Technology is changing the way we do things lately and livestock farming is not left behind. Livestock farming in general and particularly poultry farming has undergone considerably change in the ways things are done in the last 10 years. People that refuse to migrate to new technologies might experience higher cost of raising their birds and this will eventually push them out of the market as they cannot compete favorably.

CAGE AND FLOOR REARING
When it comes to raising broilers, I personally have a preference for floor rearing. Keeping broilers in cages sometimes leads lameness, breast blisters, foot-pad dermatitis etc. The difference lies in the type of deep litter you decide to run. Floor rearing in modern times have been highly automated that there is almost now no difference between it and cage systems in terms of labor requirements. You can achieve automated feeding using feeding lines and drinking lines. There’s usually a silo that your feed is stored in and through conveyor systems, you can pass same across all feeding pans in the pen house likewise water runs through the drinking lines ensuring that there is always feed and water for the birds.

CLOSED AND OPEN HOUSES
The poultry structure can utilize open air ventilation system (mostly achieved by having wire gauze round the building) or a completely closed house. In modern livestock farming, it is all about control. The more control you have of living conditions of the birds the better you can adjust it to get the best results. Personally I prefer closed housing structures. In this you use cooling pads and vent fans to achieve the exact temperature, wind speed and humidity required for optimum performance of the birds at any given age. Environmental conditions greatly affect the food conversion rate of birds so having a control of this is key. In closed house everything including lightening is under your control. The birds have limited exposure to the outside world thus reducing diseases that can gain access to them. Since a good control is needed, the structure materials should be such that it doesn’t compromise what you want to achieve. I prefer the use of properly insulated prefabricated steel structure for housing livestock. Insulation can be achieved by using EPS materials round the building. I do not like brick walls as they tend to retain cold and warmth for a longer duration of time.

SCALE CALCULATION AND COST IMPLICATIONS
Making money from automated poultry farming has everything to do with scale. Economy of scale comes into play in this type of housing livestock. For example, a conveyor line motor in feeding line can push feed up to a distance of 120m, so if you have a structure that is for example 50m in length, you are already having an overhead cost that could have been used for more. To make the best out of a closed housing system, I advise a building with a dimension of 105m X 16m X 3m. (L W H). You can have a building with a length of 120m but then the vent fan might have difficulties in pushing air for that distance especially when it starts getting weak. To be safe 105m will never fail you. The height of 3m maybe considered too high for broilers, some people do 2.5m. I am in Nigeria and it can be hot here during dry season, if you have such low structure and for instance you used glass wool for insulation, if it fails, you have the heat very close to the birds but if the building is higher, the hot air can find a place to go up to as hotter air climbs in heat convention. So generally, if in Tropical region, I will advise you go for height of 3m. the cost difference is about 5000USD. For a structure that can last 50years, it is not too much of an extra cost to take. This seize of structure will accommodate up to 25000 birds if you are rearing for 42-50 days, if lesser duration, it could take above 30,000 birds.
The cost of erecting a standard steel prefabricated house using EPS material for insulation will be about 50,000USD (LABOUR COST EXCLUDED) To purchase all equipment for the bird rearing (feeding and drinking line, temperature control equipment etc.) you will spend about 25000USD (INSTALLATION COST NOT INCLUDED) Also you will need to provide source of energy as the equipment are electrically driven. Generally, you will spend up to 100,000USD for structure and all equipment needed when you factor in all labor cost and installation cost, power provision and water provision. (LAND COST IS EXCLUDED IN THIS CALCULATION)

In conclusion, in this system, a person or two can successfully manage all the bird rearing as the system is fully automated. The cost of raising birds in this to a weight of 2kg can be less than 2USD. So within a year, when you compare the saved cost on labor and the extra profit from reduced costs, you can break even when you successfully run about 5 cycles of 25000 birds. The good thing is the structure will keep serving you. Automated poultry house, though expensive is preferably in broiler raising if you can afford it.

NB. If you are interested in setting up such, contact us, we can connect you to our partners (OEM) at no cost for equipment procurement and you are welcomed to also check out our farm. In addition, we are currently constructing 2500BPH slaughter line and will be willing to buy up your birds at maturity for our slaughter house so we have solved the market issue for you as well. We can completely guide you as we need farms that can feed our slaughter line.

For More Enquiries Contact
Roksdada Company Limited
+2348137353536, www.roksdada.com, info@roksdada.com

Roksdada:
Technology is changing the way we do things lately and livestock farming is not left behind. Livestock farming in general and particularly poultry farming has undergone considerably change in the ways things are done in the last 10 years. People that refuse to migrate to new technologies might experience higher cost of raising their birds and this will eventually push them out of the market as they cannot compete favorably.

