By Justina Caldas, Nutritionist, World Tech Support
To produce a top quality flock and help your birds reach their genetic potential, it’s necessary to provide the right environment to support their growth and development. This includes the right nutrition to make that growth possible. Additionally, the right mix of nutrients not only impacts the health and performance of your flock but also your bottom line. Justina Caldas, Nutritionist and member of Cobb’s World Technical Support team, recommends the following 5 tips to get the most from your feed program.

Know What’s In Your Feed.
Poultry feed, especially broiler feeds in China are primarily corn-soybean meal type with additional protein ingredients including cottonseed meal, rapeseed meal, and corn by-products (Han, 2012). China is the largest soybean import country; therefore, analyze your ingredients because soybean meals can vary on quality and nutritional content depending on the country of origin. Develop a historical nutrient composition that will help you decide which supplier you want to buy next.

Choose Ingredients Wisely
Modern broilers have a great genetic potential to grow with ingredients that won’t compete with human food. Broilers use multiple by-products ingredients to make a great source of animal protein for the humankind. It is a nutritionist’s job to make sure the feed ingredients for our broilers don’t compete with human food, use your by-product ingredients wisely by creating a database analysis, and use real time formulation for your diets at a fair cost.

Manage Moisture Content.
Since corn represents the largest percentage of most poultry diets (>50%), high moisture levels will dilute important nutrients such as protein and energy in the feed. Evaluating the moisture content of your ingredients will help reduce the risk of bacterial and fungus growth, and it will also reduce the amount of additives needed to store the feed. This starts by implementing a quality control program at the feed mill. Work with your supplier and communicate your quality specifications to be sure that the corn you are paying for is exactly what you are getting. To begin, first analyze your feed. The historic moisture values of this feed will help to decide the...