Poultry Digest August/September 2019

poultrydigest www.primarymedia.com.au

Volume 35, Number 1

August/September 2019

Steggles celebrates its centennary Novus Forum: Feeding the future Poutlry Hub Australia – Ideas Exchange 2019

Four trends driving the future of chicken

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Volume 35, Number 1

August/September 2019

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SUBSCRIPTIONS Steggles celebtrates its centenary.

Features Page 8: Steggles celebrates its centenary and Baiada to boost chicken meat production

by Peter Bedwell

News Page 4: Novus Forum: Feeding the future Page 12: How technology is transforming poultry production in China Page 16: Poultry Hub Australia – Ideas Exchange 2019

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Poultry Digest consists of a bi-monthly management magazine

Page 26: Four trends driving the future of chicken Page 28: IBDv suspected at New Zealand egg farm

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NEWS

Novus Forum: Feeding for the future

By PETER BEDWELL Novus International recently organised a knowledge forum titled ‘Feeding for the Future’ in Sydney on August 5 at the Amora Hotel.

Dr Craig Coon from The University of Arkansas and Dr Eugeni Roura from the University of Queensland discussed the nutritional needs for the next generation of broilers and breeders.

Matthew Bekker, Novus Technical Manager for Australia, also shared the latest researches on mineral requirements for modern birds.

Dr Coon’s topic was ‘Nutrition for the next generation of broilers and breeders’ and spoke about what we are working towards in terms of the modern broiler.

“If we look at the US broiler industry from 1988 to today we can see that plant yield has increased consistently,” he said.

“Breast (white meat) meat has increased to 26% of live weight (boneless breast meat yield). The breast meat is very important to the integrators due to the customer value placed on the meat.

“Broiler liveability is now decreasing due to the loss of antibiotics.

“The removal of antibiotics has affected the first week mortality and there is increasingly a lack of ability to protect the bird in the first week of life.

“Currently it takes less calories to get to the bird to market because of genetics with an emphasis toward lean mass instead of body maintenance. This will effect feed conversion, depending where the energy will go.

“2.5kg is the average slaughter day and the number of days it takes to reach this body weight has changed.

If we try to adjust this by one day, to achieve 1:1 FCR the body weight change can be forecasted.

Modern bird vs Heritage bird With the modern bird, organ weights and body weight are not changing but the daily feed intake/body weight are increasing according to demand.

When we talk about the evolution of broilers, we are asking the birds to do the impossible. When improving the FCR you are changing the calories.

To reach the 2.5kg slaughter day, the

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protein efficiency will make the diets look very different.

The amino acid in the feed versus what is in the bird itself – 0.6 is the figure where the protein efficiency will stay the same, less calories and more and more amino acids.

“Gain will continue but protein must be there to let this happen. Amino acid requirements are going to increase but the protein gain/ protein intake are not going to change.

“The lysine content especially will need to change. Interestingly enough, the Villi Deudeaum and Jejunum is related to body weight, but has not increased much from the heritage birds.

When looking at the heritage lines, we must also consider the bone strength and diameter (size) of the tibia.

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White Striping and Woody Breast “High yield birds past 28 days to 3556 days can mean there is a insoluble collagen replacing the protein. In other words, the good protein is getting replaced with insoluble protein and this is causing significant loss in the industry.

Consumers are complaining because it effects the meat quality and the taste. Reports about this problem have even made the Wall Street Journal.

So, the media is accentuating the problem.

The larger the birds, the more the problem exists. Decreasing the speed of gain, decreasing amino acids in grow out and decreasing hatchery temperatures, are a few ways to manage woody breast.

“The high yield bird are bringing the soluble collagen as the larger fibre space in breast meat is filled with collagen.

“Genetics are working hard to solve the problem, but the high yield bird is making it difficult.

“Around day 42 the high yield line is showing the mixed muscle/protein degradation rate. It is naturally higher in the high yield lines.

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Protein gain vs Fat “Fat has twice as many calories so the net energy maintenance needs to be considered. Protein gain vs Fat= net energy gain. ME- classic energy, and take away the heat that is generated.

“If we take the heat increment out

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1. Lisa Jamieson, Country Manager - Oceania, Novus.

2. Dr Craig Coon from the University of Arkansas, USA. 3. Associate Professor Eugenie Roura, University of Queensland.

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then real calorie use can be evaluated.

“Classic NE system is the energy retained with the body composition of the bird. We can measure weight gain by looking at the protein actually gained in the bird.

“Body composition must be considered. Gain and maintenance must be part of the measure of NE (net energy) – the heat generated from the bird in a 24 hour period.

“We need to look at maintenance and gain when compared to consumption or feed intake.

“The current ME is much more than what the current system accounts for.

Gain and maintenance components need to be considered and Arkansas State is working on this method.

“Cool weather means feed intake increases but hot weather is more of a challenge. The more heat, the more amino acids are added to the system and the classic NE continues to drop.

The proposed version by Arkansas State is the NE equation that will assist in sustaining growth – protein deposition driven by heat.

less ability to regulate environmental temperature.

The body composition has changed, and they cannot cope easily with temperature changes.

Big birds require that producers deal with temperatures.

Working with the lighting, the bird data reflects its benefit over the life of the bird. Light restriction programs have a direct effect on breast meat. Yields were reduced, so if the market is based on breast meat, this is not a effective strategy.

Matthew Bekker from Novus Nutrition presented a research update – ‘Global highlights and knowledge sharing’.

“Novus international is focusing on creating science-based nutrition and health solutions for livestock, poultry and aquaculture,” he said.

Novus focuses on working with producers to share tools and knowledge

to help make a positive impact on producing sustainable feed and animal production.

The company spends a large amount of its profits by investing in research which is the key to meeting the demands of current genetics and production.

Associate Professor Eugenie Roura talked about ‘What is driving feed intake: The true directors of appetite and satiation’.

“What is taste to the chicken? They have a low number of taste buds, lack of taste papillae, salivation and reduced sensory genes,” he said.

To better understand taste, Associate Professor Roura is looking into the taste acuity.

“The sense of taste relates to known taste receptors. In poultry the upper palate is where the taste buds are located and there are 700-800 taste CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 w

Nutrition “Margins of safety are developed for the entire flock to protect ourselves to match requirements and to meet the needs of the entire flock. There are individual requirements (from bird to bird) and nutrient variation is the reality in our industry. There are such a variety of nutrients available.”

Layers temperature “Hot birds struggle and temperature does matter. Energy levels vary due to the age of the bird.

“Egg mass increases with energy fed, but birds consume 90-93gms, with heat they produce additional egg mass.

“You can generate three more grams of egg mass by keeping a consistently warm egg house.

Environmental temperature lowers the requirement for maintenance.

“The caloric intake will show egg response. The body composition of a commercial layer, the warm environment over the neutral environment, higher temperature is a lower maintenance requirement. Keep maintenance low and calories to be used.

Broilers temperature Modern broilers are generating a lot more heat compared to what they did in 1989. This means that they have

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1. Sally Pines, Key Account Manager – Poultry, Oceania, Novus International with Matthew Bekker from Novus Nutrition. 2. Peter Scott, Managing Director, Scolexia, enters into the discussion at the Novus forum.

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Steggles started life as a family owned store in Newcastle in NSW

Steggles celebrates its centenary and Baiada to boost chicken meat production

By PETER BEDWELL Peter Chrystal, Baiada’s Senior Nutritionist contacted Poultry Digest recently to reveal that Steggles, one of Baiada’s well-known brands, was having its one hundredth birthday.

Steggles, once a family owned general store in Mayfield, a suburb of Newcastle in NSW, expanded into chicken production in 1919.

The business grew in size until labour shortages caused by the outbreak of WW2 curtailed progress.

After 1945 the business grew rapidly as Australia’s population increased

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through massive levels of migration.

Eventually it was absorbed into the corporate food company Goodman Fielder.

