Poultry Digest December/January 2017

poultrydigest December/January 2017

www.primarymedia.com.au

Volume 32, Number 3

A major change of plan for the Erbenis

What will the key issues for the poultry industry be in 2017?

Australian egg farmers to answer the South Korean call for help Does free range farming increase the probability of HPAI disease outbreak?

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Volume 32, Number 3

December/January 2017

EDITORIAL & DESIGN EDITOR: JOURNALIST/PHOTOGRAPHER PRODUCTION EDITOR

Peter Bedwell Alex Bedwell Rosemary Embery

ADVERTISING Peter Bedwell Mob: 0419 235 288 Email: primarymedia@bigpond.com Louie Erbeni and Joe Vella from Protective Fabrications.

Features Page 10: A major change of plan for the Erbenis

by Peter Bedwell

Page 18: Does free range farming increase the probability of HPAI disease outbreak?

by George Arzey

News Page 4: Ingham’s listing on the ASX a major change for the Australian broiler industry Page 6: Woolworths has appointed new Managing Director of Supermarkets Page 26: World feed production exceeds one billion tons according to 2017 Alltech survey Page 28: Australian egg farmers to answer the South Korean call for help Page 36: What will the key issues be for the poultry industry in 2017?

Product News Page 32: BlueFan – big savings on electricity bills

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NEWS

Ingham’s listing on the ASX a major change for the Australian broiler industry

By PETER BEDWELL While political events both at home and globally have dominated the media, the big news in late 2016 for the poultry industry was the listing of the TPG private equity group’s Inghams Enterprises on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Not since Goodman Fielder sold its Steggles operations to Bartters back in 1999, has there been a major publicly listed company producing chicken meat.

There was much speculation in the financial press as to share value and the indication from TPG’ s prospectus which put a value of between $3.57 and $4.14 on the share price.

When listed on November 7, 2016 the offer was priced at $3.15 a share giving a market capitalization of close to $1.2 billion. TPG opted to retain 47% of its equity, probably a smart move as investors in Australia have become wary of private equity unloading its operations onto the ASX in recent times.

Though some commentators expressed disappointment at the Inghams IPO, given the headwinds of political upheaval and general investor hesitancy, the result wasn’t at all bad.

In fact the entire strategy from the acquisition of Inghams by TPG back in March 2013 has been very profitable.

Starting with an original investment of $880 million, TPG sold much of the company infrastructure and leased back the assets at a cost of approximately $32 million p.a.

This initiative raised more than $600 million and a couple of good years helped by lower feed costs and further growth in chicken meat consumption, meant that TPG owned a reasonably profitable operation free and clear.

So now at the start of 2017 the

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company owns close to half of a well established company and has generated at least half a billion dollars on its original investment.

The new management team lead by Mick McMahon, who was previously CEO of The Skilled Group and before that Managing Director of Coles Express (2005/9), has plenty of experience relevant to the poultry industry.

One of the major challenges this team faces is the reduction in operating costs of an estimated $200 million over the next few years. How this can be achieved is probably of greatest interest to shareholders and many poultry industry participants.

In 2016 Rabobank Australia warned that the rate of increase in chicken meat consumption may be slowing and that future strategies for growth should include value adding the basic chicken meat product and exploring the potential for exports (as the NZ broiler sector has achieved).

Certainly the Inghams NZ operation could be helpful to the overall company in its efforts toward more exports.

Recently established trade agreements negotiated between Australia, Japan and South Korea, could also present opportunities in this process.

The potential for poultry imports to disrupt the Australian industry cannot be underestimated, and the news at the end of 2016 that raw poultry imports from NZ, as well as cooked turkey meat from the US, was under consideration by the Australian government probably didn’t help TPG/Ingham’s IPO. However, if Inghams can significantly reduce operating costs, this could be one of the best methods of defence against further poultry meat imports as well as keeping its new shareholders happy.

Another development earlier in January was the news that the main architect of the TPG/Inghams acquisition and subsequent strategy, Ben Gray, the MD of TPG’s Asian/ Oceania operations, was about to set up his own Australian based private equity fund.

Could his experience gained in the Ingham operation have further relevance to the poultry sector in the future?

So what about Baiada, the other major chicken meat producer.

The focus on the Inghams IPO at the end of last year inevitably invited speculation about Baiada and its plans for the future.

Its major initiative has not been about broiler production but the family owned businesses property developments.

With significant land holding in Sydney’s outer western region its property company launched in 2015 is developing residential blocks, and building a technology park.

In inner Sydney the family owned company, Celestino, named after the company’s founder, has acquired a block of land on Blackwattle Bay that will be used for both commercial and residential development.

Reports in the financial press predicted the value of these developments exceeds $4 billion, far in excess of the company’s revenue from its poultry enterprise estimated to turnover $1.3 billion a year.

Other speculation related to Baiada’s poultry operations and was outlined in the Australian Financial Review’s ‘Street Talk’ page on November 15 , 2016.

“Well placed sources reckon Baiada has this year considered a potential deal with A J Bush and Sons, one of the oldest meat retailers in Australia,” the article stated.

Certainly any such diversification would add value to the long established Baiada business.

While Ingham’s operations grew mostly within Australia and in particular benefited from the expansion of supermarket chains like Woolies, Baiada’s early expansion was significantly driven by exports to the UK during and just after WWII. Though both Inghams and Baiada rely on ‘big retail’ for much of their revenue, it is arguable that Baidaa, with its strong brand recognition for the Steggles and Lilydale brands, has a more diversified path to market for its products.

The listing of first Tegel on both Australian and NZ stock exchanges and then Inghams, has certainly aroused more interest in the poultry sector by the investment community.

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NEWS

Woolworths has appointed new Managing Director of Supermarkets On January 16, Woolworths Group announced that it had appointed Claire Peters to the role of Managing Director, Woolworths Supermarkets effective from July 1, 2017.

“Mrs Peters joins Woolworths with more than 20 years experience in retail, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Tesco Thailand where she had overall responsibility for Tesco Thailand’s supply chain and logistics encompassing 60,000 employees across 1,900 stores and six distribution centres,” a company statement revealed.

“Mrs Peters will report to Brad Banducci, Chief Executive Officer of the Woolworths Group.

“In addition to his CEO duties Mr Banducci will continue to play an active leadership role in the Woolworths Supermarkets, Digital, Metro and New Zealand Supermarkets businesses,” the statement added.

“After an extensive search for the right candidate, we are delighted to welcome someone of Claire’s calibre to our team.

“Cultural fit is critically important to us and Claire has the ability to work with our team to further develop our ‘customer first and team first’ strategy,” said Mr Banducci.

“I am excited to be joining Woolworths and leading an experienced, nationwide team of retailers,” Mrs Peters said.

“Successful retailers put their customers first and I look forward to continuing to drive Woolworth’s existing customer- led strategy,” she said.

Mrs Peters began her retail career more than two decades ago as a graduate at Tesco.

“She held a variety of store manager roles before progressing on to further positions including Regional Retail Director, Managing Director (large stores) and Commercial Director, healthcare and baby, beauty and toiletries.

In March 2014 she moved to Thailand to take up her COO responsibilities for Tesco Thailand,” the statement concluded.

It has to be said that 2016 was not a good year for Woolworths as the Masters Stores enterprise was terminated after generating

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Left: Claire Peters, the new Managing Director, Woolworths Supermarkets.

Above right: Alex Holt, General Manager, Quality and Sustainability.

significant losses.

In June 2016, Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien announced that he was leaving the company after the board found a suitable replacement.

An increasingly competitive Coles and Aldi’s growing presence, also cut into Woolworth’s profitability.

Though it won a court case against the ACCC over ‘unconscionable conduct’ in relation to its ‘Mind the Gap’ strategy which involved payments from suppliers, numerous high profile politicians took the opportunity to call for more protection for suppliers in dealing with ‘big retail’.

Now however, the situation has improved for Woolies according to the nation’s financial press after a good run up to the Christmas period.

There are also signs that Woolies is making greater efforts to engage with its suppliers.

Certainly key executives in the Woolworths supply chain team have attended layer industry gatherings

recently.

Two of Woolies food industry specialists attended Greg Mill’s excellent Layer Industry Masterclass held at the Stamford Sydney Airport hotel in June 2016.

At the AECL Industry Forum held at the Sands Resort, Torquay in Victoria in November 2016, Teresa Redondo (Head of Perishables) and Alex Holt General Manager, Quality and Sustainability, spoke about their company’s plans and revealed some research into consumer attitudes.

John Loader, Category Manager and Nick Hover, Animal Welfare were also in attendance and willing to talk to the many producers and industry identities at the event.

While the poultry industry in Australia is only too well aware of the very competitive nature of retailing in Australia, it is critical that we can communicate with retail management to achieve the best outcomes for all concerned.

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Rosa and Louie Erbeni on their recently converted layer farm at Mangrove Mountain in NSW. Protective Fabrications supplied Sime-Tek egg packer fitted to all sheds

A major change of plan for the Erbenis

By PETER BEDWELL

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or a second time Poultry Digest recently visited the Mangrove Mountain farm run by Rosa and Louie Erbeni.

The first visit in 2008, was to see the new polymer coolpads and the conversion to tunnel ventilation of the five broiler sheds on the farm.

At that stage the Erbeni’s were contracted to Inghams and the black plastic evaporative cool pads had been supplied by Joe Vella’s Protective Fabrications.

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Though slightly more costly than waxed paper pads, the polymer pads claimed to not only be as, or more efficient, but much more durable than the alternatives which usually needed replacement within five years.

On our second visit nearly nine years later those same pads were still fully functional but instead of keeping a shed full of broilers comfortable, they were cooling 14,000 layer hens on a 36 degree C day.

