Introduction
In this article, I share VERY practical and relevant real-world tips on performance measures that you can calculate daily, weekly, monthly, and at the end of the year to accurately determine at each stage whether your poultry farm business is performing optimally.
These performance indices are NOT aggregate measures. In other words, they are NOT measured in monetary terms. Instead, they do NOT have units, being proportions, rates of use and percentages that help to (a) establish a normal trend of the behavior of their farms (b) quickly identify / detect deviations from that trend, so that you can take timely / corrective measures .
Please note that these measurements have been tried and tested, and are actually built into a custom spreadsheet software application that I built for a customer who runs a twelve thousand (12,000) layer poultry farm business.
You can calculate performance indicators quickly and easily to check the status of your farm
You would be interested to know that this customer currently enters ALL data into the software application on his laptop, using full copies of a custom record keeping form that I designed (after a farm visit that involved a review of existing records / needed) for use by farm staff DAILY.
He once told me how he detected some anomalies in the data recorded by the supervisor, using the performance indices calculated automatically in the software.
The point that stands out here is that KNOWING the performance measures you can calculate to VERIFY how well your farm is performing in terms of OPERATIONS and FINANCES, is crucial.
You can do it yourself as the calculations are really simple and easy to use. However, when you run a large (or growing) farm business, you can get to a point where there would be more added value if you saved the hassle of having to do such calculations manually.
Instead, you can automate your calculation (using custom software like mine) and spend your time managing your agribusiness smarter by studying trends in your performance indices over time, in order to take timely / effective decisions that lead to profitability.
Here are three (3) VERY useful performance measures for the poultry farm business that you should know and use regularly:
1. Mortality rate (%)
In the course of the laying cycle of a flock of birds on a poultry farm, there will be deaths or losses that occur for a variety of reasons. It could be an outbreak of disease, fire, predators, etc. The important thing is that steps are taken to prevent it from happening again.
Then, the precise documentation of said losses will be made, with the necessary adjustments in the stock records.
There is NO farm that does not have mortality. However, farm management should keep it to a minimum. You will be able to monitor the death rate easily by calculating it on a daily basis. That way, you can detect any changes, taking the appropriate measures, so that there are no surprises at the end of the month!
By the way, when you keep track of this index, you will find it easier to reconcile unexpected drops in egg production.
To calculate the death rate (%):
Number of dead birds x 100
———————–
(Opening Stock + Closing Layer Stock) x 0.5
2. Production of the hen’s day (%)
Properly documented mortality records will help to accurately estimate hen day production, which is the number of eggs produced divided by the total number of laying birds on the farm during the period considered, assuming that each bird lays one egg per day.
It is well known that it takes about 26 hours for a bird to lay another egg after the previous one. This is why we do not expect to set a 100% hen day production target for our herd. Instead, it would be reasonable to expect 80 to 90% of the birds to lay eggs every day, so if our calculations return results within that range, it would suggest a reasonably good performance.
To calculate the hen’s day production (%):
Number of eggs produced x 100
———————–
(Opening Stock + Closing Layer Stock) x 0.5
Your Chicken Day production will decrease reflecting recorded mortalities, unless you calculate as shown above. Understanding this will help you compare your results to other farms that may not be aware of this subtle difference.
Note that this calculation method helps you to actually check if your birds are becoming less productive or not, as it prevents losses that occur making the birds that are still alive appear to be laying less frequently, something that can cause him to start worrying or eating unnecessary food. corrective actions.
3. Feeding rate (grams per bird)
Available farm and literate records indicate that each laying bird should eat between 100 and 105 grams a day.
To calculate the feeding rate (grams per bird):
Total kilograms of feed x 1000 x 100
——————————
(Opening Stock + Closing Layer Stock) x 0.5
Using the total kilograms (converted to grams) that your layer birds were given to divide the total number of birds handled daily, it will tell you how well they are feeding; if they feed too little or too much.
Each condition has its own implications. Insufficient feeding can lead to poor laying; supercharging translates to waste and of course higher cost of production, which you definitely want to avoid consuming drag on your profit margins.
By calculating your feeding rate for each battery cage or pen on a daily basis, you can quickly check and confirm if the birds are receiving the correct amount of feed they need. It would also help you keep track of your feed stock and thus help you plan new purchases.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1). To achieve a “weighted” result, and therefore more realistic, the formulas described above use an average derived from the sum of the opening and closing stock of laying birds, as the denominator.
two). If you do NOT have a reliable paper-based farm data recording system that your competent staff diligently maintains on the farm, you will NOT be able to rely on the results you get when calculating these performance indices. It would be as is often said for the computer: Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO)!
RESUME
Lots of people have poultry farm businesses here. Many plan to start. Some hope to borrow money from banks or friends / relatives to launch their own. Unfortunately, very FEW, like their catfish farming counterparts, have ANY knowledge of what it takes to intelligently manage the business data analytics aspects of their companies.
A solid understanding of how to measure the operational performance of your agricultural business is essential to ensure long-term success. The three indexes that I have discussed above can help you in this regard. Learn how to use them.
But that’s only ONE side. You also need to know how to measure the financial performance of your farm business and possibly compare it to other farms or even a generic standard.
There are at least three financial performance indices that can be calculated to tell you if your agribusiness is growing or NOT.
They will tell you if you have done better at the end of this year compared to last year or two (2) years before. They will also tell those who invest in your business (or who want / plan to do so) how financially strong your farm business is, compared to last year, etc.
If you are looking to BUY a farm business, you will want to know how to calculate these three (3) reasons, to make sure your investment is worth it!
Please note that the financial ratios I mention are NOT aggregate measures such as the income statement (also known as profit and loss report) or the statement of equity (also known as balance sheet).. They are measurements that are NOT unit-based, which makes them (like the agricultural operations measurement indices discussed above) easy to use for comparison.
You can get a special report that details how to calculate these very powerful agribusiness financial performance ratios from me.