The bird droppings on the floor of your house can be key indicators of bigger problems. They can also help you fine tune your business, find areas where you can tighten up your feed conversion, decrease mortality and increase performance.
In this week's Scoop on Poop video, we discuss what it takes to develop “tight guts” and take a look at real examples of healthy and unhealthy poop throughout the grow out process from a commercial poultry farm.
A tight gut simply means a high functioning digestive system. Healthy, solid droppings are the best way to measure how tight your birds’ guts actually are. When birds have strong, healthy digestive systems and tight guts, your nutrition program goes further, resulting in better feed conversion and healthier birds—not to mention higher profits. So, how do you get tight guts in this antibiotic-free environment? By strengthening your birds’ natural defenses and digestive ability. To do this, you need a powerhouse of probiotics, organic acids and biologically active carbon. Studies show these work in combination to increase bird health and flock weights, decrease mortality, improve immune systems and create better performance across the board in poultry flocks. Let’s break down why.
Probiotics are simply good bacteria that help birds fight off harmful bacteria, like E. coli and Clostridium, that can lead to big problems like necrotic enteritis and dermatitis. If birds have a whole army of strong, good bacteria in their guts, they stand a better chance at winning if and when disease is introduced to their systems. Organic acids and biologically active carbon help open up the cells that absorb nutrients in the birds’ gut. This means they take in more of the good stuff in the feed and grow bigger and stronger as a result, without you needing to increase the amount of food they eat.
These key ingredients are the recipe for tighter guts and a healthier business. We developed Big Ole Bird with these three components to help farmers strengthen flocks from within, without relying on antibiotics. If you aren’t seeing healthy droppings, you might consider adding Big Ole Bird to your nutrition plan. We have heard everything from “you’re our secret weapon” to “you saved our farm” from farmers who use this performer.
Big Ole Bird Studies
We love hearing testimonials from farmers, but we also love science around here at Southland, and we wanted tangible numbers to back up the results we consistently heard from the field. We believed so much in the product that we had two different third-party studies done to prove its effectiveness. The results were astounding. In the first study, birds that were given the Clostridium bacteria to bring about necrotic enteritis and given Big Ole Bird saw mortality improvement from 10.9% to 4.7%. That’s a big deal, guys! In the second study, Southern Poultry Research Group compared two healthy groups of Ross 708s. The group given Big Ole Bird saw an average weight gain of a quarter pound on a 38 day bird and a feed conversion improvement of 7 points.
We are so excited about these findings because they mean the farmers we serve every day can see more profitable flocks and better rankings amongst their peers.
Our goal is ALWAYS to help you, the farmer.
With the absence of antibiotics and the ever-present challenges of environmental conditions and disease, we know it can feel nearly impossible to achieve the results you saw in years past. The solution to loose guts, high mortality and low feed conversion is to strengthen your birds from the inside out.
If you need help with tightening guts or simply would like to learn more, the Southland Organics team is here. Connect with me, Allen Reynolds, at 800-608-3755 or allen@southlandorganics.com. Don’t forget to subscribe because we are constantly adding great, educational content to help you keep your farm healthy!
Remember, your poultry house is a bacterial battlefield. Biosecurity is the way to win, and we are here to help you in the fight.
Check out Scoop on Poop: Digestion 101.