Joe Vella told Poultry Digest that it was Rosa who first raised the subject of the change as both she and Louie were uncertain of the direction that the broiler industry was heading and felt that long term layer production offered a more secure future.

After a change from Inghams to Red Lea, the Erbenis thought about a long term plan for their farm and given the changes in the layer industry towards cage free production, in mid 2015 they approached Protective Fabrications to do a costing. The brief was to keep it simple and reliable. The deal was struck on November 2015 with management

from SKA present.

In the middle of 2016, Protective Fabrications began the conversion of the sheds to layer production.

The plan was to use as much of the existing shed infrastructure as possible so Joe and his team set about designing a progressive conversion using the versatile SKA Avio nest system, the existing Chore Time feeders and Corti drinkers.

With a secure and reliable access to market for their eggs, everyone involved was keen to get on with the conversion and by the time Poultry Digest visited in late January three out of five sheds were in production and work was well advanced on the other two with placement by mid February.

The existing climate control system installed during the conversion to tunnel ventilation for broiler rearing using the innovative polymer coolpads, mini vents, Agri Logic controllers, and conventional fans, was ideal for the layer housing but two of the existing main fans have been replaced by Pericoli units supplied by Joe.

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An interesting aspect of the Protective Fabrications installation is the fact that each of the five sheds has its own dedicated packing room and an Italian made Sime-Tek Farm Packer unit.

“The Sime-Tek Packer can handle up to 16,000 eggs per hour and the Erbenis decided that this was the best approach rather than moving eggs about the farm to a single dedicated packing shed using conveyor systems, which would have crisscrossed the farm and restricted access,” Joe explained.

Each shed has a partitionedoff packing room with Shed One incorporating the coolroom.

“The Sime-Tek units we supplied are a relatively simple design and easy to maintain, and of equal importance, all components are readily available,” Joe said.

SKA Avio D nests with 500 mm egg belts are installed in all the sheds.

There are double tier units with a dual drive egg belt on each tier in Shed One and Sheds Two to Five have the new single tier Avio D with the 350mm nest entry opening and 500mm egg belts.

All SKA nest components are of hot dipped galvanised and gal sheet construction which facilitates ease of cleaning and durability.

All sheds have SKA slats (400kg per square metre) set 800mm off the ground with the four smaller sheds incorporating a scratch area.

An obvious and critical difference between feeding systems for broilers and layers, is broiler diets are targeting rapid growth, whereas the aim of an efficient layer diet is to maintain the bird at an ideal weight for egg production.

Modern layer genetics respond to highly specific diets so an accurate feed weighing system is required.

The SKA feed weighing system in conjunction with the SKA cross auger system installed in each shed helps to ensure hens get an accurate preset grams per day via a simple pushbutton module.

The farm currently runs one flock of 25,000 Lohmann hens in Shed One and 14,000 Isa Browns in the other four sheds. A total capacity of 81,000 birds.

Another important aspect of the conversion is the use of the latest design from Italian company Agritech’s fibre glass grain silos.

“There are a number of improvements that the Agritech fibre glass silos offer and silo design both for efficiency and safety has improved a lot in recent years,” Joe pointed out.

“There are now very specific safety requirements for ladders on farm silos and the Agritech product complies with the latest ADR & OH&S regulations.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 w

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1. Once a broiler shed, soon to be a housing 14000 layers. 2. Polymer cool pads still fully functional after nine years. 3. All sheds have SKA slats.

4. Agritech fibre glass silos – the ladders are OH&S compliant. The silos have a transparent viewing strip so grain levels can be established. 5. The SKA feed weighing system delivers accurate preset grams per day.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 “The fibre glass production process has also improved, making these units more durable and user friendly.

“The silos have a transparent viewing strip from top to bottom so grains levels can be established with a quick glance.

“A 70 degree taper to the feed auger take off ensures a reliable and constant flow,” Joe added.

If the Erbenis were able to save by using existing shed structures and infrastructure, they certainly invested heavily in their new equipment to provide efficiency, longevity and ease of use.

They made a momentous decision when committing to the change but the results appear, for the long term, they have made a wise move.

Egg consumption continues to grow in Australia and it’s above the rate of population expansion.

There is a bit of history here. When migrants to Australia arrived from the Mediterranean regions of Europe, the poultry farms they established were primarily egg producing. Meat chickens were just a bi-product of the layer farms.

Now with consumers becoming more healthy diet conscious and even reducing the amount of meat they choose to eat, egg consumption is tearing up the graph in the same way that chicken meat consumption has since the 1970s.

There is a huge demand for eggs and even if the big retailers do in the future stop selling cage laid, barn laid (or aviary production), will still increase in popularity as it has in the major markets of the EU and the USA. v

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1. Michael Vella and Joseph Camelleri from Protective Fabrications. 2. SKA Avio system ready for installation. 3. Use of existing fans but two Pericoli units replace older fans. 4. New SKA Avio D nest boxes.

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HEALTH FEATURE

Does free range farming increase the probability of HPAI disease outbreak?

By GEORGE ARZEY, Poultry Veterinarian In November 2013 following the avian influenza outbreak at Young in NSW, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce sounded a warning about free-range egg production leading to an increase in bird flu.

The ABC FactCheck supported this claim on the grounds that it is almost impossible to stop free-range chickens from coming into contact with avian influenza when they leave the shed (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-1101/barnaby-joyce-bird-flu-free-rangechicken-farms/5043614).

Indeed a sound logical conclusion but unfortunately FactCheck examined opinions and logic rather than facts.

A recent collaborative project on risk mitigation of avian influenza in Australia employing simulation modelling concluded that “as the proportion of free range farms in the Australian chicken industry increases the probability of HPAI outbreak increases”.

Should facts be considered and what are they?

Historical facts do not predict the future but they can provide significant insight into the risk.

Global Facts (based on reported outbreaks to OIE (http://www.oie.int/ animal-health-in-the-world/updateon-avian-influenza/2016/), reviews by Swayne 2008, Lupiani and Reddy 2009, Capua and Alexander 2010).

• An examination of the reported highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks between 2000 and November 2016 indicates 50 primary outbreaks in commercial poultry flocks in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Australia with 36% (18) reported in commercial layers and within this group 7 in FR layer flocks (2 in Australia).

• The median size of FR layer flocks where an outbreak occurred was 50,000 hens.

• The incidence of reported avian influenza outbreaks in indoor breeder flocks (likely to be kept under tighter biosecurity than other commercial flocks) was 18% of the total outbreaks and higher than the incidence in FR layer flocks (14%). Notably, of the eight

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HPAI affected farms in Canada in 2014, five were breeder flocks.

• The five overseas outbreaks in FR layer flocks were in the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.

Western Europe is the main region (outside Australia) with a significant increase in FR egg production in recent years and a detailed examination of outbreaks in this region could perhaps provide a few answers.

• Austria with 29% FR egg production (IEC 2015) has not reported HPAI in layer flocks.

• Belgium with 11% FR egg production (IEC 2015) reported one HPAI incident as a result of spread from the Netherlands in 2003.

• Denmark with 25% FR egg production (IEC 2015) has not reported HPAI in commercial layer flocks during this period despite repeated reports of avian influenza virus in wild birds in this country.

• France - one of the leading egg producers in Europe and with 25% FR egg production (IEC 2015) experienced in late 2016 one HPAI outbreak in a

flock of chickens mixed with domestic ducks.

• Germany - despite almost doubling of the number of FR farms between 1999 and 2007 (131 up to 255, IEC annual review 2009) not a single HPAI outbreak has been reported in this sector.

• Italy - FR egg production increased from 3% in January 2013 to 18% (IEC 2015) with 2 outbreaks in a FR flock in mid-August 2013 and 2016 and 1 outbreak in an indoor flock (2014). It appears that outbreaks in Italy could have been associated with the FR sector increasing its share.

• Netherlands - FR egg production in 2015 was 21% (IEC 2015) with the most significant increase in the last 8 years. No outbreaks in FR flocks were reported during that 8 year period (4 independently acquired outbreaks were reported in indoor layer flocks in 2014).

• UK – According to Defra between 2008 and 2016, consumption of FR eggs almost doubled, but the number of HPAI outbreaks in this sector remained unchanged (1 in 2008 and 1 in 2015).

However, USA, Canada and Mexico where cage egg production predominates (97% -100%, IEC 2015), suffered significant and prolonged

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HEALTH FEATURE v

outbreaks in indoor layer flocks despite biosecurity auditing (US, Canada).

Australia

• Free range egg production was

reported to be 28% of the total egg market (IEC 2015).

• The latest outbreaks of HPAI (2012 and 2013) occurred in FR flocks of 50,000 and 160,000 hens. The transformation of avian influenza viruses to highly pathogenic viruses is more likely in large flocks.

• On the basis of what the Veterinary Investigation Manager in the 2013 outbreak stated in The Veterinarian (November 2016) and my knowledge of the 2012 outbreak, a key issue is the presence of dams near poultry sheds, be it FR or indoor sheds.

• According to Free Range Egg Production in Australia - Industry Trends (Ruhnke 2015 http://www.ltz. de/en/news/lohmann-information/4.

Ruhnke_Free-range-egg-production-inAustralia-2_2015.php), the total number of free range layer flocks in 2014 was 5,496. There were 355 egg producers that housed more than 500 hens and of them 186 were free range farms.

Considering the much higher proportion of FR than indoor farms, are the two outbreaks in FR flocks an indication of their proportion in the population or their vulnerability and is the vulnerability a function of flock size?

If it was reported that with increased sales of pink SUVs, their involvement in car accidents had increased, would we blame the colour or examine whether the increased incidence was a result of their increased share of the market?

I suspect that those who intensely dislike a pink vehicles would be inclined to blame the colour….

Why is the trend defying biosecurity efforts?