In June 1998 Goodman Fielder sold its interest in the company to NSW grain farmers David and Peter Bartter.

Then in 2008 Baiada entered negotiations to acquire Steggles and after some redistribution of production facilities to other integrators, Baiada became the new owners of Steggles.

With Steggles and the well established Lilydale free range brands, the Baiada name was dropped.

Steggles and Lilydale, with other associated assets like feed mills and processing plants, meant that the company was now around 45% of the overall Australian broiler market.

The focus on chicken meat consumption growth has been in the recent period, and in particular since 2007 when for the first time chicken overtook beef as Australia’s favourite protein. It is easy to forget that the growth in the popularity of chicken meat well predated 2007.

A major initiative of the Steggles brand has been the sponsorship of the

Roosters NRL team which has helped promote the ‘Stegglars for quality’ message to Australia’s growing ranks of chicken meat consumers.

With a Rooster’s NRL grand final win in 2018 and good prospects for the 2019 competition, the sponsorship of this very successful team is delivering strong consumer awareness and brand identification.

A further benefit the company informs Poultry Digest is support for the women’s NRL game which is growing at a phenomenal rate.

The strong Australian brand identity for both Steggles and Lilydale could also be a benefit if Australia comes under further pressure from the threat of chicken meat imports into our domestic market.

Despite the pressures of meat free alternatives and increasing popularity of meat consumption reduction, Australian consumers are on track to eat 50 kg per person per annum.

This means that the company has set aside funds to expand production and further improve processing efficiency.

Announced in late July was a plan to

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NEWS v

expand the Baiada facility in Tamworth that would not only dramatically increase production but also generate 700 jobs.

Currently the company processes around a million birds a week producing 160 tonnes of finished product.

The expanded facility would process three million birds a week delivering 240 tonnes for broiler chicken meat.

A total of 1176 employees will be needed to operate the new plant and a new car park with 820 spaces will be required as part of the $200 million expansion plan.

Once approved, the existing plant at West Tamworth will be closed and sold.

“To minimise water demand, Baiada is proposing to implement an advanced water treatment plant which will treat 100% of water used in the production process,” a company statement revealed.

There is also a plan to manage the plant’s odour footprint and traffic management of up to 408 heavy vehicle trips a day while staff working at the facility will generate over 2000 vehicle movements on a daily basis.

“Flow on benefits would include a significant increase in supply chain and construction jobs and the extra half million tonnes of grain needed for the enterprise will ad an estimated $126 million to the local economy,” the company stated.

Steggles has grown, like the rest of the broiler sector, by using a contract grower system that usually involves typically family-owned farms operating between two to six sheds.

In recent years however, Baiada has used a listed company, Proten, to supply an increasing proportion of its grown to market weight birds.

Proten owns and operates more than 300 sheds on farms located in NSW, South Australia and WA.

Proten was started by Max Bryant in 1987 and the company expanded into Australia in 2002 and listed on the ‘unlisted’ New Zealand market in 2008.

From 2009 to 2018 Proten has tripled in size through organic growth.

Poultry Digest has twice visited the Proten farm near Griffith in the Riverina that supplies Baiada with RSPCA accredited broiler chickens.

The pre fabricated sheds supplied

and built by R&DG Sanday are a ‘state of the art’ design that maximises growing efficiency, bird welfare and ease of operating which in no small part is attributable to the ‘smooth skin’ interior design and overall farm layout.

Given the recent investment in both processing and top quality grow-out farms the slogan ‘Stegglars for quality’ has real meaning for both consumers and the company.

Top: Steggles has been sponsoring the Roosters NRL team for more than 40 years. Cooper Cronk helped steer the team to Grand Final victory in 2018 and to the Grand Final for 2019. Above: The Baiada headquarters.

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NEWS

How technology is transforming poultry production in China

By AIDAN CONNOLLY*, CEO Cainthus Things have never been better for China’s broiler and egg industries, as the International Poultry Forum China held July from 12-13, 2019, in Yantai, China, highlighted.

Record profits and demand are being driven by the lack of availability of pork (due to African swine fever), with one major broiler producer reporting record profits in 2018 and again in the first quarter of 2019.

With tightening stocks, reduced availability of pork and lack of alternatives, the promise is for more to come.

Investing in the future Production costs in China, however, remain stubbornly high due to government supports of the grain industry, the requirement to import proteins such as soybeans and surprisingly high labor costs.

With growing restrictions on antibiotic usage and consumer demands for transparency, Chinese producers look to invest for the future.

China is also home to several artificial intelligence (AI) superpowers, and Chinese internet giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) are investing heavily in this agriculture, including animal production.

Alibaba’s futuristic 70 grocery stores (Hema or Freshippo) point to a future with a growing role for robots and automation.

Fresh meat and eggs on the shelf come with a digital price tag that changes as required, but also allows shoppers to scan the item, see its origins, details of where it was grown and how it was produced.

Customers can pay with the swipe of a phone, or through facial recognition. Walmart has partnered with IBM to deliver blockchain within their food chain, and this commitment started in China, but is now quoted as a global example of farm-to-fork transparency.

The future of technology in China Chinese startup AgNet is focused on data-based poultry farming. Sensors within the house measure temperature, ammonia and carbon dioxide in real time and allow a cloud-based manage-

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ment system to feed back the information.

In the future, data streams will include acoustic warnings, and camera vision-based systems like those being used today for cows and pigs.

Microbiome chips inform Cargill what bacterial shifts are taking place on the farm, allowing for tailored nutrition and feed additives to the changes the farm wishes to see.

The fully blockchain GoGo chicken is already with us in China (albeit at a price of $10 per kilogram, not within everyone’s reach).

CP has embraced the concept of robotized processing plants in China, automating many of the functions typically requiring human intervention.

So what is the future of poultry technology in China?

Clearly the industry has several significant incentives to aggressively implement innovations.

Improving feed efficiencies and gain through real-time data analytics reduces the cost of the most critical input: the feed.

Alltech’s annual feed survey reports Chinese feed price as twice that of the US or Brazil.

Reducing labor cost is becoming very important with availability, and cost being a greater challenge, especially in

Aiden Connolly, CEO of Cainthus and President of Agritech Capital. processing plants.

The native fear Chinese consumers have of consuming locally produced foods opens the opportunity for technologies that promise transparency.

Is it no wonder that the billion dollar Chinese companies — BAT — are placing their bets in the food and farming industry, and combined with a vibrant startup world, promise a very different type of chicken farming future.

Make plans to take a look at the future of the poultry industry Join an exclusive international gathering of industry-changing innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, technology experts, investors and leading poultry producers at Poultry Tech Summit on November 20-22, 2019.

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Make plans to attend and take a look at the future of the industry. Early bird registration is now open. *Aidan Connolly is CEO of Cainthus, a startup focused on computer visionbased recognition systems for livestock, and President of Agritech Capital.

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Poultry Hub Australia – Ideas Exchange 2019 The 2019 Ideas Exchange, run by Poultry Hub Australia, was held in Sydney from September 10 to 11 at the Mecure Hotel, provided once again an opportunity for networking, reconnecting, learning and developing new ideas.

The Ideas Exchange event has always been a great avenue for industry personnel and researchers to get together and develop relationships and collaborations that benefit the whole poultry industry.

This year Ideas Exchange focused on building capacity in the industry as well as highlighting some of the fantastic research funded by Poultry Hub Australia.

The meeting included talks, discussions and invaluable networking opportunities over the two days and of course the conference dinner.

Tamsyn Crowley, Director and Poultry Scientist, opened proceedings by introducing Poulty Hub Australia.

“PHA is a not for profit organisation that strives to deliver outcomes directly to industry through work in education, research and training.

“The concept of PHA is a continuation of the work by the Poultry CRC and has $1,691,720 invested in research, through 46 projects.

“Nutrition, welfare and sustainability are the current main projects.

“Education is also a major focus which can be seen through internships in the industry. These are to assist with managing succession planning in the poultry industry.

