in about 15 minutes. Then it should be removed from the pen. You can feed the leftover feed to other birds or the culls.
Be sure you have enough feeder space so all birds can eat at once. You can use the pan or tray type feeders for the first seven days. To help them find the food, use a baking pan or a piece of paper with some feed spread across it for 1 or 2 days. After about 2 or 3 weeks, consider feeding the birds from a tube feeder. Tube feeders can easily be adjusted as the birds grow. A rule of thumb is that the feeder height should be about the height of the back of the bird when it is standing upright. Dry feed should be available at all times. If the exhibitor allows the feeders to become empty, their birds may grow at a slower rate. And fresh clean water needs to be available at ALL times.
With only 3 weeks to go remember you will need 3 “handlers” per pen entered. So start talking with your friends to see who will help.
If you have any questions, the best way to get ahold of me is by email cl-sharp@tamu.edu.
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