It is evident that 18 primary HPAI outbreaks were reported in a 40 year period (1959-1999) and more than 50 primary HPAI outbreaks between 2000 and 2016, a much shorter period during which biosecurity concepts have gained momentum. This could be a result of an increased number of poultry farms, farm size, increased concentration of farms in certain geographical areas, increased number of FR flocks, destruction of wetland habitats and placement of farms in high risk areas, or all of the above elements may have contributed to the increase.

The most recent estimate of wetland losses is between 64 -71%, with losses of natural inland wetlands consistently

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greater and at a faster rate than coastal wetlands (http://www.ramsar.org/sites/ default/files/documents/library/bn7e_0. pdf). This may impact on the number of wild waterfowl that visit poultry farms with dams, especially inland farms where dams are built in close proximity to sheds.

In 1979 there were 3200 commercial layer farms in Australia, in 1986 this number was reduced to 1700 (http:// www.poultryhub.org/production/ industry-structure-and-organisations/ egg-industry/).

By 2015 the number of commercial layer farms dropped to less than 400 but the number of hens increased.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the HPAI outbreaks are associated with a linear increase in the number of farms.

Increased concentration of poultry farms in certain areas could provide a partial explanation in some countries although the outbreaks in Australia in Maitland and Young areas in 2012 and 2013 did not occur in highly poultry populated areas.

Is the reason the increase in the free range sector?

Focusing on the recent Australian scenario, ignoring all other contributing aspects, may give the impression that this is indeed the case, unless flock size and the proportion of FR farms is considered.

However, examination of overseas data suggests that the trend is far from being as clear or consistent as some have suggested.

The rationale that the risk in free range flocks is higher than in indoor flocks because direct contact can’t be eliminated is sound provided that direct contact is the most significant risk factor.

Global data, outbreaks in indoor breeder flocks and outbreaks of low pathogenicity AI in Australia twice (2006, 2010) in highly biosecured flocks, suggest a need to examine the

relative contribution of direct contact and indirect contacts to HPAI outbreaks and as importantly, specific biosecurity concepts.

Biosecurity Australian published survey results of the 2001 National Newcastle disease survey (East et al, Prev. Vet. Med, 2006) concluded that consistently high levels of hygiene and biosecurity were reported across all the surveyed farms.

In 2007 the same author concluded that farms in the poultry meat sector of the Australian poultry industries have a high level of adoption of biosecurity practices.

However, in 2016 a survey of poultry farms, reported by Dr Angela Scott, found that wild birds were present inside sheds in 47% of chicken meat barns and inside 56% of indoor layer sheds. 52% of the free range farms also had wild birds present inside the sheds. Not a big surprise in this housing system but with this in mind one may ponder the biosecurity difference between indoor and outdoor flocks.

The significant presence of wild birds (not wild waterfowl) inside poultry sheds suggests that although theoretically indoor poultry sheds appear to provide better biosecurity, the reality is different.

How can primary HPAI outbreaks in indoor flocks be explained unless direct contact with wild birds (not waterfowl) plays a significant role or indirect routes play as much or more of a role than the direct route.

It is evident that stopping AIV incursions into indoor poultry flocks presents a tough challenge. Human nature can explain a few failures but it is also necessary to probe some axiomatic biosecurity beliefs. It is also prudent to examine significant potential domestic sources of avian influenza viruses.

Domestic waterfowl Some of the outbreaks in Australia in chickens (1976 and 1992) have been attributed to the presence of AI viruses in nearby domestic ducks. Surveys in NSW found avian influenza viruses in domestic ducks.

Surveys in the EU between 2012 and 2015 detected 3% to 11.5% prevalence of H5/H7 AI viruses in breeder ducks and geese.

Low pathogenicity avian influenza in Australia has been reported mostly in mixed flocks that included domestic ducks.

A review of the outbreaks in the USA between 2014 and 2015 also reveals that 8 of the nine infected backyard

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HEALTH FEATURE v

flocks were mixed flocks that included domestic ducks. The experiments reported by David Swayne (https://www. ars.usda.gov/research/publications/ publication/?seqNo115=222617) suggest that chickens “are not easily infected with most wild bird AIV. In contrast, domestic ducks and turkeys are easily infected and they could serve as key bridging species for waterfowlorigin AIV crossing into domestic chickens”.

It would be prudent to consider that a significant presence of avian influenza viruses in one poultry sector could spill over into other sectors by a variety of means including vicinity spread or long distance movements of service personnel or vehicles.

Risk mitigation Regardless of the level of risk that may be associated with outdoor flocks, the aim should be to mitigate the risk unless the aim of risk assessments is to fight a retrograde action against emerging consumers’ choices.

Effective risk mitigations should strive to take a pragmatic and realistic approach. Our understanding of the indoor shed environment and innovations that followed have not materialised overnight yet this environment is still not optimally biosecured.

Efforts to understand the outdoor challenges and solutions should not be less vigorous. Crucial to this improvements is the understanding of the behaviour of chickens and wild waterfowl at the interface between the two populations.

At the same time a proper examination of solutions either through netting of the range area, placement of stock-guarding animals trained to deter wild waterfowl is necessary.

Evaluating practices If the presence of feed attracts wild ducks on the range why is it that wild waterfowl have not been reported inside sheds where the feed is present?

The size of the pop-hole that allows chickens to exit should also allow waterfowl to enter. What prevents wild waterfowl entering a free range shed?

The fear of the abode or the presence of chickens?

If it’s the presence of chickens, perhaps the direct route and contact between chickens and wild waterfowl is not as likely in a genuine free range situation when chickens are allowed and encouraged to dominate the range area daily, all hours of the day. Perhaps the

22

dominating presence of chickens on the range provides a significant deterrent?

Perhaps our understanding of the biosecurity risks of free range and indoor enterprises is somewhat incomplete?

One Canadian study (http:// fulltext.study/article/2452788/ Evaluation-of-strategies-to-enhancebiosecurity-compliance-on-poultryfarms-in-Qu%C3%A9bec-Effectof-audits-and-cameras) highlighted the deteriorating effectiveness of biosecurity in breeder flocks as a result of time fatigue and this would affect the likelihood of indirect introduction of the virus but this is only one aspect of concern.

Trawling through ILT notifications in NSW and Victoria, it is difficult not to ponder the possible failure of biosecurity.

Should we expect biosecurity miracles in the case of AI? Following live chicken transport, watching fugitive feathers, makes me wonder what biosecurity means when an obvious mode of disease transmission is not addressed.

Or, perhaps the message to producers to approach biosecurity with an assumption that their flocks are positive for AIV at all times, somehow excludes inconvenient biosecurity aspects?

How do we translate this concept into the biosecurity challenge presented by pick-up and vaccination crews?

It is evident that worldwide the industry has failed to stop AI incursions into indoor poultry flocks and while human nature can explain a few breaches it is also necessary to probe some axiomatic biosecurity beliefs, especially those based on human logic that is not guided by comprehensive knowledge.

• Are foot dips always effective or do they lead to a false sense of biosafety?

• Is donning on overalls in a change room and taking them off at the end of

the visit in the same room a biosecurity savvy practice?

• It is recommended that the area around sheds be kept mowed. Is this an effective or counterproductive practice when wild ducks attraction to young shoots is considered?

• Providing free range flocks with water and feed inside the shed are accepted axiomatically as a sound biosecurity measure but are they concurrently reducing the use of the range allowing wild ducks to dominate?

• Is the concept of opening the pop holes around midday a biosecurity savvy approach?

• Do we understand or attempt to understand the interface between chickens and wild ducks?

• What biosecurity role could stock guard animals play?

• Wild birds have been reported in more than 50% of indoor sheds that were recently surveyed. This is despite biosecurity efforts in the last 20 years and despite the theoretical ability to exclude them.

Would full canopy netting at a cost of $40,000 - $75,000 per hectare (http://www.otcobirdnet.com. au/Orchard-Netting-Report.pdf) provide a significant measure of biosecurity comfort in FR flocks?

Conclusions It would appear that the increase in FR flocks does not necessarily increase the likelihood of HPAI outbreaks.

However, the aim should be to mitigate even a very low risk.

Repeated HPAI outbreaks in indoor flocks and the palpable concerns about free range flocks necessitate a thorough examination of all aspects of biosecurity, scientific examination of available humane deterrents and a better understanding of the behaviour of wild waterfowl at the interface with chickens. Ultimately, full canopy netting that is used by fruit growers in Australia should be considered. The ’patience’ shown to indoor flocks should also be directed to FR enterprises.

Similarly to indoor flocks, it would be overly optimistic to expect the risk in free range flocks to evaporate even with the best of mitigations, however, a very significant minimisation of the risk can be achieved by lateral thinking and requiring that every aspect of biosecurity does not only sound good but more importantly, is proven scientifically to be effective.

This principle is equally applicable to FR and indoor flocks.

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World feed production exceeds one billion tons according to 2017 Alltech survey The 2017 Alltech Global Feed Survey, released recently, estimates that international feed tonnage has exceeded one billion metric tons for the first time.

That’s a 3.7% increase over last year and represents 19% growth since the inaugural survey in 2012, despite a 7% decrease in the number of feed mills.

The sixth annual survey is the most comprehensive ever, now covering 141 countries and more than 30,000 feed mills. The results show that the United States and China are the top two countries, producing one-third of all animal feed, and that predominant growth came from the beef, pig and aquaculture feed sectors as well as several African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

“This year clearly demonstrates the growing efficiency and consolidation of the feed industry,” said Aidan Connolly, Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of Corporate Accounts for Alltech.

“Not only has total feed production exceeded one billion tons for the first time, but it has done so with fewer facilities, which means greater efficiencies and a decreased environmental footprint.”