“To keep people in the industry an ‘Innovation Grant’ of $510,000 has been awarded to Poultry Hub which will go

towarss ‘hatching a plan to get people into jobs’.

“As most producers would note it is difficult to get people to come in for new jobs and then stay.

“In the New England Northwest, there is a high average of 15.3% youth unemployment.

“The training program is called ‘Two birds with one stone’. There are four stages to the training: engagement, training, work experience and employment.

The plan is to introduce people to the industry and help them gain a job and then keep it. Poultry Hub’s goal is to yearly register 150 people for training and job placement in the New England region,” Tamsyn said.

Peter Scott from Scolexia spoke about ‘Challenges of vaccination in the poultry industry’.

Dr Scott noted that there has been a steady decline in industry and university study of vaccines and vaccine development.

“This is unfortunate for research and development and especially for the industry,” he said.

“International vaccines require AQIS which adds cost and time and often the regulatory requirement outweighs the cost of the vaccine.

“There are stringent requirements for vaccine production, making it difficult to have multiple import sources.

Expiry dates are also a concern. No one wants to lose money from either manufacture or importation based on a bad forecast where the product is not used and expires.

“Current vaccines availability is troubled by supply issues. For example, w

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1. Tamsyn Crowley, Director, Poulty Hub Australia. 2. Phillip Todhunter, Bioproperties. 3. Michael Leahy, Aviagen General Manger ANZ. 4. Panel discussion LtoR: Dr Steve Weidermann, Intergrity Ag & Environment; Gemma Wyburn, Australian Eggs and Kath Balding, Technical Services Director, Inghams.

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NEWS using Australian isolates can be difficult to get to manufacturing sites as the current regulations inhibit effective distribution.”

Dr Scott mentioned that technical failures in manufacturing continue to happen. The problem with supply is that demand changes consistently and can be difficult to predict, especially in the case of disease outbreak.

The vaccines mentioned as important were Coccidial vaccines, infectious bronchitis, fowl pox, Marek’s, Fowl Cholera, Avian Enchephalomyelitis, infectious Laryngotracheitis which are all experiencing supply issues.

“Batch sizes continue to be an issue, manufacturers are best attempting to meet the requirements.

“Vaccines are the best biosecurity tool we have. They reduce suspectable host population and in future their use will increase!

Philip Todhunter from Bioproperties spoke next and his topic was ‘Vaccines’.

“Bioproperties produce novel and unique vaccines and have done so for 30 years,” he said.

“It all started with Vaxsafe, developed at Melbourne University.

“Vaccination programs are contributing to the reduction in use of antibiotic therapy.

“Bioproperties produces and distributes a range of bacterial, viral and protozoal vaccines, the majority being developed from Australian strains.

“There is an increasing demand for Coccidiosis vaccine which is difficult to make and has a short shelf life. The increasing demand is due to the AMR focus in the industry and what future demands will be is yet to be seen.

“At Bioproperties, new product development is a focus. It could take up to 10 years from product development to registration and use.

“This long cycle makes it difficult for new developments. There are products which are close to market and include Mycoplasma vaccine (MG304) and ILT (eye drop and stable in drinking water).

“For the future are Cljejuin and salmonella, spotty liver and health vaccines to support antibiotic free broiler production.

The focus for vaccine development is the pressure on AMR and antimicrobial stewardship programs and improving food safety.

The topic for Michael Leahy from Aviagen was ‘Sustainable broiler production – comparison between the 2003 and the 2018 bird’.

“Surveys show that 28% of children thought yoghurt grows on trees.

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Unfortunately, this is not surprising, as we are so very far removed from where our food comes from.

“Aviagen prides itself in sustainable production. The genetic selection over the last 40 years are very impressive.

“Some of the benefits of these improved genetics are improved performance, lower energy use, water usage and reduced land use.

“To highlight these points the modern broiler is more biologically efficient. Per kg of live weight, it requires 215g less feed and provides 69g extra total breast meat yield while increasing liveability, health and welfare through balanced selection.

“Water usage has decreased by 1 litre, less water is required per live weight. Reduced land use has improved liveability and feed conversion where a grown bird consumes 0.5kg less feed.

This requires 37% less agricultural land required to produce broiler feed and 10% less houses for the same number of broilers. All defining a great success for the industry.

Panel discussion Dr Steve Weidemann, Integrity Ag & Environment, Toowoomba QLD posed the question ‘Can the poultry industry ever be carbon neutral?’

“Alternatives are being promoted as a lower cost with lower impact option.

Carbon neutral has a set of standards and guidelines on determining the carbon footprint measurement and trade off and trading carbon credits.

“Poultry has the smallest carbon footprint when compared to other meat industries, for example pork, lamb and grass fed beef.

“The beef industry has planned to be carbon neutral by 2030 forcing beef producers to drive investment change in their industry. Benchmarks include feed production and manure management.

“Manure emissions show consistent increases after tilling, but overall there are very, very low emissions from chicken meat production via manure.

“The potential pathways to carbon neutral are FCR, best case diets, solar power, energy efficient meat processing, and bioenergy from manure.

Kath Balding from Inghams spoke about ‘Poultry sustainability’.

“Australian meat is high in protein, vitamins and minerals and our industry provides a lot to the consumer,” she said.

“With the requirement for sustainability, the industry is working towards sustainable operations, water, CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 w

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4 1. Pricilla Gerber, UNE. 2. Mauricio Coppo, University of Melbourne.

3. Reza Barekatain, SARDI/PIRSA. 4. Jessica De Vileda, UNE.

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NEWS w CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 energy and waste.

“As part of its incentives, Inghams is focusing on good water stewardship, and on-site water processing plants.

As far as the company is concerned, indirect emissions are the largest scope, but there is little control on these from producers.

“Direct emissions controlled are fuel, wastewater etc. and finally, from purchased energy.

“The emissions from grain growing are the highest footprint. Sourcing sustainable feeds, reducing imported soy and increasing other proteins to rely less on soy is a consideration.

Gemma Wyburn from Australian Eggs suggested ‘Are we asking the wrong question?’

“Can we be sustainable in the future and how do we get carbon out of our farms?” she asked.

“It has been done and is being done in the Netherlands which is the leader in the industry. “ Feed is the biggest impact and represnets 70% of our emissions.

“In the Netherlands they are using baking waste instead of grains in feed.”

“Solar power is a huge benefit to Australian producers. It will not answer the problem completely, but we can study other intensive industries for ideas, like fertilizer usage.

“The move to free range as 50% of the industry has made us less efficient.

This has increased our energy use/ requirement.

“There are a lot of conversations about bird age. If we extend flock life, keeping hens in the system longer will also reduce the impact.

In the PHA research project presentations, Pricilla Gerber from UNE kicked off with ‘Sampling procedures and reporting’.

The aim of the project is to improve sampling procedures and reporting by modelling the variation in feed ingredients and how it affects performance and profits.

The review should improve understanding of how many samples are necessary to test and to avoid excessive sampling and analyses and help nutritionists to set matrix values for feed formulation with a predetermined level of confidence.

Mauricio Coppo, University of Melbourne presented ‘The immunemodulatory roles of nutritional supplements in an infectious laryngotracheitis virus vaccinationchallenge model’.

“Will nutritional supplements such as plant essential oils (EO) or soluble

22

yeast influence vaccines?” he asked.

“Essential oils (eucalyptus, mint) and soluble yeast are known to stimulate non-specific immune responses in laboratory animals.

The hypothesis – Activate nonspecific immune responses against pathogens in poultry. Treatment of Vaccine: safety using commercial ILT =V vaccine dose and routine, vaccine efficacy following challenge and with challenges vs the response.

SPF vaccinated at seven days of age and then PM at 11 days then 28 days challenged, then one week later PM and the end of the trial.

This research is based on chasing immune response and vaccination success. The administration of Grippozon (EO) in the water, from hatch for 17 days was one regime, the second group received Liquipro SC – soluble yeast for all of life, and Grippozon (EO) in the third regime for the entire period.

