Post by Trade Coach on Dec 8, 2021 23:26:42 GMT 1
Few Weeks To Christmas And New Year: How Will You Grow And Market Your Broilers?
What is a broiler?
I get asked this question all the time, because people always get confused differentiating between birds or chicken they see every day; they want to know the difference between them and how to identify the various types of chicken available in the market.
One very important fact you know in our culture is that during the time of festivities like this, majority of the people are more interested in eating live chicken than cooking frozen chicken. Therefore, you the poultry farmer, how ready are you for the festive season?
A broiler is any chicken that is reared for meat specifically. In general, broiler chicken attains slaughter age at between 4 – 7 weeks depending on the breed, feeding and other biosecurity measures used in the farm. The broilers we are used to in this part of the world have white feathers and yellowish skin.
By now most broiler farmers must have been finalizing arrangement for the marketing of their broiler chicken for Christmas and New Year. But the reality is how many small scale broiler farmers will have their broiler chicken ready for slaughter at the age of 5 – 7 weeks?
The reason why I am bringing this question up is for new entrepreneurs who want to venture into the broiler business to take note. You must also remember that whatever number of broiler chicken you have left after the festivities become a burden as they will be consuming food unnecessarily. This is a big headache for farmers; what then can be done to drastically reduce the risk?
This brings us to the first question of how to prepare your broiler birds for the festive season, and after this we look at the best marketing strategy for the season too.
The truth is that for you to get your broilers to gain maximum weight in order to command very good price during the festive season, you must carry out certain actions, and otherwise the business will be flop.
It is a well-known fact that consumers always want to buy chicken with big weights, it attracts every buyer and they are ready to pay the price. This is the reason why poultry farmers are looking for all ways possible to increase the body weight of their broilers and even cockerels.
The first thing you must do as a broiler farmer to attain good weight for your chicken is to formulate or buy and give your broilers excellent feed. Broilers love good feeds, if you give them good feed, they will compensate you will big body weights.
From starter to finisher, find a way of knowing which feed is the best for your broilers, they are very important in the equation of things. If you have been in the business for some time, you must have known the best feed for your birds, get hold of it and get the best results.
The second point is, don’t starve your broilers when you are close to the festive seasons; when you starve your broilers for 2 weeks, it will take them 4 weeks to recover and cover the ground lost in the previous 2 weeks you starved them. That is the reason why you must get your funds ready before going into the business.
The final point and the most controversial one is; using growth promoters for your broilers to make them reach market weight fast. I personally, am not a supporter of growth enhancers for broilers, as I believe they could be harmful to the bird’s health.
I know that many farmers use growth enhancers, don’t let us deny, but whether they are harmful or is what I cannot say now. Though, I intend to do a proper research on it in the coming year. I will share the result of my research here. However, there also exists some growth enhancers known as organic growth enhancers, and looks as if those are going to be health friendly than the chemical ones.
However, there is no way anybody can know if a growth enhancer was used for a particular broiler or not. Use it sparingly and carefully to bring your birds to good weight fast for the festive period.
How do you sell your broilers and other chicken fast in this festive period?
With the advent of the internet and especially social media you can easily take advantage of Facebook and Instagram to sell off your stock before and during the festive season.
Get Strategic Locations for your sales: when you are very close to the day, get your birds to strategic locations for your sales. These days people like buying such on the go as no one is interested in going to haggle with sellers in the markets anymore.
There are people known as sponsored buyers: they will buy large quantity of your broilers as gifts to friends, relations and other groups. Look for them and make the proposal to them as a public relations tool for the season.
Don’t forget to prepare for the New Year by attending our agro-export training to equip you for the year ahead; get all the details from our Admin. You will be glad you did.
What is a broiler?
I get asked this question all the time, because people always get confused differentiating between birds or chicken they see every day; they want to know the difference between them and how to identify the various types of chicken available in the market.
One very important fact you know in our culture is that during the time of festivities like this, majority of the people are more interested in eating live chicken than cooking frozen chicken. Therefore, you the poultry farmer, how ready are you for the festive season?
A broiler is any chicken that is reared for meat specifically. In general, broiler chicken attains slaughter age at between 4 – 7 weeks depending on the breed, feeding and other biosecurity measures used in the farm. The broilers we are used to in this part of the world have white feathers and yellowish skin.
By now most broiler farmers must have been finalizing arrangement for the marketing of their broiler chicken for Christmas and New Year. But the reality is how many small scale broiler farmers will have their broiler chicken ready for slaughter at the age of 5 – 7 weeks?
The reason why I am bringing this question up is for new entrepreneurs who want to venture into the broiler business to take note. You must also remember that whatever number of broiler chicken you have left after the festivities become a burden as they will be consuming food unnecessarily. This is a big headache for farmers; what then can be done to drastically reduce the risk?
This brings us to the first question of how to prepare your broiler birds for the festive season, and after this we look at the best marketing strategy for the season too.
The truth is that for you to get your broilers to gain maximum weight in order to command very good price during the festive season, you must carry out certain actions, and otherwise the business will be flop.
It is a well-known fact that consumers always want to buy chicken with big weights, it attracts every buyer and they are ready to pay the price. This is the reason why poultry farmers are looking for all ways possible to increase the body weight of their broilers and even cockerels.
The first thing you must do as a broiler farmer to attain good weight for your chicken is to formulate or buy and give your broilers excellent feed. Broilers love good feeds, if you give them good feed, they will compensate you will big body weights.
From starter to finisher, find a way of knowing which feed is the best for your broilers, they are very important in the equation of things. If you have been in the business for some time, you must have known the best feed for your birds, get hold of it and get the best results.
The second point is, don’t starve your broilers when you are close to the festive seasons; when you starve your broilers for 2 weeks, it will take them 4 weeks to recover and cover the ground lost in the previous 2 weeks you starved them. That is the reason why you must get your funds ready before going into the business.
The final point and the most controversial one is; using growth promoters for your broilers to make them reach market weight fast. I personally, am not a supporter of growth enhancers for broilers, as I believe they could be harmful to the bird’s health.
I know that many farmers use growth enhancers, don’t let us deny, but whether they are harmful or is what I cannot say now. Though, I intend to do a proper research on it in the coming year. I will share the result of my research here. However, there also exists some growth enhancers known as organic growth enhancers, and looks as if those are going to be health friendly than the chemical ones.
However, there is no way anybody can know if a growth enhancer was used for a particular broiler or not. Use it sparingly and carefully to bring your birds to good weight fast for the festive period.
How do you sell your broilers and other chicken fast in this festive period?
With the advent of the internet and especially social media you can easily take advantage of Facebook and Instagram to sell off your stock before and during the festive season.
Get Strategic Locations for your sales: when you are very close to the day, get your birds to strategic locations for your sales. These days people like buying such on the go as no one is interested in going to haggle with sellers in the markets anymore.
There are people known as sponsored buyers: they will buy large quantity of your broilers as gifts to friends, relations and other groups. Look for them and make the proposal to them as a public relations tool for the season.
Don’t forget to prepare for the New Year by attending our agro-export training to equip you for the year ahead; get all the details from our Admin. You will be glad you did.