The Alltech Global Feed Survey assesses compound feed production and prices through information collected by Alltech’s global sales team and in partnership with local feed associations.

It is intended to serve as an information resource for policymakers, decision makers and industry stakeholders.

This year’s survey showed that the top 30 countries, ranked by production output, are home to 82% of the world’s feed mills and produce 86% of the world’s total feed.

The top 10 feed-producing countries in 2016, in order of production output importance, were China, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, India, Russia, Germany, Japan and France. These countries contain 56% of the world’s feed mills and account for 60% of total production.

Regional results from the 2017 Alltech Global Feed Survey • Asia: China remained the top feedproducing country with 187.20 million metric tons, while increased production for the Asian region also came from

26

Vietnam, Pakistan, India and Japan.

Vietnam in particular grew 21% over the past year and moved into the top 15 countries list for the first time, specifically led by increased production of pig and broiler feed.

Asia continues to be one of the most expensive locations in the world to raise animals, as Japan’s feed prices are some of the highest in the world and China’s prices are double that of most of the top 10 producing countries.

• North America: North America feed production remains relatively flat. However, the region continues to lead other regions in feed production for beef, turkey, pet and equine.

• Africa: Africa had the fastest regional growth for the fifth year in a row, with more than half of the countries achieving growth.

Nigeria, Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya and Zambia each showed significant growth that was greater than 30 %. The region still lags in terms of feed per capita but shows continued opportunity for growth. Africa also has some of the highest finishing prices of any region, as Nigeria and Cameroon both rank in the top five countries.

• Europe: For the first time in several years, the European Union saw feed tonnage growth. The region was led by Spain with 31.9 million tons produced in 2016, up 8%. Decreases came from Germany, France, Turkey and the

Netherlands.

• Latin America: Brazil remained the leader in feed production, while Mexico saw the highest growth in tonnage, now accounting for more than 20 % of Latin America’s total feed production but still only almost half of Brazil’s total production.

Overall, Latin America has moderate feed prices, but Brazil’s have increased this year. When compared to the United States, Brazil’s feed prices are 20 % higher for pigs and 40 % higher for layers and breeders.

“Overall feed prices are down, and therefore food production costs are down,” said Mr Connolly.

“From a global perspective, we estimate the value of the feed industry at $460 billion.”

Notable species results from the 2017 Alltech Global Feed Survey are that the poultry industry represented 44 % of the total global feed production, a slight decrease from last year. This could be a result of avian influenza, industry consolidation and more efficient feed conversion.

Positive growth was observed in pig feed production, particularly in Asia as Vietnam and Thailand are now top 10 pig-producing countries.

China represents over a quarter of the world’s pig feed production, but sow numbers have decreased by almost 40% over the past three years.

New Export Manager for Potters Poultry, UK Jerry Bailey-Watts became the Export Manager for Potters Poultry at the beginning of November 2016, having previously worked within the vaccine industry as Key Account Manager for MSD’s UK Poultry Business for the past five and a half years.

Prior to that, he spent 22 years in chicken sheds in managerial roles within the breeder and layer sectors of the UK poultry industry; twelve of these were spent with Europe’s largest egg packer, Noble Foods.

“My brief with regard to the new role at Potters Poultry is to promote the company’s range of equipment (enriched cages, aviary systems for rear and lay, nest systems for breeders and layers, drinkers, feeders and slats) and to work alongside distributors and farmers in support of their supply/use of that equipment,” Jerry said.

“I am delighted to have joined the business and look forward to meeting people within the poultry industries of countries around the world.”

NEWS

Australian egg farmers to answer the South Korean call for help Help from Australian egg farmers will soon be on its way to South Korea as the country fights one of its worst avian influenza (bird flu) epidemics in recent times.

Up to 30 million hens have been reported as having been culled in South Korea as it grapples with the avian influenza outbreak, leaving the country short of about 15 million dozen eggs per week.

The Australian Government and the Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources have finalised a new export agreement with South Korea, allowing Australian eggs to be sold in that country.

The South Korean Government has also recently announced it was removing import tariffs on eggs until at

least June 30, 2017.

The agreement’s implementation takes immediate effect.

As a result, up to $20 million worth of Australian eggs could be exported to South Korea this year.

Australian Egg Corporation Limited Managing Director, Rowan McMonnies said “this is a huge opportunity for Australian egg farmers who are set to provide some of the 180 million eggs South Korea needs each week as a result of their avian influenza crisis.”

“Australian farmers work hard to ensure our hens, eggs and farming practices are among the best and safest in the world and this is reflected by the fact that South Korea has opened its doors to us in its time of need,” Mr McMonnies said.

“We are happy to be helping South Korean consumers and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate Australian egg farmers’ ability to step up and play a leading role in the long term food security of the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

Eggs are an important part of the South Korean diet and are a core ingredient in its national dish Bibimbap, as well as being a rich source of protein and nutrition.

South Koreans consume slightly more eggs per capita than Australians at 250 eggs per person in 2014 compared to Australia’s 227.

Australian egg farmers are ideally positioned due to South Korea’s growing preference for brown eggs as opposed to white eggs.

Nutreco expands footprint in Canada and creates new base for US with purchase Nutreco will acquire Hi-Pro Feeds, an animal nutrition supplier with operations in Western Canada and Southwest United States.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in Canada and the US, and is expected to close in the second half of 2017 at the latest.

Hi-Pro Feeds is a full-service animal nutrition supplier, supplying complete and specialty feeds, premixes, concentrates and commodity ingredients mainly in Western Canada and Southwest US. It operates 15 mills and is headquartered in Okotoks, Alberta. Birch Hill Equity Partners is the current majority owner.

The company owns Hi-Pro Feeds together with the company’s employees, more than 80% of whom have invested in the company.

“We consider Hi-Pro Feeds as a very exciting company with a good reputation and solid management,” said Knut Nesse, CEO of Nutreco.

“In Canada, this acquisition will

28

make us a truly nationwide animal nutrition company with a good presence in all regions and livestock segments.

In the US, this deal creates a new base for Nutreco, particularly in the dairy and beef industry in the Southwest.”

“Hi-Pro Feeds is renowned for its lean, agile and customer-centric operational model.

“Combined with Nutreco’s innovation strength and nutritional solutions consisting of a wide range of models, products and services, I am confident that we will create extra value for our combined customer base in the whole of Canada,” said Jacques Leclerc, Managing Director of Nutreco Canada.

“In Nutreco we have found a good steward for our business and we are excited about the opportunities that this brings to our customers and employees,” said Daren Kennett, founder of Hi-Pro Feeds.

“As a global company, Nutreco has the resources and network available to create additional value for our

customers through an expanded offering of proprietary models, products and services,” he said.

The leadership team, consisting of Daren Kennett, Mark Knief and Jeff Dykstra, will continue to manage the Hi-Pro Feeds business in Canada and the United States.

The strength of the combined Nutreco and Hi-Pro Feeds’ leadership team will allow Hi-Pro Feeds CEO, Dean Prevost, to transition his responsibilities over time.

Lazard Middle Market and CIBC Capital Markets acted as advisers to Hi-Pro Feeds.

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NEWS

Golf Day supports good health Another great day was had by all at the annual NSW Poultry Industry Golf Day. This year’s event was held in the middle of October at the Camden Lakeside Country Club under clear skies and conditions ideal for good scoring.

The first golf day for people involved in the poultry industry was in 1964 and was named after Jock Smith and took place at the Cumberland Golf Club.

Jock was the District Poultry Livestock Officer for the Sydney Cumberland area and he played regularly at the club on Friday afternoons with his good mates and died at an early age from cancer.

Originally called the Jock Smith Memorial Golf Day it is now known as the Annual NSW Poultry Industry Golf Day and has continued since then.

Sixty players teed off in the Ambrose event which was won by the team of B Tekely, K Perich, K Olson and L Merco with a gross score of 51 Nett.

Second place went to the team comprising K Miller, S Ferry, J Daniel and P Cranzberg wiht a 56 Nett.

The day received great support as there was a wide cross-section of players from all sectors of the NSW poultry industry especially the poultry companies and numerous supplier organisations.

David Sherwood from CCD Animal Health was instrumental in organising the day and also carried out the MC duties at the dinner that followed.

David was particularly pleased with the great support received from all sectors of the industry that donated generously towards the various trophies and awards presented on the night.

Because of the generosity of the supporters of the day, $5000 was raised

30

and has now been donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

“On behalf of the poultry industry we’re delighted to be able to make this donation to such a worthy cause and I’d again like to thank all those organisations and individuals that gave so generously in money and time towards making this such a successful event,” David said.

The golf day for 2017 has been booked for Wednesday October 18 and everyone is encouraged to come along and enjoy the opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues across the poultry industry.

“You dont’ have to be good at golf it’s really about meeting colleagues and raising money for charity,” said David.

David Sherwood presents a cheque to Cassandra Birch, NSW/ ACT State Manager, Prostrate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Below: Some of the golfers who competed on the day and contributed to the event.

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Mr Bjaerge said.

While developing the fan, its performance combined with the fan’s energy consumption and wind susceptibility were the most important factors. “The fans provide high performance, which can be utilised, as the fan is also very pressure-stable. “The fan is not affected by wind conditions outside the animal housing,� added Mr Bjaerge “BlueFan has been tested by the independent and recognised BESS Lab in USA. “The results show that BlueFan distinguishes itself when tested for the correlation between performance

and energy efficiency and wind susceptibility. “The fan has very low energy consumption, and if used in combination with the regulation principle, Dynamic MultiStep, the customer will enjoy the most energyefficient ventilation system on the market. “Preliminary test results from Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Australia show that, over the summer, BlueFan reduces the broiler producer’s energy consumption by approximately 70% compared to identical livestock houses with conventional fans,� said Henrik Bjaerge.

