Tag Archives: knowledge sharing

Local Poultry Management Guide

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As part of our path to improve local knowledge for raising and managing indeginous local birds, we have started working on a guide based on our experiences that can be used as a starting point for new and existing farmers

This guide will be evolved with feedback and inputs from farmers so please do share all the experiences that you have to help make it more solid

Send feedback to kungufarm@gmail.com

https://guide.kungu.farm/

Poultry Drugs and Medication

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Can you offer technical advice on the use of those drugs in poultry? A question that came into my Inbox a couple of days ago

The answer below was given by a user “Chicken Doctor Himself” in a Poultry Whatsapp group

Ascalex is a dewormer composed of piperazine citrate. It is always used on evidence of worms or following the periodic routine of 30days for highly exposed chicken or 60 to 90 days in non exposed ones. Follow vets guidance and always do not follow it with a dewormer in the same class for better results attacking a different type of parasite keeping other factors costant .

Amilyte is a powdered in-water supplement with vitamins, amino acids and electrolytes all in one pack. It helps manage any kinds of stress such as treatment, after vaccinations, deworming, debeaking, change of feed etc

Doxin is a mixed antibiotic composed of doxycycline and tyrosin used in treatment of respiratory diseases but should be used on vets prescription. Remember flu is not a disease but a symptom so never rush to treat it.

Glucovit is composed of mild vitamin concentrations and glucose majorly used in early stages of birds growth or when energy levels of the birds are dowm due to different reasons .

Surviving the COVID Lockdown – A Farmer’s Perspective

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March 31, 2020 will forever be etched into our minds, as the President of Uganda announced a 14 day lockdown with no movement of private cars, only motorcyles, lorries and pickups allowed.

At first glance I can say that we were very fortuate, as our most senior staff at the farm had left the day before to see his wife through childbirth for their second child who was due April 9th, but came April 2nd. He would definitely have missed the birth and first days had he stayed a day longer.

This was the test of the processes and tools that we had put in place since we started this joruney in January 2013:

  1. Feed preparation
    • This is fully outsourced although we control the formulation process, and fully mixed, packed food is delivered to the farm in 100kg bags. We weigh on delivery and cross check with the order made. This proved to be the right call as the trust relation with the feed mixing provider meant we did not have to be present at all times, and transactions could be completed remotely.
    • During this process due to stockout of the 10% concentrate formulation we successfully moved to a 5% concentrate formulation
    • The feed is prepared once a week, which reduces the need for adding preservatives to keep it for longer, and provides an opportunity to make quick changes based on feedback from the birds – always measured by productivity
  2. Farm Records Management
    • On a daily basis we track the total feed and water consumption, production (number of trays per house) which provided remote visibility into how the farm was running
    • In addition we track finer details such how many eggs were picked per hour, how much feed and water is given in the morning and afternoon. This helps spot trends and changes in behavior based on weather and other factors
  3. Production and Sales Management
    • Previously we delivered to our customers which removed visitors from the farm, helping us manage biosecurity and good old security since no visitors are allowed to come in and eggs to leave. However with the lockdown this changed due to transport constraints
    • All deliveries were pre-paid before pickup as no credit was allowed, intially payments were made to the bank (via agent banking) however now this had to change to mobile money due to movement restrictions
    • Stock management – we agressively manage our stock having order levels at 120% of production, and carefully managing our customer deliveries to keep them happy. This was put to the test with a double punch of 3-week lockdown extension and start of Ramadhan, which pushed prices to below cost and at one time we had 800 trays (over 2 weeks of production)
    • Price management – we track and manage egg sales price based on the cost of feeds
  4. Farm Operations – we have regular activities at the farm to maintain the health of the birds which include
    • Monthly deworming followed by Newcastle vaccination
    • Scheduled pre-emptive veterinary service visits to check on the stool, and look for any signs of sickness as well as assess overall biosecurity controls. Additional visits would be triggered by changes in feed & water consumption plus productivity
    • Movement Sticker – we got this one through application to the Ministry of Works, as the farm is a registered legal entity that also files taxes with URA, so proof of need was not difficult to provide
    • The two staff who were at the farm during this period did a tremendous job earning themselve a 50% monthly salary bonus, for holding the fort.
    • The production manager had 2 daily checkin calls (or more)

The lockdown has now been eased with a partial re-opening started, which has pushed up demand and has provided a window for us to complete renovations and prepare for a new flock coming in on June 9, 2020.

