When hens can't stand properly..

When hens can't stand properly. If hens are not fully able to stand, it could have one of these causes. The image below was provided by Roodbont Publishers and is part of the Look, Think, Act series that will be published weekly on World Poultry. Hover over the icons within the image for more information

NatureFresh Farms develops unconventional pest management methods.

NatureFresh Farms develops unconventional pest management methods. A pest outbreak in the fall of 2016 left all bell pepper growers in the Leamington area highly concerned.

 Pepper Weevil (Anthonomus Eugenii) is an unconventional pest that a regular Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system cannot maintain and cannot be spotted by humans which makes it nearly impossible to catch early on.

 Once the pest spreads, it is essentially a death sentence for the crop as no beneficial bug is strong enough to combat it and sprays just irritate the pest forcing it to reproduce more. 

 Cam Lyons, Research and Development and IPM Technician at NatureFresh Farms, realized that there had to be a solution and conducted countless development sessions.

 “Dogs are a very intelligent animal. Many worker dogs are trained to recognize and discover scents associated with drugs or bombs, so it seemed possible to train a dog to recognize pepper weevil.”

 After a lot of research, NatureFresh Farms adopted Chili, a 15-month old female Belgian Shepherd who was bred as a working dog. Chili underwent 8 weeks of training and was certified by The American Working Dog Association who verified that Chili was the first dog certified for pest related scent detection on a farm. 

 This certification also allows Chili to work in the farm without any food safety concern.

STARTUP : How 2 women turned recycled tyre business to international brands.

STARTUP : How 2 women turned recycled tyre business to international brands. H Laura ZABO – makes up-cycled belts and vegan accessories from reused bicycle tyres.“The ZABO story began in Tanzania, Africa where fell in love with the handmade and brightly painted sandals made from reused tyres. STARTUP : How 2 women turned recycled tyre business to international brands. The idea for footwear label soleRebels popped into the brain of Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu in 2004. Looking around her native Addis Ababa, she caught sight of the ubiquitous simple sandals made from recycled tyres and decided to turn them into an international brand. Twelve months later, soleRebels was launched in a local workshop with just five staff. SoleRebels has earned the soubriquet, the Nike of Ethiopia.more

Hock burns in broilers.

What do you understand as hock burns in broilers. Hock burns refers to a blackish-brown discoloration of the surface of the skin at the hock in broilers. Hock burns also referred to as ammonia burns usually evident in soaked litter. This hock burn occurs after a long period of exposure with moisture and ammonia on poor quality litter. It is very important to monitor litter for health of the birds.

Roles of Robots in Agriculture: Robotic Dairy Farms.

This is the future of agriculture,as the largest robotic dairy farm in Michigan will go online in 2017. DeLaval International, a large Swedish producer of dairy and other farming equipment, is installing 24 robotic voluntary—meaning the cows approach the stations on their own—milking machines at TDI Farms LLC of Westphalia that will be able to milk 1,500 cows. 

Roles of robots in agriculture.

The new system will be operational sometime next year (no firm date has been set yet), according to Muhieddine Labban, solution manager of automatic milking systems at DeLaval. 

 The farm is owned by the Trierweiler family. They decided to transition to a robotic milking system after seeing improved longevity and lower cull rates of cows in dairy farms using these systems. Here’s how the Voluntary Milking System machine works(VMS): the cows are free to come to the machine to be milked as they please, drawn by the feed that is dispensed during milking. 

    Robots in agriculture.

 The animals are creatures of habit, they learn this routine within a few days, says Labban in an email. The system cleans, pre-milks, dries and stimulates each teat individually using water, compressed air and a vacuum. After this preparation stage, the cows are milked via a robotic attachment that scans their underside to detect where the teats are located and checks the milk flow before releasing the suction cup at the end of the milking session. 

 According to DeLaval, the VMS is better for cows than traditional milking systems since it has an open structure that allows the cow to see her surroundings and to stand in a comfortable position without human management, which can be stressful for the animals. The VMS also monitors udder health and can detect potentially life-threatening mammary gland infections. The VMS increases efficiency, providing the dairy producer with the opportunity to hire fewer, but higher-caliber trained and qualified people.see

#agriculture #agribusiness #robots #roles of robots in agriculture.

RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers.

RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers. The bitter flavor in wild cucurbits -- the family that includes cucumber, pumpkin, melon, watermelon and squash -- is due to compounds called cucurbitacins. The bitter taste protects wild plants against predators. The fruit and leaves of wild cucurbits have been used in Indian and Chinese medicine for thousands of years, as emetics and purgatives and to treat liver disease. A recent study have shown that cucurbitacins can kill or suppress growth of cancer cells. RESEARCH: Cancer medicine from cucumbers. The new research by University of California - Davis published in science journal has shown that curbing this bitterness made cucumber, pumpkin and their relatives into popular foods, but the same compounds also have potential to treat cancer and diabetes.Bitterness is known to be controlled by two genetic traits, "Bi" which confers bitterness on the whole plant and "Bt," which leads to bitter fruit. This research used the latest in DNA sequencing technology to identify the exact changes in DNA associated with bitterness.The researchers were able to identify nine genes involved in making cucurbitacin, and show that the trait can be traced to two transcription factors that switch on these nine genes, in either leaves or the fruit, to produce cucurbitacin. The new research sheds more light on how domestication changed cucumber genetics to make the fruit more edible. Understanding this process open up new approaches to developing other food crops based on plants that are naturally either inedible or poor in nutrition. #cross breeding #selective breeding #biotechnology.

Agribusiness: leveraging technology in agriculture.

Drones are just one of many technologies whose use in the agricultural sector could cut operation costs and improve yields, helping a growing global population with shrinking resources to cultivate more food with fewer inputs Silicon Valley and the vast cornfields of the U.S. Midwest may appear to have little in common, but a growing relationship between big data and agriculture is poised to improve yields, reduce raw material use and decrease production costs. 

 Over the past year, the precision agriculture industry, which has pioneered the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and robotics to increase data collection and efficiency in agriculture, has continued to expand in the United States and around the world. As drone use in agriculture becomes even more prevalent and new achievements in machine learning and artificial intelligence are made, high technologies — the internet of things, big data, robotics and artificial intelligence — will overlap with agriculture more and more. 

 The concept of precision agriculture, or the use of data to enhance agricultural production, has been around for more than two decades. The field includes a range of different technologies, including GPS-guided tractors, yield and soil monitoring, variable rate applications for water and fertilizers, and data collection by satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. 

 Technology in agriculture will enable farmers to do more with less — especially as advances in sensor technology and computing technology continue — to keep up with rising demand for agricultural products over the next few decades. Using even one of the precision agriculture technologies can save farmers substantially on a per-acre basis. continue

AGRIBUSINESS: EGG POWDER.

 Eggs are very nutritious and vital for growth and development.Eggs contain essential nutrients and vitamins that propels growth and increase in intelligent quotient(I.Q),which is why its essential for growing children.

 Eggs can be referred to as a power-food because of its immense benefits  and its also called a power pill.

  Eggs contains 77 calories,6 grams of protein and 5 grams of healthy fat.Eggs are rich in omega-3-fatty acid, vit A,B2,B12,B5,B6,E,D and K.

It also contains folate,calcium zinc,phosphorus and selenium.

Eggs also contain all the essential amino acids in the right ratio so that our bodies are equipped to utilize them.

 The egg yolk contains lutein and zeaxanthin which reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration in the aged. Choline is also vital component of egg and its used to build cell membrane ,with the major role of producing signal molecules in the brain.

 Eggs are essential for brain health because of the role of choline.   Eggs can be referred to as a magic pill because of the nutrients it contains and versatile uses..Eggs are useful in the pharmaceutical industry,beauty industry, creative arts and food and beverage industry.

 Eggs can be presented in powdered form to extend the shelve-life,make it handy and easy to store. Eggs can be powdered as whole eggs,that's the egg white and yolk together.

Eggs can also be separated into egg white and egg yolk and powdered separately. The advantage of this is that different industries use the yolk and egg white separately as a raw material for their products,thus this separation will reduce cost and prevent waste

Powdered whole eggs are handy and cost effective.The powdered eggs can be packed easily without the risk of cracks and transported long distances.The whole powdered eggs gives same nutritious value as shelled eggs but more volume than the shelled eggs.