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BlueFan launches a new generation of wall fans, setting new standards for great performance, great efficiency and low wind susceptibility.

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NEWS

Students studying agriculture have access to the Horizon scholarship Applications for the Horizon Scholarship are now open to first-year university students studying agriculture-related degrees.

The Horizon Scholarship, an initiative of the Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (RIRDC) in partnership with industry sponsors, provides $5,000 per year for the duration of a student’s university degree. Applications close on Friday, 24 February 2017.

The Horizon Scholarship also offers students annual industry work placements, access to industry leaders, professional development assistance, and opportunities to network and gain knowledge at a range of industry events.

RIRDC’s Managing Director John Harvey said the Horizon Scholarship provides real and practical benefits for the students involved and as a result will differentiate them from their peers.

“The students involved in the

Horizon Scholarship are expanding their networks and learning new skills. Combined with easing the financial burden on students and families, the Scholarship is opening doors for these future agricultural leaders,” Mr Harvey said.

“The Scholarship attracts students who are collaborative, dynamic, passionate and want to be future leaders of Australia’s agricultural industries – it is special group of young people and we look forward to welcoming more of them into the Scholarship in 2017.”

To be eligible for the Horizon Scholarship students must be entering their first year of university and studying a degree related to agriculture, such as agricultural science, rural science, livestock/animal science, veterinary science or agribusiness and plant science. Students must also have started their tertiary studies no longer than two years after leaving high school.

Scholarship recipients will be

selected on the basis of their commitment to a career in agriculture, as well as their leadership potential and high school academic record.

Applications close on Friday, 24 February 2017 and shortlisted applicants must be available for a telephone interview in March 2017.

The Scholarship winners will be announced in May 2017.

Application forms can be downloaded from the RIRDC website at www.rirdc.gov.au/horizon or by contacting RIRDC on 02 6923 6916.

Sponsors of the Horizon Scholarship are the Australian Egg Corporation, ANZ, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited, McCaughey Memorial Institute, Meat & Livestock Australia, Sugar Research Australia, and RIRDC (Rice and Chicken Meat research programs).

Should animal rights groups lose charitable status for trespass on farms?

Ag-gag laws have been discussed in many US states as a way to prevent animal rights activists from unethically recording undercover videos at animal agricultural operations.

Adopting and enforcing such laws will deter this type of activity and protect farmers. This is especially good in cases where no abuse or neglect is actually happening, but footage could be misrepresented as such.

But ag-gag laws also create skepticism because it encourages secrecy instead of transparency and trust.

It could also be argued that these types of laws would curb the use of some videos that have exposed legitimate breaches in animal welfare from some abusive people who never should have been working with live animals in the first place.

Regardless of which side you are on, two points should be universal: It is morally wrong to lie or deceive

34

about wanting to get a job with a farm or company when you have an outside agenda and trespassing is illegal.

In New South Wales, discussions have been taking place in an effort to address at least the trespassing issue without making undercover video filming itself illegal.

According to a report in the Guardian, a series of joint round table meetings have been taking place between the state and federal governments and those in livestock and poultry production to discuss the problem of members of animal rights groups trespassing to film videos of alleged or legitimate animal mistreatment.

Documents obtained by the Guardian show that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and New South Wales government officials have floated the idea of stripping the charitable status from animal rights groups whose

members trespass. That would mean the removal of some pretty significant tax benefits.

Taking away a group’s charitable status would only send this message: If you want to keep doing undercover videos, feel free, but if you break the law in order to do so, there will be consequences for not only you, but also the group you represent.

If Australian officials put this idea into practice, it could set a standard that wouldn’t just apply to animal rights groups. If someone in a tax-exempt pro-farming organization were to trespass to expose what is viewed as improper behavior from adversaries, the same principle could be applied.

The possibilities of how this standard could be put to use are almost endless. But for now, it might make some animal rights activists think twice about how they go about getting their message across.

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NEWS POSITION VACANT Senior Production Supervisor Poultry Hatchery/Birdhouses BIOPROPERTIES Pty Ltd is a growing animal vaccine manufacturing site located at Glenorie in Sydney’s North West. We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced production supervisor with good organizational and people skills.

This challenging and rewarding position would suit an enthusiastic, hardworking individual with good attention to detail, good record keeping and who can supervise a team of 10 staff. Production of pure Eimeria antigens, biosecurity and preventing cross contamination is essential.

The position reports to the Eimeria Production Manager and is based at the Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) chicken facility at Glenorie known as the Oocyst Production Unit (OPU). The role will primarily involve the supervision of cleaning and disinfecting of equipment, setting up and cleaning of bird houses and grow out sheds, service and maintenance of birds, product harvest and processing.

Your duties will include: • Supervision of approx. 10 staff • Organization of the work roster • Reviewing/collating batch paperwork • Writing Standard Operating Procedures • Training staff • Maintaining work areas to a high standard of cleanliness in accordance with cGMP • Maintaining WH&S standards Ongoing training will be provided although the following attributes are required: • Demonstrated leadership qualities with organizational, oral and written communication skills • Positive attitude with good written and verbal communication skills • High motivation and physical work rate • Knowledge regarding poultry husbandry • Experience working in a commercial manufacturing environment or a laboratory (e.g.

Food, Beverages, Pharmaceutical, Cosmetics, Process worker) • Own transport and willing to work shifts with variable hours and rostered weekend work • Mechanical aptitude an advantage • Efficient problem solving Please email your resume with a covering letter to Angie Parkinson at angie.parkinson@bioproperties.com.au BIOPROPERTIES site biosecurity prevents the employment of personnel with live poultry, birds or pigs at home.

36

What will the key issues be for 2017?

The ascendency of Donald Trump as the new US president and his apparent dislike of trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), meticulously negotiated and formulated over 12 years and rejected within days of the president’s inauguration, may be significant for our poultry industry.

Despite the enthusiasm of much of the Australian political class for the TPP, even some of our normally supportive economists of globalised trade regard potential benefits for our economy as being minimal, and are cautious about risks posed by clauses like ‘investor protection’ (where companies can claim compensation if government action like plain paper packaging of cigarettes, effects profitability).

It’s not just Australian economists that have their doubts about trade agreements with large and powerful economies like the US, China and Japan.

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist speaking on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News on March 31, 2016 stated that “The Trans Pacific Partnership may well be the worst trade agreement ever negotiated”, and he recommended that Canada insist on reworking it.

“I think what Canada should do is to use its influence to begin a renegotiation of TPP to make it an agreement that advances the interests of Canadian citizens and not just the large corporations,” he said.

Why does this matter to the Australian poultry industry?

Should the TPP have been finalised it is almost certain that the Australian domestic market for poultry meat and eggs would have come under pressure from low cost broiler and layer industries in countries like the US, Mexico, and others.

Further, as has happened with existing trade agreements with countries like the US and Japan, whilst Australia has allowed imports of agricultural products like pork from the US, it has moved to protect its agricultural sector from our products like sugar.

In the recently signed trade deal between the Abbot government and Japan, while our tariffs on many products were lowered and Japan promised supplies of our natural gas (having blown up a good proportion of their nuclear generating capacity), the Japanese actual increased import restrictions on Australian pork.

All of this does not mean that all trade deals are bad – in fact the recently negotiated trade deal with South Korea has lead to increased imports of Australian pork and now eggs.

The South Korean preference is for a brown egg which we produce and their domestic industry has been dramatically affected by AI outbreaks leading to shortages and a prediction that egg prices could increase by over 110% over the next six months.

If Inghams can reduce its production costs as outlined at the time of the share float, this could make Australian poultry meat more competitive in high value markets like Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

Apart from the question of imports and exports, energy reliability and costs along with anti-microbial reduction, could be the critical issues in 2017.

Of the many dissapointments our politicians at both state and federal levels have delivered to increasingly irritated voters, has been a complete failure to create a viable energy policy.

NEWS ®

Aviagen Management Essentials Nortje De Wet Technical Service Manager, Aviagen Australia, New Zealand and Asia De Wet has 23 years of experience in the poultry industry with a large integrated company in South Africa, before joining Aviagen ANZ in 2012.

Professor Mark Thomas from the University of Auckland.

“It is important for broiler chicks to be supplied with a starter feed form that will ensure good consumption and optimal early growth. A good early start and adjustment in particle size as the bird grows will enable higher depletion bodyweights and help to maximize profits,” says De Wet.

Ideal Broiler Starter Feed Form for Optimum Growth

While state governments have scrambled to sell off the ‘poles and wires’ and the feds squabbled over emissions, climate change, and renewables, numerous power related incidents revealed the complete lack of any sustainable and realistic energy policy for the future.

On one side of politics there is a desperate need to hang on to coal as a fuel for base load power and on the other a blind obsession with avoiding even discussing the use of nuclear energy as a primary energy source for the future (despite the fact that we cheerfully sell uranium to other countries smart enough to adopt nuclear energy).

Australia has promised supplies of natural gas to our trading partners making the use of that alternative too expensive to use as a primary power source.

The drawbacks of renewable energy, be it wind power or solar, are well known but the most recent developments in battery technology may well be the factor that takes these power sources ‘to the next level’.

The Tesla Powerwall 11 battery system offers a viable alternative to mains power for the domestic market for $8000 and when linked to a 3kW solar array with installation and supporting hardware the price is under $20,000.

While the Powerwall may be a great renewable option for the average family home, the much higher energy requirements on the average broiler farm dictate a different approach.

Australian entrepreneur Simon Hackett has developed his Redflow batteries using zinc bromide which, though more expensive than lithium ion based competitors (like the Powerwall) are more suited to industrial situations like poultry sheds.

Information on the Redflow website reveals that of 61 developed nations, only Denmark has more expensive electricity than Australia.