What have been your lessons for running your farm operations during this lockdown? What will you change and improve for the future?

Q & A: How can I manage Biosecurity on a Poultry Farm

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Question: I hear practitioners talking about bio-security being a requirement on a poultry farm, why do I need it, how do I do it?

Answer: Biosecurity is a practice designed to prevent the spread of disease onto your farm. It is accomplished by maintaining the facility in such a way that there is minimal traffic of biological organisms (viruses, bacteria, rodents, etc.) across its borders. Biosecurity is the cheapest, most effective means of disease control available. No disease prevention program will work without it.

Best Practices:

Contributions by: Mugisha James Frank of Jade Commodities Ltd, Ssekatawa Charles – Veterinary Consultant with Surebreed Farming Operations, Peter Ssenkungu of NutriNova Limited, Dr. Sewagudde Samuel – Genesis East Africa Ltd and Nakato Winnie Fernandes of Vic and Val Ltd.

Our understanding of biosecurity is mitigation of risk in case of disease occurrence or outbreak….Measures taken so far are;

  1. Controlled access into the farm through fencing. Farm divided into two zones, buffer zone fenced off with barbed wire and clean zone with chain link. General movement is from buffer to clean zone. Poultry coops are within the “clean area”
  2. Restricted access to the farm by visitors. Any visitors who come in have their shoes sprayed with a disinfectants or common bleach.
  3. Professionals in the poultry industry are considered as the highest risk and require special permission to access the farm because they have accessed other farms so are more prone to carry bio-hazards.
  4. Manned access points were we do spray both individuals n vehicles using disinfectants like biosafe or common bleach like JIK
  5. Records kept on a daily basis on the accessibility of the farm.
  6. All staff have protective gear in terms of uniforms, dust masks n boots.
  7. Water filters fitted to each tank in the water distribution network to reduce the incidence of Ecoli
  8. Isolation of coops for flocks from each other
    • Poultry coops spaced from each reduce air-borne contamination. The minimum distance is 20m, with 50m being the international recommendation. The open nature of the poultry coops requires breaking the effect of direct flow of air from one house to another. Beyond 15m, the air flowing from one coop gets diluted with fresher air outside the coop reducing the contamination of air entering the next coop.
    • Each poultry unit is strictly manned by one person.
    • All poultry units have footbaths whose disinfectant is changed on a daily basis.
    • Feeders n drinkers washed on a daily basis, with those of a coop washed separately from others.
    • No sharing of equipment between poultry coops.
    • Each poultry coop has a separate sick bay and isolation ward.
    • Feeds for each coop stored separately so that there is reduced contact during feed distribution
  9. All mortalities recorded and inspected before disposal.
  10. Periodical water and feed tests say every 3 months to monitor their quality.
  11. Housing is provided 4 all poultry attendants, so there is reduced contact with the outside world.
  12. Posters placed all round the farm, reminding staff of the importance of maintaining set biosecurity standards.
  13. After offlaying a flock from a coop, thorough cleaning, of the poultry house is done along with the equipment that has been in use in the coop. This is done multiple times, and a time period of at least 3 weeks to increase the effectiveness of the process.
  14. Vermin control by keeping grass within the farm short and clearing bushes.
  15. Placement of rubbish bins for easy disposal of garbage n vaccine / viral bottles
  16. Periodic burning of garbage

Additional comments and inputs are welcome…

Social Media Revolution Comes to Agriculture in Uganda

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When you see a good thing, the best you can do is share with the rest of the world. I am proud to have a front side seat to bear witness of this revolution coming to agriculture in Uganda through leveraging the power of social media. The trigger was actually very innocent, which was a post on one of the larger Facebook groups about the creation of a WhatsApp group, which within 1 day was over-subscribed, because of the 100 member limit on Whatsapp group.

The group sparked off a whirlwind of knowledge and information sharing bringing together a new breed of middle-class farmers in Uganda, who do not look at farming as a dead-end, but rather as a business which can free them from the yokes of the corporate world.

Immediately after the group was formed, an initial meeting was held at a farm in Kiira, in Uganda where over 100 farmers, agri-prenurs, tele farmers, and those considering the jump met to work on how to leverage their collectiveness to develop & grow themselves. The discussions focused around experience sharing, management, discussions of business models, processes and procedures.

Where to from here, only time can tell… There are currently sub-groups for poultry, piggery, passion fruits, goat farming, diary farming with more springing up each day …

The future is bright, so keep an eye on this space