In summary EO increased vaccine safety and higher weight gain. The birds were weighed at vaccination then in four days again.

The EO reduced the drop, no effect from soluble yeast were shown in this trial. The vaccine worked well and it was 100% effective.

The next project involves trying a half dose vaccine to see if the vaccine efficacy can be affected.

Reza Barekatain, SARDI/PIRSA, looked at ‘Potential non-invasive biomarkers of intestinal inflammation and permeability in broiler chickens’ Managing gut barrier function is a new frontier for controlling gut inflammation and disease.

Currently the best way for producers and researchers to collect samples is through invasive procedures.

Can we sample excreta to noninvasively assess gut barrier failure (permeability and inflammation)?

Then this information could be used to identify novel biomarkers, compare different models and possibly assess usefulness of for example a probiotic.

The diet was altered which is known to put gut stress on the birds. The faecal samples were tested, looking for biomarkers.

This rapid and non-invasive on farm assessment of gut health will benefit the industry by minimising costs of poor enteric health.

The topic for Jessica De Vileda Souza from UNE was ‘Black soldier flies- sustainable feed ingredient?’

Soybean production in Australia is non-existent but soy is a major feed source for the poultry industry. Could Black Soldier Flies be a feed source

1

2 1: Peta Taylor from UNE. 2. Bec Forder, University of Adelaide. and could this reduce environmental impacts in the poultry industry.

Black Soldier Flies can be raised on waste without the addition of water.

They provide up to 40% crude protein and 37% fat.

“What is the maximum included in feed without compromising production and was there any effect on immunity?” she asked.

In this study Ross birds were trialed with the diets including whole larvae using 10% to 20% inclusion of larvae in the diets. Even at the highest rate of 20% that there was no negative effect on the bird performance. It did however modulate the broiler immune parameters.

The antimicrobial properties of the larvae reduced white blood cells; the lymphocytes reduce as well. The reduced intraepithelial lymphocytes, are shown by literature to be a positive effect.

However, in this trial there was no challenge, so it could not be determined if it was positive or negative for use in commercial operations. A challenge study would be required to evaluate gut health benefits in diseased birds.

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NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 Peta Taylor from UNE spoke about ‘Perceptions of hen welfare and the role of education & rhetoric’.

“Australian animal welfare standards and guidelines for poultry received 165,000 submissions. This survey was to determine the level of knowledge about the poultry industry by the public.

Unfortunately, the general public do not know much about hen welfare, in most cases they know they don’t know.

“When shown a video with some information, educational information and some furnished cages this did assist. Different terms were used to define bird living situations.

“This education was successful. The next round of questions focused on: ‘What is animal welfare?’ They surveyed 1200 people from the community.

People used many different terms, 76% talked ethics and 24% about ‘animal state’.

“The industry stakeholder’s response showed that 58% knew it was the state of the animal. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’.”

Bec Forder from the University of Adelaide spoke about ‘Dietary inclusion of DV XPC yeast metabolite to alleviate potential gut dysbiosis in a female broiler breeder line and its effect on hen and progeny performance’.

“The project to date has been able to identify major physiological changes in breeder hens from point of lay. She talked about how to affect the flock from the start of life.

“They looked at how to manipulate the developmental programing (in problem line genetics) because it is necessary to their overall breeding program.

“XPC Diamond V was used in the trial work which focused on the bird’s gastrointestinal tract, gut, inflammation, and microbiome effect.

“The aim was to investigate if dietary supplementation XPc will improve breeder health and performance as well as positively influence progeny health development and production performance.

“At the breeder farm they had to develop some non-invasive methods for testing the bird performance. So this was done through blood, feathers, egg production, fertility and hatchability and litter moisture content.

“The progeny was taken and grown out as broilers. This project is still under way where XPC has been added to commercial diets at with this breeder.”

The topic from Thi Thu Hao Van

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from RMIT was ‘Spotty Liver Disease’ “The aim of the project is to investigate the possible transmission routes of C. hepaticus (identified to us as spotty liver) in layers.

“They have started by collecting samples and then breaking that down into isolations through DNA, genome sequencing.

“The samples used were from the bird, the environment, faecal swabs, caecum and bile. Environmental samples were also taken and inventoried.

“This work showed that the result and impact is that there are multiple carriers. The future is to make suggestions on how to prevent and detect infection.

“Birds can be infected with C. hepaticus long before the disease becomes obvious, therefore the detection of C. hepaticus infection from birds of several weeks old is necessary.

“There are several approaches to reduce the impact of SLD. Current treatments involve Antibiotic treatment including chlortetracycline and lincospectin which are successful.

“The range of feed additives being used to aid in the prevention of Spotty Liver Disease are probiotics, organic acids, phytobiotics and essential oils (there has been some success in field use).

“Could there be a future in vaccination?” she asked.

Dana Campbell from the CSIRO presented ‘Impacts of rearing enrichments on free-range layer behaviour, welfare, and production’.

“The rearing period is critical to the bird’s development,” she said.

“What happens to the bird in rearing can have impacts through to maturity.

“Free range brings a large amount of variability to the birds in the challenges they face.

“This project’s aim is to identify how different types of enrichments can effect hens and how things in the rearing area would affect the birds and the benefits or consequences to the bird.

“The trial began with day olds until 64 weeks of life. There were many measurements of the birds during their ranging life.

“Even tracking the bird’s movements throughout the range. The goal will be to show that there are optimal laying hen benefits that start at rearing.

Shubiao Wu from UNE presneted ‘Determine AME Values Accurately’.

“In poultry feed, energy is 70% of the cost of the feed.

“The value which was determined

1

2

3

4 1. Thu Thu Hao Van, RMIT. 2. Natalie Morgan from UNE. 3. Shubiao Wu from UNE. 4. Nischal Sharma from UNE.

NEWS and is now used is somewhat controversial.

“The accurate bioassay of ingredient AME values will lead to more accurate formulation of feed and thus better performance and improved profit.

“Precision feeding to poultry can be realised only when accurate information about feed stuffs, energy and nutrient values are available.

Amy Moss from UNE talked about ‘Review of the importance of sampling in poultry production’ and ‘Evaluation of precision feeding to enhance broiler growth efficiency’.

“The aim of the review is to improve sampling procedures and reporting and to model the variation in feed ingredients and how it affects performance and profits.

“The review should improve understanding of how many samples are necessary to test and to avoid excessive sampling and analyses. This review will also help nutritionists to set matrix values for feed formulation with predetermined level of confidence.

“Could feeding broilers a different feed each day influence production? What would it do to feed conversion? Can a novel feed system assist?

“Feed logic was used in this research trial by blending feed for 7-42 days to determine the effect of precision feeding regimes on broiler performance by measuring a variety of parameters in production.

Nischal Sharma from reported on UNE ‘Response of meat chickens to arginine in reduced protein diet’.

“This study focused on limiting amino acids in the diet and how optimising these can benefit meat chicken diets.

“They are looking at the possible sources to replace L-arginine in poultry. and with these replacements, how they will effect broiler production.

“The first trials focused on performance out to 35 days. The trial work did show that the normal protein diets vs the reduced protein diet, the body weight decreased significantly.

“When arganine wad added the response was similar to normal protein, but the body weights did not increase back to the normal protein diets.

“The take home message was that erformance will suffer when crude protein is reduced by four percentage points in Australian type diets.

“When supplemental arginine was removed from the reduced protein diet, there was a reduction in FI, WG, FCR breast meat yield and bone quality.

“When different sources of arginine were added back to the diets there was a large and significant response to the first level and much less if any of the second level. Citrulline had more of a positive effect than the other arginine sources,” he concluded.

“The support for Poultry Hub Australia from industry has been great,” said Tamsyn Crtowley.

“A big thank you to current supporters!

“There are a very wide range of opportunities available and every single dollar goes directly towards research, extension and education projects essential for innovation and advancement of the Australian poultry industry.”

