The poultry industry seems to be going through a period of time where EU Directives have required both the meat and the egg sectors to make changes. Justin Emery from the ADAS Sustainable Livestock Group looks at the implications of these changes.
For the broiler sector, CD 2007/43 (EU Broiler Directive -30 June 2010) has resulted in many growers needing to upgrade lighting, improve on-farm air quality for carbon dioxide and ammonia concentrations and control of house temperatures in hot weather. ADAS was asked by Defra to ascertain the state of industry compliance with the Directive. Based on the discussions with representative sectors of the industry, it was possible to develop targeted workshops to help the broiler sector understand the changes and their practical ‘on-farm’ implications. ADAS conducted 28 workshops in early 2010; 6 were public meetings and 22 were to corporate growers on behalf of Defra, the British Poultry Council and the National Farmers’ Union.
ADAS has the ability to help growers meet the technical and legal challenges presented by the Directive. With our expertise in assessing the ventilation and heating in poultry houses, we are well placed to help improve and advice on changes that would bring them into line with the EU Broiler Directive, whilst ensuring that the changes will maintain or improve the birds’ welfare and performance. Poor litter conditions leading to pododermatitis is associated with colder, wetter weather – what does a grower do to meet the new air quality requirements without chilling the birds or using excessive amounts of fuel?
Whilst upgrades are being made, there is an opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of the poultry houses. It is possible to quantify energy use, and to see what happens to that energy in the house at different growth stages, by using thermal pictures taken using the latest infra-red cameras. A grower can see a visual demonstration of inefficiencies in heat distribution in a poultry house, major areas of heat loss and leakage. The end result is compliance with the legislation, improved environmental control and better energy efficiency, and benefits for bird performance.
The egg sector will no longer be able to house birds in conventional cages after January 2012, and has been investing in ‘enriched cages’, which are colony units with nestboxes, scratch areas and perches for, typically, 60 – 80 hens. ADAS, using previous experience in this area, has been liaising and training Egg Marketing Inspectors and Animal Health Officers in the measuring techniques needed for verifying that the units comply with the legal requirements – it sounds easy, but is quite tricky in practice, and especially as there is often only marginal tolerances in the cage design for a certain number of birds. We are, therefore, able to measure any ‘enriched’ installation, “do the maths” and advise producers on the probability of compliance with the regulations at an early stage.
As in the broiler sector, ADAS can undertake energy audits and provide solutions to use energy more efficiently. This not only reduces energy costs but improves feed efficiency. With the cost of feed so high, this should be a significant benefit to the producer.
For further information, please contact Justin Emery on 01636 677935 or email Justin.Emery@adas.co.uk