Healthy tips for raising antibiotic free broilers (ABF).

An Indiana-based producer with more than 15 years’ experience raising broilers without antibiotics — offers these tips for ensuring a strong, healthy and efficient bird: Muller poultry has been raising broilers without antibiotics (ABF) and these are their tips. 

 1) Start with healthy stock that have been proven over the years.Miller Poultry now exclusively raises Aviagen Ross 708. While the line has a reputation for being a “big-bird breed” that requires more nutrients than other lines, they seem to have fewer leg problems — a common trouble spot in ABF production — and a higher yield at processing, according to live operations director Stephen Shepard. 

 2) Understand that gut health is the key to success in production. Birds with healthy guts absorbs food properly,grow fast and are disease free. Coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis (NE) are their biggest health challenges. To help prevent coccidiosis — a prerequisite for managing NE — Miller Poultry leans on vaccines all year long for its organic birds.

 3) lightening techniques,the first 7 days in the life of birds are critical and hence great care must be taken to ensure growth and stability. The lightening procedure of lights on to ensure birds can see at night for feed can be manipulated for better effects. 

The use of LED lights have been shown to boost growth and hence productivity. see Miller Poultry is experimenting with LED tube lights along the water and feed lines, making the inside of a dimly lighted broiler house look like an airport runway at night. 

The lighting, Shepard says, attracts the birds and ensures good feed and water intake. 4) Rotate medication ,feed and vaccines. Miller Poultry was a big user of a recombinant vaccine for Marek’s disease and infectious bursal disease (IBD). In recent years, however, they’ve been rotating in traditional live IBD vaccines to get better protection against shedding — a known shortcoming with continuous use of recombinants. 

 Maintaining healthy bursas is important in any production system, it is especially critical for ABF operations to help optimize immunity. 

 5) Vaccinating year-round for Escherichia coli is a common practice in the industry for broiler-breeders and layers.E. coli typically emerges in broilers as a secondary infection to infectious bronchitis virus or reovirus, and can lead to high numbers of condemnations in the processing plant when birds are harvested . 

 Miller poultry administers the E. coli vaccine at day 1 via hatchery spray, sometimes in combination with a coccidiosis vaccine.

How to produce fertilizer from cow urine.

Cow urine is a good organic fertilizer and pesticide and its best for the cultivation of spinach .Its used as an organic pesticide, as it can prevent some attacks by the insects . Cow urine is an effective organic fertilizer used in india ,Nepal e.t.c. The cow urine can be used alone or mixed with some other ingredients to get better results. The urine mixture must not be applied directly to the crops you need to dilute it 10% water before you apply to the vegetables.more

How to use groundnut cake as organic fertilizer.

Ground nut cake can be used as a organic fertilizer in our farms,but cannot be applied directly if the benefits are to be exhibited. The method of use is as follows; 1) Take a handful of the groundnut cake and pour in one litre of water. 2)Let mixture stand for 3 days. 3) To use mix solution to 2 parts of water and spray veggies once a week.

How to make organic fertilizer from cow urine.

Cattle urine can be a good alternative to replace chemical fertilizers. When the urine is fermented for 15 days along with neem (Azadirachta indica), it can be sprayed over agricultural field to repel insects. Sap-feeding pests and foliar insects can be better controlled by spraying cattle urine and with fewer adverse effects than those presented by traditional pesticides.more Cow urine is a good organic fertilizer and pesticide and its best for the cultivation of spinach .Its used as an organic pesticide, as it can prevent some attacks by the insects . Cow urine is an effective organic fertilizer used in india ,Nepal e.t.c. The cow urine can be used alone or mixed with some other ingredients to get better results. The urine mixture must not be applied directly to the crops you need to dilute it 10% water before you apply to the vegetables. The ratio is 1: 10 that is 1 litter cow urine diluted with 10 litter of water. The ingredients needed to make the fertilizer are as follows 1) cow urine. 2) Bird's eye chili 3) bar soap. Method. 1) slice bar soap and mix with 0.5 litre of water. 2)Grind the bird's chilli pepper and mix with solution above. 3) Then mix the new solution with 1 litre of cow urine,mix thoroughly and filter. 4) To use add 10 litres of water. source