Please contact Poultry Hub with questions. You can go to: poultryhub.org/poultry-hub-australia

To advertise in Poultry Digest please call Pete Bedwell on 0419 235 288 or landline 02 9797 2406 or email primarymedia@bigpond.com

AVIAGEN MANAGEMENT ESSENTIALS Debbie Fisher

Technical Service Manager ANZ Aviagen Author Biography: Debbie joined Aviagen in July 2013 as part for the Asia team as Technical Service Manager. Debbie provided Technical Service across that region for 5 years with customers based in Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea. In April 2018 Debbie moved back into the ANZ region providing Technical Service to our customers here. Prior to joining Aviagen Debbie worked for 20 years in NZ with a large poultry company with operations across NZ and Australia. During her time she worked in many roles including, Broiler, Breeders and Livestock and Processing Planner.

Minimizing Antibiotic Usage in Parent Stock with Management Objective: To provide management points for minimizing antibiotic use in Parent Stock.

Key Points: • Ensure a good chick start and proper early physiological development, especially in the gastrointestinal tract. By monitoring crop fill (aiming to achieve >95% by 24 hours) (Figure 1, Table 1) and reaching 7-day body-weight targets, chicks will be better prepared to face the challenge of coccidiosis in areas that do not allow coccidiostats in the feed, and also better equipped to respond to coccidial vaccines.

• Maintain drinking water quality and cleanliness. Utilize approved products in between flocks to remove biofilms and scale. Ensure water is sanitized throughout the life of the flock using approved products and monitor water quality regularly.

Keep Total Viable Counts (TVC)<10 cfu/ml and enterobacteriaceae (e.g. E.coli), yeast and mold at undetectable levels.

• A healthy gut is essential for reducing antibiotic use: • Good gut health should be established early on through correct brooding conditions, early access to feed and water and the introduction of beneficial bacteria into the gastrointestinal tract.

• Some pre- and probiotics, essential oils, organic acids and insoluble fiber may be beneficial when feeding a flock grown without antibiotics, as they may aid gut health, stimulate immunity and protect against gut pathogens.

A healthy gut will also maximize nutrient absorption to promote bird performance health.

• If coccidiostats are not permitted, administer an effective coccidiosis vaccine as early as possible. Monitor: • Litter moisture; the ideal litter moisture for optimal oocyst sporulation is "between 25% and 35%’’. High litter moisture will lead to excessive cycling of coccidia and overgrowth of clostridium spp., which will result in necrotic enteritis and high ammonia, causing respiratory issues and poor flock uniformity.

• Oocyst Per Gram (OPG) count; this is a good indicator of vaccine efficacy, effectiveness of vaccine application, and also whether coccidia cycling is being implemented properly.

• Ideal downtime between flocks is a minimum of 3 weeks. With good cleaning and disinfection practice, this will help to reduce pathogen load.

• Maintain a high health status with good biosecurity and appropriate vaccination programs.

• All plant-protein based diets are recommended for flocks aiming to reduce antibiotic use, as they have a reduced potential for Salmonella contamination and necrotic enteritis.

Figure 1: Assessment crop fill chicks with a full, rounded crop (left) and an empty crop (right).

Table 1: Crop fill assessment guidelines.

Time of Crop Fill After Placement 2 hours 4 hours 8 hours 12 hours 24 hours 48 hours

Target Crop Fill (% of Chicks with Full Crops) 75 80 80 85 95 100

Aviagen and the Aviagen logo are registered trademarks of Aviagen in the US and other countries.

All other trademarks or brands are registered by their respective owners. © 2019 Aviagen

NEWS

Four trends driving the future of chicken The four trends driving the future of chicken are convenience, sustainability, the growing popularity of protein and e-commerce which will all greatly influence the future of the chicken market, according to a recent survey from the United States.

The future of chicken and protein is bright, but chicken companies and retailers will need to keep changing in order to satisfy modern shoppers.

As part of the 2019 Chicken Marketing Summit, Chris DuBois, Senior Vice President and Principal at IRI, and Joyce Neth, Vice President and Director of audience development and research for WATT Global Media, shared the results of an annual survey of chicken consumers.

They spoke on July 22 at the Belmond Charleston Place in Charleston, South Carolina.

The annual study monitors what drives consumers to buy chicken rather than other meat and plant-based proteins.

The study was commissioned by the National Chicken Council and conducted online by IRI in July 2019.

Their presentation is available online.

Chicken companies and retailers that offer help for these time strapped and inexperienced shoppers can gain an advantage going forward.

One way retailers are helping to make cooking chicken simpler and more convenient is by providing signage and in-store devices to give consumers recipes and directions how find the ingredients they need.

Shoppers care about sustainability Consumers are increasingly making buying choices based on how they think it might impact the environment.

Data from the survey shows that products marketed on sustainability sold better than competitors.

Products that are marketed as sustainable make up 16% of items but made up 50.1% of total consumer packaged goods sales in 2018.

Chicken is a sustainable choice compared with other meats, but shoppers need to be educated about this attribute.

Data showed they appreciated label information about the absence of ingredients they consider to be undesirable, information about how the animal was processed, the ethical Convenience and simplification practices of the producer and its nutriTodayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consumers need a fast, tional content. simple solution for feeding their families.

Research also showed shoppers Chicken can provide that solution. are particularly interested in emotional Survey data shows that shoppers attributes of chicken products. consider chicken to be both easy and In order to increase chicken quick to prepare. However, many lack consumption among those already knowledge of how to prepare the meat buying chicken, DuBois and Neth said Project1:PoltexAd2 21/03/14 and need help finding recipes.3:47 PM Page 1the buyer wants proof the product is

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raised humanely and is satisfying.

Total store protein growth Protein is having a moment.

Shoppers are looking to increase their consumption of protein and this hunger is driving up sales of products making protein claims across the store.

Moreover, the data shows shoppers spend more money on products that combine protein with another health claim, such as antibiotic-free. Chicken, like other proteins, is benefiting from this trend.

But more shoppers are showing interest in plant based protein products or are trying to reduce their meat consumption for a variety of reasons.

Data showed 69 percent of consumers are going without meat once a week and 28 percent are reducing or limiting their meat consumption.

So purchases of plant-based proteins are rising steadily and meat companies are now introducing blended options to satisfy this craving.

DuBois and Neth said 20% of chicken consumers who do not consume plant-based protein said they are open to buying it in the future.

E-commerce and new technologies Finally, the future of retail will continued to be shaped by the proliferation of e-commerce. The click-and-collect model of online grocery shopping is expanding rapidly and online retailers like Amazon are grabbing a larger share of the edible product category.

DuBois and Neth said the path to purchase will continue to change in the future and retailers will need to push the envelope with consumer facing technology in order to survive.

Stores will need to roll out what they called retail as a service technology solutions to help connect shoppers with the information they want about their food.

Retail as a service program can be used to help create a personalised shopping experience, place shoppers in a consumer loyalty program and provide them with instant coupons.

DuBois also mentioned some grocers are debuting endless aisle programs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; either online or in store â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to display a wider range of available items than can be stocked in stores.

Other stores are even using robots to help sell products, help consumers find items in the store and perform menial tasks in the store.

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NEWS

IBDv suspected at New Zealand egg farm Biosecurity New Zealand is responding to a possible detection of a poultry virus, Infectious Bursal Disease virus (IBDv) Type 1 in a layer egg farm in Otago and one other nearby property.

No birds at the Mainland Poultry farm in Waikouaiti have disease symptoms and the farm itself is under voluntary biosecurity controls as a precautionary measure, Biosecurity New Zealand response manager David Yard said in a press release from the agency.

Preliminary test results indicate the virus is highly likely to be present on the Mainland Poultry property, but further testing overseas is required to confirm this. Those results were expected around mid-September.

In addition, a second Mainland property, near the Waikouaiti facility, has returned suspect results. These are in the early stages of the confirmation process, the agency stated.