Not long ago Australian electricity supply was the second least expensive amongst developed economies.

Why does all this matter?

As pressure to reduce production costs in the poultry sector rise it is unlikely that contract growers or their integrators are going to be able to offset the rising cost of energy without looking at alternatives, like renewable technology.

In recent times Poultry Digest visited a number of operations where energy was the focal point of the story.

In May 2015 we visited the Byron Bay broiler farm run

by Ken and Jane Wake who had acquired a complete solar scheme installed by Brisbane based Modern Solar.

Waverley Phillipson, the Commercial Manager for Modern Solar was so persuasive in his advocacy for solar power that CONTINUED ON PAGE 46 w

Objective Use correct broiler starter feed form to improve early bodyweight and flock uniformity.

Key Points •

Trial work at Aviagen demonstrates that broiler chicks prefer a starter particle size ranging between 0.82mm and 2.0mm in the first 10 days of life (Figure 1). Particle size preference quickly increases to between 2.0mm and 4.8mm between the ages of 11 to 14 days of age (Figure 2).

•

A 3mm short cut pellet should be used from around 11 days of age.

Ideally, this should be blended gradually with the starter crumble transitioning fully over a period of 4 to 5 days.

•

Feeding a broiler starter crumble with excessive fines (>10%) or holding the birds on a crumble to greater than 11 days of age, will limit early feed intake and depress bodyweight gain.

•

Use a feed sieve (Figure 4) to ensure the starter feeds comply with particle size distribution targets as recommended (Figure 3).

•

Figure 5 demonstrates a crumbled starter feed with good feed form.

fig. 1

fig. 2

fig. 3

fig. 4

fig. 5

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37

NUTRITION FEATURE

Peak food and our quest for an ethical and ecologically sustainable human diet

By RG ALDERS1 Crude analyses of sustainable global resource use suggest that the peak rate year for commercial poultry production was reached in 2006 while projections indicate the need to deliver optimal and sustainable diets for nine billion people by 2050.

In addition, despite increases in agricultural production over the past two decades, malnutrition rates have not diminished significantly, with undernutrition remaining a significant problem in many developing countries and overnutrition becoming a major issue globally.

Consequently, the past focus on increasing the quantity of food production is giving way to a focus on producing quality food that is nutrient rich, bioavailable and affordable and

that can efficiently and sustainably meet the nutritional needs of individuals at every stage of life.

This paper discusses key challenges and potential solutions associated with i) increasing food production (by providing diets tailored to individuals according to their life stages and cuisines of sub-populations, producing nutritionally rich foods, increasing dietary diversity and empowering women) and ii) decreasing food wastage (by decreasing post-harvest losses, increasing the purchase of appropriate quantities of nutritious food, increasing food safety and decreasing nutrient loss).

It concludes that food producers and harvesters can play a key role in enhancing human physical and mental health while at the same time making the health of the planet more resilient.

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Introduction Humanity is at a crossroads as we seek to deliver optimal and sustainable diets for nine billion people by 2050 (Alders et al., 2016; FAO 2009).

Crude analyses of global resource use have suggested that ‘peak poultry’, i.e. the maximum resource appropriation rate for poultry, was reached in 2006 (Seppelt et al., 2014).

However, while certain production systems may have peaked, food technology is not static and will play a crucial role in meeting food requirements (Campbell, 2015).

Moreover, it is important that our food systems can ensure that people have access to affordable, nutritious foods at every stage of life (Glopan, 2014).

The mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), established at the end

NUTRITION FEATURE of the Second World War, prioritises ‘ensuring humanity’s freedom from hunger’ (FAO 1981).

Farmers and agricultural researchers responded to this challenge with huge increases in agricultural production since the 1950s.

However, the focus has generally been on the volume of food produced with the farm gate prices being determined by weight, i.e. focussed on quantity rather than quality.

Projections show that feeding a world population of nine billion people in 2050 would require raising overall food production by some 70% between 2005/07 and 2050 (FAO, 2009).

In addition to requiring increasedfood production, we also require diets targeted to individual needs appropriate to the life stages and the cuisines of sub-populations (Alders et al., 2016).

Despite increases in agricultural production over the past two decades, malnutrition rates have not diminished significantly, with undernutrition remaining a significant problem in many developing countries (Girard et al., 2012; Masset et al., 2012) and over-nutrition becoming a major issue globally (Glopan, 2014).

These trends are reflected statistically with: 200 million children under the age of five who are stunted or wasted due to undernutrition; two billion people suffering physical and cognitive effects resulting from a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in their diets; and 1.4 billion people who are overweight or obese (Glopan, 2014).

Nationally, the 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS) nutrient intake data demonstrated significant nutritionrelated issues, for example: (i) 62.8% of Australians aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese, (with 35.3% overweight and 27.5% obese); and (ii) one in eight Australians over the age of two years had an inadequate daily intake of iron (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015).

Women in particular had poor intakes of iron with 23% not meeting requirements compared to only 3% of men, and the prevalence was highest amongst women of reproductive age (14-50 years).

These nutritionally-related health conditions have an impact on food requirements both now and into the future.

This is tackled in the Sustainable Development Goal #2 which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture (United Nations, 2015).

Nutrition sensitive food value chains (Hawkes and Ruel, 2012) will be vital to achieving this goal as will adopting an Ecohealth framework (Rapport and Singh, 2006).

EcoHealth can be defined as the recognition that ‘health and well-being are the result of complex and dynamic interactions between determinants, and between people, social and economic conditions, and ecosystems’ (Charron, 2012).

In addition to providing nutrition for humans, our food systems currently provide nutrition for companion and intensively raised farm animals. As human population increases the number of companion animals has tended to increase, and pet food has changed in parallel with the changing roles of these animals in human society (Swanson et al., 2013).

With increasing pressure on agricultural production, assessing the competing needs of humans, animals and the environment becomes increasingly important.

Of the multitude of challenges facing our food systems, this paper specifically highlights key challenges and solutions to this through increased food production and decreased food wastage.

Key challenges and potential solutions a) Increasing the sustainable production of nutritious and safe food As noted above, human population is set to reach nine billion by 2050 and 11 billion by 2100.

This increase will be accompanied by increasing urbanisation, an increasing middle class and aging population together with a smaller rural labour forcew

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NUTRITION FEATURE v

and more feedstocks for a potentially huge bioenergy market (FAO, 2009).

Challenges and possible solutions to increasing the sustainable production of nutritious and safe food include: • Providing diets tailored to individuals according to the life stages and cuisines of subpopulation. Future food production will need to specifically target the nutritional requirements of individuals according to their age, gender and reproductive status while also employing efficient technologies.

This is a major commercial opportunity that should inspire public-private partnerships. Urban food production will need to complement that produced by farmers in agricultural areas (Alders et al., 2016).

• Producing nutritionally rich foods – Accessing sufficient calories is important, but calories alone are not enough to optimise epigenetic programming (Kaput, 2010); the proper balance of micronutrients is also essential for both short- and long-term health.

This has become clear, as obesity and related health concerns are becoming significant issues in individuals and communities adopting western diets (Alders et al., 2016).

Therefore, instead of focussing solely on volume or weight, it will be important for food producers to increasingly take the naturally nutrientrich (NNR) score (which assesses the contribution a food makes to the nutrient intake of a 2000 calorie (8360 kJ) daily diet and includes 14 key macronutrients; Markovic and Natoli, 2009) into account to produce whole foods that provide the highest nutrientto-kilojoule ratio.

Where animal source food (ASF) is concerned, it should ideally mimic the naturally lean wild meat consumed by humans over thousands of year (Wang et al., 2009). As the human gene line separated from the great apes about 5–7 million years ago, the human genome is largely ancient with our physiology and genomics remaining adapted to wild foods.

Wild meats are naturally lean.

Wang et al. (2009) report a substantial increase in the amount of non-essential fats and a loss of essential fats derived from contemporary animal husbandry, including poultry meat, a trend which needs to be reversed.

As we move into the future, food production programs will need to: explicitly incorporate nutrition objectives and indicators; collaborate and coordinate with other sectors (health, environment, social protection,

40

labour, water, sanitation, education and energy); and maintain or improve the natural resource base (water, soil, air, climate, biodiversity; Ruel, 2013).

While in vitro meat (Edelman et al., 2005) may provide a source of protein, it does not currently offer the full range of bioavailable nutrients (e.g.calcium) provided by traditional animal source food and so is unlikely to completely replace all animal production systems in the foreseeable future.

• Promoting dietary diversity Neglected or underutilised crops have the potential to play a number of roles in the improvement of food security that include being: (a) a way to reduce the risk of over-reliance on very limited numbers of major crops; (b) a way to increase sustainability of agriculture through a reduction in inputs, such as fossil fuelderived nitrogen fertilisers and fuel for agriculture, given the risks of the carbon footprint of agriculture on climate change and the transition to a post peak-oil world; (c) a contribution to food quality; and (d) a way to preserve and celebrate cultural and dietarydiversity (Mayes et al., 2011).

With respect to ASF, dietary diversity can be promoted through the consumption of all edible parts of the carcass, including offal.

Offal such as liver, provide an excellent source of bioavailable micronutrients such as haem iron (de Bruyn et al., 2015).

• Empowering women - Ensuring access to productive resources, income opportunities, extension services and information (Ruel, 2013).

Improving women’s access to inputs and services has the potential to increase women’s output to the same level as that of men, implying an improvement of 2.5-4% of total agricultural output (FAO, 2014).

Improving women and children’s access to a balanced diet, especially during the crucial period from conception until children reach two years of age will reduce stunting and, therefore, improve life-long health and productivity (Glopan, 2014). b) Decreasing food wastage FAO (2103) estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted.