Cow urine as a low cost alternative to chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Cattle urine can be a good alternative to replace chemical fertilizers. When the urine is fermented for 15 days along with neem (Azadirachta indica), it can be sprayed over agricultural field to repel insects. Sap-feeding pests and foliar insects can be better controlled by spraying cattle urine and with fewer adverse effects than those presented by traditional pesticides. A recent study suggests that cattle urine has antifungal properties against Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotium rolfsii, the organisms responsible for the major fungal diseases one usually encounters out in the field. A research study suggests that rhizome rot pathogens Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. zinziberi, Pythium aphanidermatum and Ralstonia solanacearum can be efficiently managed using cow urine extracts. According to H.P. University, entomology laboratory, cow urine along with Vitex negundo and Ferula asafetida can be an eco-friendly way of controlling insects and pests that affect wheat and paddy crops. The same laboratory also concluded that cabbage aphids can be drastically reduced using an ash and soil mixture along with cow urine. Diluted cattle urine can also be used as organic fertilizer by adding 10 parts of water per unit part of urine Organic fertilizers use cattle dung and urine in ample amounts. It may be due to the fact that cattle urine is a good source of urea. A study from Vishwa Ayurvedic Parishad (VAP) shows that cattle urine consists of 95% water, 2.5 % urea and the remaining 2.5 % a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes. Nitrogen makes up 46% of urea. Demand for nitrogen, a necessary and most often abused nutrient can be significantly reduced using cattle urine as fertilizer. Furthermore, the salt and minerals found in urine help to compensate the micro nutrient deficiency in the plants. When this fertilizer is supplied through drip irrigation ,it brings the additional benefit of efficient absorption of nitrogen by plants. Countries like Nepal and India have been using cattle urine and dung as a fertilizer for thousands of years. However, with the advancement of science, farmers are now more innovative.

Rapper Akon lights up two more African nations with solar power.

Rapper Akon lights up two more African nations with solar power.The Senegalese-American artist Akon is looking skywards to splash his cash by investing in solar power projects across Africa. The rapper added The Gambia and Cape Verde to his Akon Lighting Africa initiative this weekend, a fund that already helps populations who struggle to connect to limited or absent national grids in 25 African countries. The Gambian village of Sareh Pateh, population 4,000, turned on solar street lights for the first time on Sunday night, along with power for a mosque and a pharmacy. Akon, real name Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, spent part of his childhood in a Senegalese village without electricity before settling in the United States. In Cape Verde on Saturday the musician met with Economy Minister Jose Goncalves and said he considered the poor but stable island nation to be his next investment prospect.The African Renewable Energy Initiative, launched at the Paris COP21 summit in 2015, aims to bring large-scale projects to the continent. source

How greenhouses are boosting property sales.

Agriculture is the new currency with every industry trying a slice for size. Agriculture and real estate is a fantastic merger that provides food, shelter,employment and business partnership. Agriculture and real estate see. Greenhouses are a new twist to the investment plan,the construction of greenhouses, which is the farming model being taken up by property companies is becoming an opportunity of recovering the invested capital within a year while the land is appreciating ahead of reselling. Denko Properties Consultant Gilbert Yator said more youths than before are interested in purchasing land for prospective reasons. But the inclusion of agribusiness incentives like a greenhouse is making the deal sweater as it adds value to the property. For instance, Denko Properties sells a plot in Juja, Kiambu County, at Sh630,000. The purchaser adds Sh295,000 more for the installation of the greenhouse, which is managed by the property company to generate at least a half a million shillings per year. “This investment targets the young enterprising generation that has not decided to settle, but want to invest in property for resale after appreciation of the prices. An opportunity to make an extra coin from the agribusiness without physically working in the greenhouse is contributing to the surge in this investment,” Yator said. The company has property in Kiambu, Kajiado, Nairobi, among other cosmopolitan counties and towns. After paying the extra Sh295,000, the company does all the production work until marketing, while the owner waits for the agreed money. This is perfect for the working class, who cannot be at the farm all through. Yator said the value addition, which has been adopted by many property companies, has increased the speed of selling of land by more than three times because of the recovery and turn-over rate. more