Departmental Chief Scientist Dr John Roche said the virus can affect the immune system of young chickens but it poses no risk to human health or the health of other animals.

Yard said that while Biosecurity New Zealand awaits final confirmation from the overseas laboratory, it would stop issuing certificates for the export of chicken products to countries that require a guarantee freedom from IBDv type 1.

That involves the trade in poultry meat and poultry products to four countries, with Australia being the largest importer of New Zealand chicken meat.

Biosecurity New Zealand is now working with the egg and poultry industries to understand, if confirmed as positive, the scale of the situation and what control or eradication measures are available.

Yard said while this work is underway, Biosecurity New Zealand is reviewing operational measures at the farm to assess, if confirmed present, the risk of spread to other sites. Testing of other South Island layer and meat chicken farms is underway.

Biosecurity New Zealand and industry will work together to consider options to manage the situation, balancing the impacts of the disease if confirmed, against the costs and benefits of any control measures.

There are two different types of IBDv – Types 1 and 2. Type 2 is already in New Zealand and causes no significant health issues in the national flock

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and is of no trade concern. The current suspect result is for Type 1.

IBDv Type 1 was discovered in New Zealand in 1993. An industry-led program to eradicate the disease has meant New Zealand has been able to claim absence of the disease. Most other countries in the world have this virus and successfully manage it within the industry.

If the presence of IBDv Type 1 is confirmed, Biosecurity New Zealand investigators will be looking at how the virus could have entered New Zealand and they are looking at a range of possibilities including imported veterinary medicines, travelling farm workers, and other imported goods could be responsible.

The Australian Department of Agriculture is aware of the detection of

Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) in New Zealand.

Viral genome sequencing by an international laboratory is required to confirm which strain of the virus is present, the department said in a press release.

Some strains of IBDV are present in Australia, although Australian strains are a distinct genetic group that cause few problems for our industry.

Australian authorities are working closely with New Zealand counterparts while they investigate the nature and extent of the situation in New Zealand, the department said.

Exports from New Zealand to Australia of poultry meat and other affected poultry products have been suspended while the New Zealand situation is clarified.

CSIRO’s extensive research program on eggs Australians have been invited to participate in an extensive nation-wide research program aimed at understanding attitudes towards the Australian egg industry.

The community research is being run by the CSIRO and will canvass the views of more than 5,000 randomly selected Australians, as well as anyone from the general public who wants to have their say.

The research program is now in its second year and the leader of the CSIRO research, Dr Kieren Moffat, said his team wants to build on the 2018 findings to allow year-to-year comparison and gain a deeper understanding of community attitudes.

“Changing consumer attitudes are influencing how food is produced and one of the main aims of our research is to help egg farmers better understand the drivers of this change,” said Dr Moffat.

“The social science model we’ve developed allows survey participants to consider the impacts and contributions of an industry from multiple angles and that data helps us understand not only what people think, but why they think that way.

“We expect the results will provide

real and compelling data that will help egg farmers understand the diversity of community attitudes and, ultimately, future proof their businesses.”

The CSIRO handed the egg industry a mixed report card last year with the community identifying food security and hen welfare as the big ticket items but also saying the industry’s environmental impacts were not clear.

Australian Eggs’ Managing Director, Rowan McMonnies, said last year’s insights were invaluable for the industry and a large amount of work is already underway as a result.

“We found a number of opportunities to progress the issues identified in the CSIRO’s research,” Mr McMonnies said.

“We have refined these opportunities into projects under our new annual operating plan so we will be actively working on these issues as we are also confirming their relevance to the community.”

“New projects include identifying MicroRNA biomarkers to better understand hen experiences, research into the role eggs can play in addressing obesity and developing pathways for carbon-neutral egg products to be produced.”

Trace minerals

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NEWS

The 2020 Science Innovation Awards Grant applications are now open for the 2020 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

If you’re 18-35 and want to make a difference in agriculture, this is your chance to apply for a grant of up to $22,000 to fund your project that will benefit Australia’s primary industries.

Senator Bridget McKenzie, Minister for Agriculture, recently launched the 2020 Awards.

The Science Awards encourage young scientists, researchers, innovators and others active in the agriculture sector who have an original and innovative project that will contribute to the ongoing success and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.

The Science Awards have already helped 250 young Australians make their ideas a reality and showcase their talent to the world.

There are eleven industry Science Award categories open for applications: biosecurity and digital innovation; cotton; eggs and poultry (layers); fisheries and aquaculture; forest and wood

Contact Novus Local Poultry Account Manager +61 437 100 074 | sally.pines@novusint.com

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products; grains; meat and livestock; pork; red meat processing; viticulture and oenology; and wool.

Each category includes a $22,000 grant, and is generously supported by the research and development corporations and industry organisations as the Science Award partners.

Winners of the industry category Science Awards are then invited to apply for the Minister for Agriculture’s Award, which provides additional funding for an extended research project.

Interested in how you can make a difference for agriculture? Here are the next steps: • Log in to GrantConnect and search for GO2850 for more information and download application form • Read the information for applicants and quick questions and check your eligibility • Target your application by understanding what each Science Award partner is seeking and read their corporate profiles • Discover what projects were successful in the 2019 Science Awards • Start your application today using the application form from the GrantConnect website.

Applications close 5pm Friday October 4,2019.

Previous recipients Elizabeth Hickey was a previous recipient of the Australian Eggs Award and hopes to be the first person to grow large amounts of bacteria that causes spotty liver disease in chickens, all in the name of developing a vaccine.

Elizabeth’s project is about trying to get this fussy bacteria to grow in a large bioreactor.

Elizabeth works as a vaccine scientist for ACE Laboratory Services which makes autogenous vaccines—when bacteria collected from a farm is used to produce a vaccine specific to that property.

“One of the problems is that, from a biochemical point of view, growing something in one millilitre of media is very different than growing it in big hundredlitre vats,” she says.

But she’s taking on one of her toughest challenges yet with a vaccine against Campylobacter hepaticus.

“So my project will be characterising the growth.

It’s the pathogen that causes spotty liver disease, a deadly condition that is one of the most common diseases in layer hens in Australia.

“What does it like? What nutrients does it utilise?

What other growth factors can we add to make it grow well?”

Elizabeth says the bacteria was first fully characterised by RMIT researchers in 2016, raising hopes for a vaccine.

Elizabeth finds it very rewarding to identify conditions causing suffering and fix them.

“But unfortunately, this organism is really fastidious” Elizabeth says.

She loves being at the forefront of fighting disease.

“They’ve managed to grow it in really small quantities and on agar plates, but if you need to produce a vaccine you need huge quantities of cells.”

“This is a completely new area, there’s not much for me to go on, and I find that really, really exciting”

NEWS

Top: Elizabeth Hickey from ACE Laboratory Services.

Above: Dr Kirsty Short from University of Queensland.

Elizabeth said.

University of Queensland research scientist Dr Kirsty Short was another recipient of the Australian Eggs Award and is sequencing the genome of a Western Australian emblem—the black swan—to help protect chickens from bird flu.

If Kirsty can identify a gene that confers resistance to bird flu, it could be introduced to poultry through selective breeding or genetic modification.

Black swans are very susceptible to bird flu, or avian influenza, Kirsty explained.

Kirsty believes human and animal health are intrinsically linked. But a close relative known as the mute swan is more resistant to the disease.

“A disease outbreak in an animal species can have really important implications for human health and also vice versa” she said.

Kirsty hopes that by comparing the two, she can determine which genes are responsible for the difference in susceptibility.

“Avian flu is a really perfect example of that, because avian flu is a massive problem for the poultry industry— it causes millions of birds to be culled.

“Avian influenza in the black swan looks very much like avian influenza in the chicken” she said.

“But there is also a chance that those viruses could jump over to humans.

“The birds can die within 24 hours, the virus infects the cells that line the blood vessels and you get a lot of haemorrhaging.