A 2009 study found that NSW households spent $2.5 billion on food that was not consumed (DSEWPaC, 2011). This food wastage represents a missed opportunity to improve global food security and also to mitigate

environmental impacts and resources use from food chains.

Again, challenges and possible solutions associated with mitigating food wastage include: • Decreasing post-harvest losses – Improving access to and reliability of cold storage facilities will reduce losses of poultry meat globally.

For example, the shelf life of eggs can be augmented in many locations by expanding the use of coating them in vegetable oil (McGregor,2015).

• Increasing the purchase of appropriate quantities of nutritious food.

Increasing awareness of the importance of purchasing less but more nutritious food will significantly reduce food wastage (Alders et al., 2016).

• Increasing food safety – Disease emergence has paralleled the intensification of livestock production with diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy and highly pathogenic avian influenza, leading to the disposal of huge numbers of carcasses.

Intensive animal production systems are already responding to concerns about antimicrobial resistance through research into a range of alternative growth promotants (Verstegen and Williams, 2002).

Investigations into the molecular basis of genetic resistance to disease (Zekarias, 2002) may also contribute to enhanced food safety in addition to overcoming the lack of genetic diversity amongst commercial chicken breeds.

• Decreasing nutrient loss – Nutrients are essential to life and yet modern food production and processing systems are causing huge nutrient losses (Cribb, 2010).

Annual nutrient losses through soil erosion are thought to exceed all the nutrients applied as fertiliser across the globe. Producing fertiliser from heat-treated urban human waste has the potential to contribute to improved nutrient cycling.

• Integrating supply chain and consumer technologies – The possibility of the ‘wired home’ and the ‘internet of things’ means a product can potentially be ordered, tracked and monitored through its entire lifespan, from production to plate.

Home refrigerators themselves may monitor and optimise food usage for their owners: keeping track of food expiry dates and quantities, reordering food on a the ‘just in time’ logistics principle, linking directly to automated supermarket supply chains to ensure an

NUTRITION FEATURE

REFERENCES: Alders R., Nunn M, Bagnol B, Cribb J, Kock R & Rushton J (2016) Good Nutrition in One World (Karger, Basel, Switzerland). [in press] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Australian Health Survey: Usual Nutrient Intakes, 2011-12 (ABS, Canberra, Australia). de Bruyn J, Wong J, Bagnol B, Pengelly B & Alders R (2015) CAB Reviews 10: 1-9.

Campbell H (2015) Science20.com. http://www.science20.com/science_20/ no_we_have_not_reached_peak_ food152734 Charron DF (2012) Ecohealth Research in Practice: Innovative Applications of an Ecosystem Approach to Health (Ed. Charron DF, Springer, New York, USA) pp. 1-32.

Cribb J (2010) The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It (CSIRO Publishing, Australia).

DSEWPaC (2011) National Food Waste Assessment, Final Report (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Canberra, Australia).

Roberts JA, Azam-Ali SN & Hermann M (2011) Journal of Experimental Botany. http:// doi.org/10.1093/jxb/err396 McGregor O (2015) BVSc Honours Dissertation (Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Australia).

Rapport DJ & Singh A (2006) Ecological Indicators 6: 409-428.

Ruel M (2013) The Road to Good Nutrition (Karger, Basel, Switzerland) pp.

24-38.

Seppelt R, Manceur AM, Liu J, Fenichel EP & Klotz S (2014) Ecology and Society 19: 50.

Swanson KS, Carter RA, Yount TP, Aretz J & Buff PR (2013) Advances in Nutrition 4: 141-150.

United Nations (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, New York, USA). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/ transformingourworld Verstegen MW & Williams BA (2002) Animal Biotechnology 13: 113-127.

Wang Y, Lehane C, Ghebremeskel K & Crawford MA (2009) Public Health Nutrition 13: 400-408.

Zekarias B, Ter Huurne AA, Landman WJ, Rebel JM, Pol JM & Gruys E (2002) Veterinary Research 33: 109-125.

RG Alders is from the University of Sydney and this paper was presented at the Australian Poultry Science Symposium 2016 and has been reproduced with thier permision.

1

Better digestion for better feed efficiency T

Conclusions It will be essential for the agriculture, health, education and infrastructure sectors to work together closely to ensure that food can be produced and utilised efficiently and effectively.

An awareness of the importance of the nutrient density and bioavailability of foods will help people wanting to maintain a nutritionally sound diet and healthy body weight.

Food producers and harvesters can contribute to enhanced physical and mental health and in the process make the health of the planet more resilient (Alders et al., 2016).

Adequately and sustainably nourishing nine billion people by 2050 will involve direct action from all levels of production from the soil to the plate.

An Ecohealth approach to the production of sustainable, nutritious and safe food delivered with minimal waste has the potential to promote human, animal and environmental health.

As governments worldwide grapple with unsustainable health budgets, nutrition-sensitive agriculture and value chains, bolstered by more effective policy frameworks, can help to stop malnutrition and ensure that the food produced delivers maximum benefits.

Edelman PD, McFarland DC, Mironov VA & Matheny JG (2005) Tissue Engineering 11: 659-662.

FAO (2009) High Level Expert Forum - How to Feed the World in 2050. http:// www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/ docs/Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_ Agriculture.pdf FAO (2013) Food wastage footprint: impacts on natural resources. http://www. fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf FAO (2014) The female face of farming. http://www.fao.org/gender/ infographic/en/ Glopan (2014) How can Agriculture and Food System Policies improve Nutrition? (Technical Brief, London, UK: Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition).

Hawkes C & Ruel MT (2012) Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington) pp. 73-81.

Kaput J (2010) Using genetics to tackle malnutrition (SciDevNet). http:// www.scidev.net/en/opinions/usinggenetics-to-tackle-malnutrition.html Markovic TP & Natoli SJ (2009) Medical Journal of Australia 190: 149-151.

Mason L, Boyle T, Fyfe J, Smith T & Cordell D (2011) National Food Waste Data Assessment: Final Report (Prepared for the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney).

Mayes S, Massawe FJ, Alderson PG,

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WELFARE FEATURE

A focused review of science-based evidence on the welfare of Australian meat chickens

By LR MATTHEWS and JL RAULT1 This paper provides a summary of the up-to-date verifiable evidence regarding key welfare topics, risk factors and husbandry practices that potentially impact meat chicken welfare: locomotion, leg and foot conditions, stocking density, broiler breeder feeding, thinning, light, environmental enrichment, and free range production and welfare monitoring.

This was achieved through a systematic review of the relevant, recently-published scientific literature.

Introduction The development of Australian standards and guidelines for the welfare of poultry are currently under development. The

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standards will specify acceptable animal welfare requirements, according to contemporary scientific knowledge alongside competent animal husbandry and mainstream community expectations. As the standards aim to reflect up-todate scientific knowledge, it is critical that such knowledge is readily available.

Currently, there are no up-to-date peer-reviewed papers summarising factors potentially affecting the welfare of meat chickens and associated risk factors.

Hence, our aim was to review and report on the recent and relevant literature on meat chicken welfare so as to ensure that the best verifiable information is available to inform the development of the standards and guidelines for the welfare of meat chickens.

Methods A systemic literature search was conducted using several literature databases, from the year 2000 to 2014. An emphasis was placed on experimental studies conducted under commercial conditions vis-a-vis those conducted in laboratory situations (which are typically lessrepresentative of the production environment); studies conducted in Australian settings were favoured over studies conducted overseas; and recent studies were given more weight than older studies.

Findings Locomotion: While there is some variation between breeds, poor leg health is an important welfare concern in commercial meat chicken flocks overseas; there are no data on its prevalence in Australia. The level of welfare compromise caused by leg pathologies is typically assessed by measuring walking ability (gait scoring).

There is a lack of good correspondence between the various ways that walking ability has been assessed, which raises concerns about the reliability of all of them.

Moderate to severe walking impairment (Gait Score 3 and 4 on the Kestin et al. (1992) scale) cannot yet be used to differentiate between leg pathologies (and presumed painful conditions) and abnormal gait due to unbalanced body conformation.

As a result of the extreme functional impairment in birds with Gait Scores 4 or 5, it is generally recognised that birds in commercial flocks with such scores should be humanely culled as soon as possible.

The welfare implications of birds with Gait Score 3 or below require further clarification. The way a flock is sampled during gait scoring has a large impact on the observed prevalence of impaired walking ability, which raises questions about the correct way to sample and the published prevalence levels of various gait abnormalities.

A variety of management practices can reduce walkingimpairments, including slowing growth early in life through manipulation of feed composition or supply.

Leg and foot conditions: In overseas studies, skin pathologies of the foot and leg are common welfare issues with foot pad dermatitis (FPD) being the most prevalent.

Prevalence levels in Australia are unknown but the incidences observed in a very limited sample of flocks in NSW are not inconsistent with overseas data. Several methods are used to quantify and record the incidence and severity of FPD, but there is no universally-accepted system.

WELFARE FEATURE Further, the thresholds for welfare impacts have not yet been identified scientifically. Litter wetness (and probably litter ammonia) has been identified as the main risk factors for FPD. Litter wetness is influenced by many different factors including ventilation rates, litter type, drinker type, dietary composition, water intake and strain of bird. Litter moisture levels between 20 and 25% help prevent FPD. A practical scoring system for litter needsrefinement. Reductions in FPD prevalence have accompanied formal FPD assessment in Scandinavia.

Stocking density: High stocking density is commonly believed to be a major risk factor risk impacting on meat chicken welfare, and this is reflected in animal welfare legislation in many countries, including Australia.

A large number of scientific studies have examined the effects of stocking density on chicken welfare in laboratory settings but few in commercial production environments.