CAGE AND FLOOR REARING
When it comes to raising broilers, I personally have a preference for floor rearing. Keeping broilers in cages sometimes leads lameness, breast blisters, foot-pad dermatitis etc. The difference lies in the type of deep litter you decide to run. Floor rearing in modern times have been highly automated that there is almost now no difference between it and cage systems in terms of labor requirements. You can achieve automated feeding using feeding lines and drinking lines. There’s usually a silo that your feed is stored in and through conveyor systems, you can pass same across all feeding pans in the pen house likewise water runs through the drinking lines ensuring that there is always feed and water for the birds.

CLOSED AND OPEN HOUSES
The poultry structure can utilize open air ventilation system (mostly achieved by having wire gauze round the building) or a completely closed house. In modern livestock farming, it is all about control. The more control you have of living conditions of the birds the better you can adjust it to get the best results. Personally I prefer closed housing structures. In this you use cooling pads and vent fans to achieve the exact temperature, wind speed and humidity required for optimum performance of the birds at any given age. Environmental conditions greatly affect the food conversion rate of birds so having a control of this is key. In closed house everything including lightening is under your control. The birds have limited exposure to the outside world thus reducing diseases that can gain access to them. Since a good control is needed, the structure materials should be such that it doesn’t compromise what you want to achieve. I prefer the use of properly insulated prefabricated steel structure for housing livestock. Insulation can be achieved by using EPS materials round the building. I do not like brick walls as they tend to retain cold and warmth for a longer duration of time.

SCALE CALCULATION AND COST IMPLICATIONS
Making money from automated poultry farming has everything to do with scale. Economy of scale comes into play in this type of housing livestock. For example, a conveyor line motor in feeding line can push feed up to a distance of 120m, so if you have a structure that is for example 50m in length, you are already having an overhead cost that could have been used for more. To make the best out of a closed housing system, I advise a building with a dimension of 105m X 16m X 3m. (L W H). You can have a building with a length of 120m but then the vent fan might have difficulties in pushing air for that distance especially when it starts getting weak. To be safe 105m will never fail you. The height of 3m maybe considered too high for broilers, some people do 2.5m. I am in Nigeria and it can be hot here during dry season, if you have such low structure and for instance you used glass wool for insulation, if it fails, you have the heat very close to the birds but if the building is higher, the hot air can find a place to go up to as hotter air climbs in heat convention. So generally, if in Tropical region, I will advise you go for height of 3m. the cost difference is about 5000USD. For a structure that can last 50years, it is not too much of an extra cost to take. This seize of structure will accommodate up to 25000 birds if you are rearing for 42-50 days, if lesser duration, it could take above 30,000 birds.
The cost of erecting a standard steel prefabricated house using EPS material for insulation will be about 50,000USD (LABOUR COST EXCLUDED) To purchase all equipment for the bird rearing (feeding and drinking line, temperature control equipment etc.) you will spend about 25000USD (INSTALLATION COST NOT INCLUDED) Also you will need to provide source of energy as the equipment are electrically driven. Generally, you will spend up to 100,000USD for structure and all equipment needed when you factor in all labor cost and installation cost, power provision and water provision. (LAND COST IS EXCLUDED IN THIS CALCULATION)

In conclusion, in this system, a person or two can successfully manage all the bird rearing as the system is fully automated. The cost of raising birds in this to a weight of 2kg can be less than 2USD. So within a year, when you compare the saved cost on labor and the extra profit from reduced costs, you can break even when you successfully run about 5 cycles of 25000 birds. The good thing is the structure will keep serving you. Automated poultry house, though expensive is preferably in broiler raising if you can afford it.

NB. If you are interested in setting up such, contact us, we can connect you to our partners (OEM) at no cost for equipment procurement and you are welcomed to also check out our farm. In addition, we are currently constructing 2500BPH slaughter line and will be willing to buy up your birds at maturity for our slaughter house so we have solved the market issue for you as well. We can completely guide you as we need farms that can feed our slaughter line.

For More Enquiries Contact
Roksdada Company Limited
+2348137353536, www.roksdada.com, info@roksdada.com

There is now a platform created to support and grow agricultural and food related brands. It is called The Chicken Farm. It is a site that connects buyers and sellers of chicken products. Products including: Poultry, Fast Food, Equipment, Manure, Feed etc can all be sold and bought on the site as long as they relate to chicken. Visit www.thechickenfarm.com.ng

It's for those in Nigeria.