“And that’s really concerning because often those strains have a very, very high mortality rate, so it could be up to about 60 per cent.”

“That doesn’t seem to happen to other species of swans, and this is really interesting because most of the genes between different swan species are pretty conserved.”

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NEWS

Alltech’s Dr Karl Dawson honoured Complementing his many and varied achievements over the course of an extremely successful career, Dr Karl Dawson, Chairman of Alltech’s scientific advisory board, has been inducted into the Animal and Food Sciences Hall of Fame in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

The annual award, the highest that the department can bestow, recognizes someone who has made outstanding contributions to the department and to animal agriculture.

A nomination letter submitted for Dr. Dawson highlights the achievements that merit this honor: “Dr Dawson is an individual who has spent most of his life dedicated to agriculture: living it, teaching it, researching it, improving it and making it more efficient,” the letter reads.

“However, through both his careers in academia and industry, his greatest impact on agriculture in Kentucky and the world is likely the legion of agricultural scientists that he has mentored, developed and supported to continue advancing the future of agriculture.”

The late Dr Pearse Lyons, founder of Alltech and Dr Dawson’s friend of 40 years, was inducted into the hall of fame in 2011.

“I never dreamed I would get close to this recognition,” said Dr Dawson. “I have seen many distinguished scientists inducted into the Animal and Food Sciences Hall of Fame and it is my great honor and privilege to be included

among them.”

Dr Dawson began his career in academia in 1979 in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Kentucky. In 1999, he accepted a position as director of global research at Alltech, and from 2011 to 2019, he served as vice president and chief scientific officer at Alltech.

Today, he continues to work with Alltech in a consulting role, and he is also an adjunct professor of nutritional microbiology in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

As Chief Scientific Officer at Alltech, Dr Dawson directed all activities at the Alltech bioscience centers around the world, including the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville.

He also led scientific programs for the research team of more than 140 members, directed annual programs for graduate students around the world and headed the activities of Alltech’s more than 20 research alliances.

His lifetime research has focused on strategies for improving animal performance and health by altering microbial activities and digestive processes in the gastrointestinal tract.

Of particular interest are strategies that use antimicrobials and substrate availability to beneficially alter microbial populations in the digestive tract. He championed Alltech’s nutrigenomics and epigenetics research, which have led to nutritional programing strategies

Dr Karl Dawson. that are being tested as alternatives to the use of growth promotants, changing the face of nutritional science in agriculture.

“Dr Dawson’s strength as a researcher and teacher lies in his in-depth understanding of the many different aspects of animal agriculture, as opposed to the very focused area of expertise that most specialists have,” his nomination letter reads.

“His excellent grasp of how the future of farming and agriculture is changing allowed him to focus his research in areas long before they were

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NEWS relevant, such as the need for proven alternatives for in-feed antibiotics.”

“Indeed, the 122 research papers that Dr Dawson has authored or co-authored have been cited more than 3,100 times to date; peers in his field are validating the quality of their own work by recognizing his work as a benchmark.

D”r Dawson continues to have a true passion for education, teaching and science. At the University of Kentucky, he developed an individualised degree program in agricultural biotechnology and advised undergraduate students in the program.

At Alltech, he started an internship in his lab that offered competitive and valuable real-life educational experience to young students interested in science.

Dr Dawson was also involved in the Alltech Young Scientist competition and Alltech Innovation Competition.

“Most of the programs that Dr Dawson has developed at Alltech over the years have had a strong education and student development component to it,” the nomination letter points out.

“When one considers this, it is somewhat unique for an animal feed industrybased company. However, it serves as evidence of Dr Dawson’s dedication toward furthering education in the field of agriculture.”

“Dr Dawson was integral in forming the alliances with Coldstream Research at the University of Kentucky, which focuses on poultry production research, and the Alltech-UK nutrigenomic alliance with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences.

“They have worked with Alltech to make the state of Kentucky a leader in the field of nutrigenomics by supporting a variety of research projects.

“His passion for education, teaching and young people extended beyond his day-to-day job as well.

“He sent members of his science team to area schools to showcase experiments and involved them in local science fairs. He is also always willing to participate in discussion panels, as the letter notes, “to help bridge the gap between what academic programs teach, and what the industries need.”

“Alltech’s research achievements in Kentucky and successful alliances with UK are a credit to Dr Dawson’s dedication and vision,” said Dr Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech.

“He has empowered the research of today and the breakthroughs of tomorrow by inspiring others in the field of animal science.”

Alltech 37+ analyses new and emerging mycotoxins New and emerging mycotoxins can now be analysed by the Alltech 37+ Laboratory. In total, five new mycotoxins have been added to the testing panel, bringing the total number of detectable mycotoxins to 54. These new additions further increase the understanding of mycotoxin occurrence and the potential risk to animal performance.

Emerging mycotoxins refers to mycotoxins that are neither routinely analysed nor legislatively regulated.

However, research has shown more evidence of their increasing incidence and potential toxicity to animals.

The emerging mycotoxins analysed

by Alltech 37+ include beauvericin; moniliformin; enniatins A, A1, B and B1; phomopsin A and alternariol. Fusaric acid also features in this emerging mycotoxin category.

“The Alltech 37+ mycotoxin analysis test is the cornerstone of the Alltech Mycotoxin Management program,” explained Nick Adams, Global Director, Mycotoxin Management, Alltech.

“We now test for 54 mycotoxins.

Alltech is now better equipped to understand how contaminated feed-

stuffs might impact animal performance and health.”

Due to their toxic properties, mycotoxins are a concern for livestock producers, as they can impact feed quality as well as animal health and performance.

Alltech’s 37+ test results provide a realistic picture of mycotoxin contamination in feed ingredients or total mixed rations, speeding up the process of diagnosis, and suggest effective remediation and help move toward an effective mycotoxin control plan.

“Since adding these mycotoxins to our analytical capabilities, we have already seen a high frequency of samples with these contaminants,” explained Dr Patrick Ward, Ireland Analytical Services Laboratory manager, Alltech.

Between Alltech’s 37+ mycotoxin analytical services laboratories in Lexington, Kentucky, and Dunboyne, Ireland, they have run over 30,000 samples, each searching for up to 54 mycotoxins in animal feed.

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33

NEWS

Nuffield Australia announces new Chair Nuffield Australia recently elected I look forward to building on our past Tasmania’s Robert Bradley as National while we continue to develop and Chair, following the 2019 Annual evolve into the future.”

General Meeting held during the Outgoing Chair and 2000 Nuffield Nuffield National Conference in Scholar from Western Australia, Andrew Brisbane recently.

Fowler, said he was excited about the A 2009 Tasmanian Nuffield Scholar, next chapter for Nuffield Australia and Mr Bradley has served on the Nuffield looked forward to seeing the Australia board since 2016. contribution Mr Bradley would make as With his wife Jo, Mr Bradley runs a Chair. mixed cropping and livestock operation “Rob has been a dedicated based at Longford, near Launceston.

Director and member of the Nuffield Speaking from the National alumni for many years now, and I’m Conference, Mr Bradley said he was delighted to be leaving the role of Chair looking forward to working with the in such good hands,” Mr Fowler said.

Nuffield board, investors and alumni in “Organisations like Nuffield are Robert Bradley from Tasmania. his new role as Chair. critical in our modern era of agriculture, “In an ever-changing Australian as we increasingly rely on science and which has positioned the organisation agriculture sector, it’s important we evidence-based research to help us well for the future. keep building the capacity of our make the most of both current opportu“It’s been an honour to serve as producers across all industries, and Project2:Layout nities and 1 overcome emerging chal19/07/11 10:26 AM Page 1 Chair of Nuffield Australia, and I look the Nuffield program continues to be lenges to the industry.” forward to seeing the wonderful contrian unrivalled platform to do this,” Mr During his three years as Chair, bution Rob will no doubt make to the Bradley said.