A causal link between stocking density and chicken welfare is far from clear as many contradictory results have been reported across laboratory studies. An exception is the reasonably consistent increase in behavioural disturbance or associated conditions (such as scratches to the body) with increases in stocking density.

In studies conducted under commercial conditions, stocking density has had little effect on several key welfare indicators (mortality, walking ability, skin conditions and jostling) at densities used in Australia.

The absence of an effect of stocking density on mortality and an increase in behavioural disturbance at higher densities have been replicated in laboratorybased studies, although disturbance effects are reported to begin at lower densities in the laboratory. The reasons for the effect at lower densities in the laboratory are not clear and further replication in commercial production systems is required.

In laboratory settings, it has been shown that birds kept at 40 kg/m2 showed a strong motivation to move to an area of lower density (23 or 32 kg/m2).

Measures of the physical space requirements of birds indicate that they are compressed at densities above 40 kg/m2. It would be interesting to replicate studies on motivation for space in commercial houses to test the generalisability of these findings.

Research on stocking density and chicken welfare has not been conducted recently under Australian conditions.

Broiler breeder feeding: The industry currently employs a range of different controlled feeding regimens, which differ in the frequency of feeding, quantity or type of food delivered.

The welfare implications of the different feeding regimens for broiler breeders have yet to be fully examined. Attempts to develop a welfare methodology to assess feed motivation in broiler breeders have returned inconclusive results and the level of hunger experienced by breeders requires further research.

Alternative feeding strategies investigated to date and aimed at maintaining body weight control while improving welfare have focused on diluting nutrient content, adding appetite suppressants or altering protein levels in diets.

Neither these strategies nor environmental enrichment appear to offer clear benefits for reducing feeding motivation. Genetic selection to reduce the need for controlled feeding may provide an avenue for future research to reduce the need for controlled feeding.

Thinning: There have been no formal experiments on the effect of thinning on chicken welfare. The few studies that have been conducted, mostly epidemiological investigations, showed major scientific limitations.

It is not possible to ascribe cause-andeffect from epidemiological studies. The consequences of thinning have been associated with improvements, declines and no change in the welfare status of birds remaining in the flock.

Further research using controlled experimental studies is required before the welfare impacts of thinning can be confidently assessed.

Light: Light exposure is a complex topic because it includes several characteristics: photoperiod, light intensity, wavelength and light source, which can have main or interactive effects.

While constant or near-constant light (e.g. 23 to 24 hours) has been assumed to increase growth, birds under shorter photoperiod usually show compensatory growth and similar final body weight.

Lower mortality, lower incidence of diseases from metabolic or skeletal origins, and behavioural changes are usually reported to be associated with shorter photoperiods.

However, studies on photoperiods offering 14 hours of light or less often report activity during the dark periods. The distribution of the light cycle (e.g. alternate day and light periods of various durations) may be important but has received comparatively little attention. Some effects of photoperiod on welfare may be attributable to indirect effects of alterations in growth pattern rather than light per se.

Lighting is not the only way to reduce growth rate. Interpretation of the literature on the effects of photoperiod is further complicated by the practice of step-down and step-up programs, which has received w little scientific attention.

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WELFARE FEATURE v

There is still considerable discrepancy between studies on the effects of various light intensities on meat chicken behaviour and welfare.

There is agreement that light intensity below 5 lux causes changes in eye morphology. The contrast in light intensity between light and dark periods appears important for welfare.

However, this factor has not been well-controlled in experimental studies and thus makes interpretation of the results from some studies difficult.

Determining an optimal light intensity for bird welfare is further complicated by the fact that birds seem to have different preferences at different ages.

Few studies have investigated the welfare implications of behavioural changes induced by varying light programs, and whether this affects common welfare measures such as mortality, gait scores and leg health, FPD, hockburn or scratches on the body.

Little is known about the influence of various methods to produce light, the welfare implications of providing progressive light program transitions at dawn and dusk, and the influence of

natural light.

Environmental enrichment: There is limited evidence in the literature that the provision of perches unconditionally and strongly benefits meat chicken welfare. In general, perches appear poorly used, either because of their design, placement, the birds’ heavy weight or other factors.

Other enrichment strategies such as the provision of straw bales or devices that birds can peck have had variable success in terms of use by the birds, and welfare benefits are unclear.

Overall, the welfare implications of environmental enrichment programs require further investigation in commercial settings to account for the manyvariables that influence meat chicken behaviour and welfare.

Free range production: The use of the outdoor range by meat chickens is highly variable across farms and across flocks on the same farm.

More data needs to be collected in the different types of Australian local conditions, particularly because use of the range is affected greatly by weather conditions, and most of the studies to

date have been conducted in Northern European conditions.

Cover placed close to the shed can attract chickens onto the range, but they are generally reluctant to venture more than 10 to 20 m away from the shed, even when cover is provided.

Comparative studies have shown that slow-growing strains range considerably more than fast-growing strains.

Despite its practical relevance, the effects of outdoor access on immunology and disease prevalence have been the subject of little study, experimental or epidemiological.

Overall, little research has been conducted on individual chickens in commercial flocks to underrstand the welfare implications of using the outdoor range. The findings from the little research conducted are somewhat contradictory.

Welfare monitoring: Internationally, welfare monitoring of meat chickens has been used for several different purposes such as assessing compliance with legislation, policies of producer groups (e.g. integrated producer companies), food supply companies

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WELFARE FEATURE (e.g. quick service restaurant chains or supermarkets) or welfare interest groups (e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs)).

Surveillance programmes designed to ensure continuous welfare improvement should incorporate aspects that ensure ready engagement by farmers, timely and solution-orientated feedback, and may not require specific performance thresholds to be met.

Measures of the risks to welfare associated with the production facility, birds and management together with an assessment of the welfare outcomes for the birds are desirable features of monitoring schemes as shown in the Swedish system for monitoring FPD. Designing a monitoring protocol that allows benchmarking by producers is potentially an effective way to achieve continuous improvements in welfare.

Monitoring protocols used for compliance purposes require identification of thresholds for acceptable/unacceptable performance, yet validated thresholds do not yet exist.

Nonetheless, sanction-based systems have had some success in improving welfare performance.

Outcome-based welfare measuresshould be tested for validity, repeatability, reliability and standardisation, together with validation of flock sampling procedures. Time-efficient and cost-effective monitoring tools, possibly using novel automated recording systems are required to ensure ready adoption by producers.

Stockmanship is widely acknowledged as one of the most important determinants of an animal’s welfare, and on a general level is linked to all aspects of welfare covered in this literature review. Despite its importance, stockmanship has received little attention in scientific studies on chicken welfare, and little published information could be found on the topic.

Conclusions The review shows that there is much uncertainty about the types of management practices and housing conditions that impact adversely on welfare.

Similarly, most measures of welfare and thresholds for acceptable welfare are not well validated.

Thus, modifications to the Code will need to be considered carefully.

In the process of the review, it became clear that there is a paucity of published information on Australian housing and management practices and evaluation of chicken welfare under local conditions.

In countries that use housing systems and breeds similar to those in the Australian chicken meat industry, several welfare topics are common (as identified in this report), although welfare outcomes vary between farms and countries.

Thus, collecting scientific information under local conditions would help assess the extent and relevance of each of the topics (and associated risk factors) covered in this report to Australian meat chickens.

It would also help to identify where improvements could be made.

REFERENCES: Kestin S, Knowles T, Tinch A & Gregory N (1992) Veterinary Record 131: 190194.

LR Matthews and JL Rault are from the University of Melbourne and this paper was presented at the Australian Poultry Science Symposium 2016. This review was partly funded by RIRDC-Chicken Meat (PRJ- 009533).

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45

NEWS v CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37 Poultry Digest now has Modern Solar’s panels on its roof.

In a twelve month period our electricity bills were halved while those in NSW reliant purely on the grid suffered at least the same proportion of an increase in their energy costs.

Nicols Poultry (August/September 2015) located at Sassafras in Tasmania uses a gigantic Vestas V27 wind turbine which after installation in 2008, has reduced the processing plant’s energy costs by around 50%.

In July 2016 we visited the ever innovative Con Kyriazis for the second time to see his take on energy saving strategies (June/July 2016).

Con had approached the rising energy costs with a double strategy, the first being the installation of solar panels and a sophisticated control system, then minimising energy use with modern low energy use German EBM –Pabst ‘smart’ fans supplied and installed by Steve Davies of Agricultural

Automation.

In the same issue we ran a story on the Wilson family property located at Kulnura NSW that has installed a Viribright low energy dimmable lighting system.

In a discussion with Andrew Winslade, the Sales Director of Viribright Lighting Pty Ltd, he suggested numerous strategies that broiler shed (or indeed layer farms) can use to minimise energy costs.

One of his novel ideas as large capacity storage batteries become more affordable, was to buy the battery first and charge it during off peak periods from the grid.

This is a strategy a lot of farms in Germany use but how long would it be before energy providers woke up to this idea as both home and industry battery storage use increases, and then they increase their off peak tariffs.

Our prediction at Poultry Digest on the matter is that 2017 will be the ‘year of the battery’.

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46

The other key issue for 2017 may well be anti-microbial use in poultry production.

Perhaps the real issue here is antimicrobial mis-use in human medicine.

Based on the total body weight of the human population when compared with total body weight of livestock production, 14 times more AMs are used in human treatment than in livestock industries in Australia.

At the APVMA conference held in Queenstown in 2015, Associate Professor Mark Thomas from the University of Auckland revealed that antibiotic units consumed per person in 2010 were New Zealand 70 and Australia 87. In China 7.5 Netherlands, India 10.7, USA 22, France 23.8 In November 2016 the Deputy PM and Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce announced a National Plan to Tackle Anti Microbial Resistance, where $9.4 million was allocated in the 2016/17 budget to continue work in progress on antimicrobial resistance.

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