By Sara Throne, DVM, MAM, Dipl. ACPV
Simmons Foods, Inc.
Siloam Springs, Arkansas, USA
I began my career 20-plus years ago, working for a company focused on intestinal health. The mantra “Intestinal health is the primary driver of bird performance” was burned into my subconscious very early on — and with good reason. I think it holds up even more so today, given that we have fewer traditional tools in our toolbox due to regulations, marketing decisions and customer preferences — along with a bird that is very focused on converting grains to muscle.
The landscape of intestinal-health management has changed dramatically, making us much more reliant on ensuring we have quality products in our diets. But more importantly, it has made us focus on ensuring we do all we can in terms of management to augment our control measures.
When my colleagues and I design our broiler intestinal-health strategy, we have several non-negotiables:
- Make a plan: Long-term planning with discipline.
- I often say, “We don’t day trade.”
- Work the plan: Excellent execution at the hatchery, feed mill and grow-out.
- Service technicians and growers must be informed of the plan. Changes in water consumption or mortality require action.
- Monitor the plan: Field time and posting sessions.
- Performance is our lagging metric. I want to see what is happening now.
Let’s explore each non-negotiable in more detail:
Make the plan
As a team, we set out to explore our options for coccidiosis control — from vaccines to ionophores to leaky and potent chemicals. We also need to look at alternative products — saponins, tannins, botanicals, essential oils, organic acids and direct-fed microbials, to name a few — that might enhance control before we shake up the cocktail, so to speak.
It is also important to know the farm’s history of coccidiosis control — which products performed well, which ones have some resistance or decreased sensitivity, or which ones don’t work well with your feed-mill setup.
My team and I rely heavily on data to drive our decisions — performance-based numbers, for sure, but also big-picture insights from our research farm. We also need to look beyond live production and assess how the flock fared in terms of processing and yield.
Ultimately, our goal is to produce healthy broilers that provide high-quality meat for our customers. We miss a key step in evaluating intestinal-health products if we don’t use yield trials as a way to measure intestinal health.
While we look at the past, we use it to drive our future plans — not just our next rotation but also our 12- to 24-month plan. Looking this far into the horizon allows us to communicate with our vaccine and feed-additive suppliers as they make production decisions. It also lets us communicate with our growers on practical matters like the timing of cleanout. Being proactive and transparent with our plans benefits all involved.
We are disciplined in how we manage this plan, operating according to the plan and dates we have outlined, which align with our bird cycles. Even if we have the best performance, it may not last without discipline. Sometimes we’ll miss out on some top-end performance, but we’ll also miss out on the bottom of the barrel. We aim for sustained performance, not the quick buck.
Work the plan
Planning coccidiosis control is one thing; implementing the plan in live production is another.
The method you are using to prevent or control coccidiosis must make it to the bird. In other words, we need to ensure the proper dose of viable oocysts in the hatchery vaccine or active ingredient in anticoccidials or therapeutics reaches the bird and does what we intended.
In the hatchery, this means routinely evaluating our vaccine storage and mixing, gel application techniques and lighting to increase preening responses to increase uptake. In the mills, we must review feed-additive inventories to reconcile usage and conduct assays to ensure we can identify the product in the finished feed.
As with many other diseases, service technicians and growers are key to managing coccidiosis in the field. Ensuring they are well-equipped with knowledge of both the disease and control strategies empowers them to be partners in control. They need to know the broiler basics — feed, water, lights, temperature, air and litter — which are critical to managing coccidiosis cycling. Service technicians and growers are the ones best equipped to work together to optimize these factors in their houses.
While we focus on coccidiosis, it’s important to keep our eyes trained on necrotic enteritis (NE). These two gut diseases go hand in hand. Quick communication between the grower and service technician of any clues to early NE — such as increased mortality or a drop in water consumption — is essential not only for minimizing mortality and maintaining good welfare but also for allowing more time for early, non-antibiotic therapies to be used to control the disease.
Monitor the plan
Spending time in the field through the broiler life cycle is important for monitoring coccidiosis. Brooding sets the birds up for success in multiple areas, not just cocci control. Feed, water and litter management all contribute to early cycling in the brood chamber.
However, managing the transition from brooding to whole-house grow-out may be the most important activity to keep birds eating and thriving in the extended house.
Posting birds in the field when they are 20 to 29 days old lets us evaluate oocyst cycling, ensuring we have just enough but not too much. As birds age, our evaluation turns to ensuring cycling has completed and birds have a healthy intestinal tract going into processing.
We evaluate these same ages during our posting sessions, providing an opportunity for a spot check on a larger number of flocks. I also use these sessions as valuable training grounds to teach service technicians about basic anatomy, lesions and posting techniques, thereby building their confidence. When we conduct posting sessions, we look at the same ages each time, allowing us to build our “normal” database and quickly become aware if something changes.
Additionally, we monitor any non-antibiotic therapies we must use to treat coccidiosis or NE. If an antibiotic is used, we track that, too. I am proud to say that we haven’t had to use antibiotics to treat intestinal health for several years, thanks to the team effort to control disease and manage house conditions.
Truly a team effort
Intestinal health and performance are truly a team effort by five segments of live production:
- Hatchery personnel need to ensure a strong, healthy chick is well-vaccinated.
- Growers and service technicians need to work together to optimize their houses and recognize early signs of disease.
- Nutritionists and feed-mill technicians must ensure that accurate formulas are implemented and quality ingredients are used.
- Veterinarians, in conjunction with broiler and live managers, must develop a 24-month plan and monitor results for field and postings.
- Management must be actively engaged, asking questions and ensuring a rotational plan is implemented.
To ensure optimal health, welfare and flock performance, and to achieve the best return on a poultry company’s coccidiosis management programs, all departments and areas must be in sync and running on all cylinders. Any breaks in communication and implementation can quickly produce dire circumstances that could impact health and welfare.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