 The powdered whole eggs can be prepared with water or milk depending on taste and can be used for various dishes.

 HOW TO USE THE EGG POWDER. 1) Pour the sachet in a clean bowl,the number of sachet will depend on the number of people to eat it.

 2) Add water /milk to the powder,depending on preference and dish.

 3) Mix until fluffy and fry.

 4) Serve as desired.

 A 10g sachet can serve 2 adult depending on serving and desire but a 10g sachet will serve 3 children.
 If you leave it to stand for a minute after mixing before you fry, it will serve more people.

 The egg powder is economical as well as easy to prepare and cheap.

 Call for yours today @ 50 naira/10g sachet.

AGRIBUSINESS: STARTING AN EGG POWDER PROCESSING PLANT.

AGRIBUSINESS: STARTING AN EGG POWDER PROCESSING PLANT.

 The egg powder magic,  Are you thinking of investing in the poultry value chain? here is a niche that is viable but relatively new.

      How to set up a mini powdered egg plant. see

TELECOMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY.

The role of telecommunication as a tool for food security,food safety and sustainability. This is how to use telecommunication to trace,track and report food fraud thus promoting food safety.

This involves creating a platform , a central data pool of various farmers and agricultural value chain.This platform will be multifaceted, linking all the aspects of the agricultural chain thus providing a tracking and tracing model. This will be a planning tool,marketing tool and learning platform.

 The platform will have data of those involved in the various aspect of the chain,their location, the aspect of production they are involved in and the population of the animals.

This information will give data on vaccination/medication, so that at any point in time the health status of various sets of animals can be accessed.




The platform will be a vital tool for planning,because you know the number of birds in chain,the vaccines can be acquired, medications/vitamins can be sourced and distributed.

 The platform will be a marketing tool,where manufacturers of drugs,feed,farm tools can reach out to customers.Each chain operator will have a code,this will allow tracing,tracking and tailored medical interventions.

 The platform will grant open access to all strata of the chain; linking all aspects together so that customers can access all sale information on the site.

Training and learning will be available on site,with hand outs,webinars and interactive forum;where farmers can be tutored and also create an opportunity for interested farmers and investors to be trained.

AGRIBUSINESS:HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS.

AGRIBUSINESS:HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS. AGRIBUSINESS:HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS. The success of the venture depends on following strict health protocols that are wrapped around simple but effective bio security protocol.The health protocol involves vaccinations coupled with medications.The use of drugs take into consideration the withdrawal time,so as not to process birds with antibiotic residue for human consumption. Vaccination refers to a method of disease prevention in healthy animals by challenging the animal with an attenuated/killed agent of a disease so as to elicit the production of antibodies. When vaccinations are done properly and immunity conferred,the animal is said to have been immunized against such causative agents of disease.Vaccination though stimulates antibodies production to protect the animals ,but if not done properly ;the desired immunity will not be conferred.When immunity is not conferred,2 major causes are fingered.These are vaccine failure or vaccine break. When immunity is not conferred due to vaccine break,the following are causes; 1)when the cold chain is broken; usually from point of sale to area you need them.The vaccines are to be transported in coolers with enough ice packs for the trip.The potency of the vaccines cant be guaranteed when this occurs,and when used the required immunity is not conferred. 2) when using inappropriate dilution and concentration; this nullifies any effect the vaccine should have on the birds. 3)when expired vaccines are used,definitely no immunity can be conferred. While vaccine failure could occur in any of the following scenarios;1)using inappropriate dose; under/overdosing will not elicit any antibody reaction. 2)wrong dilution/route. 3)vaccination of sick birds. 4)stress on birds during handling especially in hot weather. 5)Use of chemicals along side the vaccines especially water purification solutions. 6)vaccinating birds when signs of diseases are visible in flock. AGRIBUSINESS:HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS. Vaccinations,though very essential ,if not properly carried out will just be a waste of resources. When planning to vaccinate; keep it simple. 1)place vaccine in ice pack. 2)engage qualified personnel. 3) use vaccine as directed by manufacturers.