Mr Fowler has overseen an important organisation over the next few years,” “With more than 460 alumni, the phase of consolidation and strengthenMr Fowler said. organisation has a proud culture and ing of Nuffield systems and processes,

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PRODUCT NEWS

New Silometric for measuring content of silo storage “Silometric is a new level sensor developed by MCSystems, distributed by Metrowest and is used for the management and control of solid materials from silos and tanks,” explained David Aquist, a director of WA based Metrowest.

“It is an innovative product that uses laser technology, making level measurements in the storage system, so that the user can know, in real time and from any intelligent electronic device, what is the status of stocks in their facilities,” David explained to Poultry Digest.

“Key features are a quick and easy installation on the top of any modern on farm grain storage systemstorage system.

“Silometric is a fully wireless system and there is no need for wiring,” he said.

“This is a minimum maintenance system only requiring battery replacement approximately every five years,” David said.

Silometric is web platform monitored allowing remote view in real time of on-farm stock levels.

“This ensures more efficient scheduling/planning of feed deliveries and the Silometric is suitable for the measurement of any solid material such as grains or pellet.”

Metrowest is also the Australian agent for the Optifarm system which is the first AI based poultry shed management system that reduces dependence on purely human monitoring of modern automated poultry sheds.

David Speller the MD of Optifarm and originator of the system introduced the concept to Australian audiences in 2018 and presented his ideas at VIV Asia 2019 in March this year.

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35

NEWS

Australian egg farmers feel the squeeze Farmers in Western Australia supplying the Coles supermarket chain say they are being paid less than the cost of production for their eggs from barn-raised hens at a time of high costs, a nationwide egg shortage, and just as the limit on egg consumption in a heart-healthy diet have been lifted.

Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s egg producers have invested in alternative layer housing systems over recent years as retailers announced commitments to phase out sales of caged eggs.

For the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second-largest supermarket chain, Coles, that commitment will apply nationwide from 2023, but already came into force in Western Australia in March of this year.

At the same time, there has been an egg shortage across Australia as many producers were forced to reduce their flocks in the face of rising feed prices resulting from the drought in the east of the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cost of production for farmers has increased a lot and

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weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been unable to recoup a lot of those increases from supply chains,â&#x20AC;? President of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Commercial Egg Producers Association, Ian Wilson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

As a result of these pressures, egg producers are unable to make the investments required to switch production system, or expand output to meet demand for cage-free eggs, according to Wilson.

Across four southern states, thousands of hens were destroyed after an outbreak of Salmonella, exacerbating the national egg shortage.

Western Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agriculture minister, Alannah MacTiernen told ABC she understands Colesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; decision to end sales of cage eggs to reflect consumer sentiments but has expressed concerns about the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s egg pricing structure, which offers barn eggs for sale for as little as AU$3 (US$2.20) per dozen.

Egg producers in the state who sell to wholesalers appear to be in a stronger position as farm gate prices have been rising in recent weeks, reports ABC. A search of the online offer from Coles Group reveals its own brand free-range eggs costing between AU$3.00 per pack of six eggs (AU$1.00 per 100g) to AUD5.20 for 12 Jumbo eggs (AU$0.65 per 100g).

A pack of 12 of its own-brand organic eggs costs AU$8.95 (AU$1.49 per 100g). The cheapest option listed on the retailerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online offering is a pack of 12Â â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Farm Freshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; brand cage eggs for AU$335 (AU$0.48 per 100g), although the item is not currently available for purchase.

Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top food retailer by market share, Woolworths, offers a range of own-brand eggs currently costing between AU$3.40 (for six extra-large free range eggs; AU$0.97 per 100g) and AU$4.20 (for 12 eggs of the same type; AU$0.60 per 100g).

At AU$0.48 per 100g, the cheapest eggs offered by Woolworths are 12 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Just 4 Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; brand extra-large caged eggs at AU$3.35.

Five years ago, Woolworths Group announced that the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) would be the first area in the country where it would no longer sell cage-produced eggs after December 2018.

Just one week ago, the Australian Heart Foundation published its amended recommendations on the consumption of eggs, dairy and meat products.

Based on its own review of the available scientific evidence, the Foundation has lifted the limit on the number of eggs that can be eaten per week in a heart-healthy diet.

People with high blood cholesterol or heart disease are recommended to eat no more than seven eggs per week.

PRODUCT NEWS

Kuhn recycled egg cartons are the environmentally friendly choice Packaging their eggs in recycled plastic was an unusual decision for egg farmers Jodie Viccars and Fabian Fabbro of Woodland Valley Farm.

Despite having done an enormous amount of research, and being certain it was the most environmentally friendly choice, they knew that taking any type of plastic to the farmers markets would raise a few eyebrows.

“There was many a look of horror,” said Jodie about her first few mornings selling eggs at her local farmers market.

A couple of months later, the plastic cartons still got the odd look of disapproval, but the people that have taken the time to stop and chat have discovered the purpose and passion behind Woodland Valley’s packaging.

Manufactured by Kuhn Corp Print and Packaging, the cartons are made from 100% recycled post-consumer PET (the type of plastic most plastic bottles are made from) and so make use of a valuable resource that often ends up in landfill or in our oceans.

“The amount of single use plastic being dumped into the ocean every day is incredible,” Fabian said.

“We’ve really got to find ways to re-purpose all that.

The recycled cartons have a smaller carbon footprint that pulp egg packs, and because they are stronger, there is less breakage and less waste.

The plastic containers are a also a more hygienic option for consumers who want to refill their cartons.

The recycled cartons are just one aspect of Woodland Valley’s holistic, sustainable and ethical approach to farming. The couple is working towards regenerating the land on their old dairy farm at Fernvale in northern NSW by using a rotational grazing system.

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Creating more than an impress ion 37

NEWS v CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 buds in the oral cavity in poultry.

“Chickens have an excellent gut sensory system. AgriFutures sponsored research between the standard growing broilers compared to the fast-growing birds comparing behaviour and biology between the birds.

Research revealed the slow growers and fast growers had different beak shapes. They then looked at the feed intakes on different ingredient profiles of the feed.

Even though there was a difference in the beaks of both birds, most of the particle sizes, especially on the smaller end were affected in the slow growers.

“The fast growers had a higher intake. The birds then had the opportunity of a double choice model.

A commercial feed was used with a increase in amino acids in one choice of feed.

“When it came to the preference, the essential amino acids, the fast growing chickens ate more. And the non essential amino acids were preferred less. So birds can differentiate amino acids in the diet. And this can be effected by their growth rate – fast

Don’t

versus slow growing. Is there any amino acid to differentiate between the two bird types?

“What did come out of the trials was that lysine did have an effect in amino acid requirements.

“A case study looked at feather pecking in laying hens. They divided the layers into feather eaters and non feather eaters.

“They then considered the feather nutritional composition, amino acids, fatty acids and sugars as a potential for pecking behaviour.

“The double choice trial was conducted considering amino acids.

The hens that were pecking, the feather eaters, were given methionine lysine and glycine.

“As a proof of concept, they also looked at the metabolism pathways.

The most significant pathway was methionine degradation.

“The feather eaters upregulated the methionine degradation pathway. This does present the possibility that the feather eating hens were looking for increased methionine.

“Another consideration was preen oil. When you get birds that are over 30

weeks of age birds, the composition of the preen oil changes.

“The content of lauric and myristic content of the preen oil decreases as the bird ages.

Where it could be a consideration is that birds do not like the taste of lauric and myrstic and thus the younger birds do not have the same instance of pecking.

“Dextrose was considered. Birds have an increase in appetite for sugars during stressful periods. The requirement increases and has been previously shown,” Professor Roura concluded.

The Novus forum once again delivered some exciting scientific quality papers from international leaders in their fields.

The event was well attended and appreciated by most of the key members of the Australian poultry nutrition broiler sector.

Opportunities for discussion, questions and answers were both interesting and fruitful.

This has always been a worthwhile industry forum and the 2019 event was no different.

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