Many farmers dive into poultry farming when they are completely “blank” as to what the whole process entails. They just want to farm poultry without knowing how to build poultry house, choose the right breeds, where to buy the breeds, what breeds to choose, how to do brooding, what feeds to buy, what vaccinations to give and when and how to maximize productions. This is always a costly mistake. Poultry farming is a very capital intensive business. Before your chicken are mature, you are going to spend money every step of the way until your products reach the market. The last thing you want is to simply throw money down the drain by attempting a DIY poultry farming in Kenya or anywhere in Africa.
Poultry farming is not difficult but setting up a large commercial farm that produces optimally is difficult and farmers may not know much on how to reduce losses and maximize yields. Poultry farming consultants will put everything together for you and assist you in not only running a successful farming operation but also in maximizing yields and profits from your farming operation.
Some farmers simply rely on suppliers to learn along as they venture into poultry farming but this is not necessarily the best route. Remember that suppliers have an incentive to sell their products whether it is feeds, equipment, vaccines or day old chicks and they are not going to be very objective or forthcoming about the various options which are available in the marketplace. Poultry farming consultants are, however, not tied up by such obligations. As a result, they can give you a very honest and impartial advice on what to buy and best decisions to take in order to turn a quick profit.
A professional poultry farming consultant should help you accomplish the following:-
- Should be able to offer you comprehensive training on poultry farming in Kenya taking into consideration the various local conditions in the country or region where you plan to raise your poultry.
- A poultry farming consultant must understand the local conditions and recommend a suitable breed for the local conditions where you are raising your poultry.
- They must know about the best performing poultry breeds in your country or region and recommend the best breeds that will give you the most value.
- Must have very good knowledge of the various poultry equipment and equipment suppliers that will help you maximize on poultry production.
- A poultry farming consultant must clearly understand poultry farm management practices that will maximize on your production.
- They must be able to carry out financial projections and develop business plans that will help you put up a profitable poultry farming business.
- They must have good contacts of buyers and suppliers to help you establish yourself in the business.
- They must be able to assist you in maximizing the efficiency of your farm by recommending various technologies, products and poultry management practices.
- They must have in-depth knowledge and understanding of poultry bio-security and management systems.
- They must be able to adapt quickly and design systems for local conditions that will maximize poultry production.
Good farm management practices will be instantly visible through your business bottom line. Poultry farming consultants can offer you advise on the best growth strategy to follow in order to hit your poultry farming goals. For example, if you want to produce 10,000 eggs per day, you will need to know the financial implications of building a farm of such capacity.
At the end of the day, and due to the capital intensive nature of poultry farming, it is the numbers that count. To make a good profit from your farming venture, you have to take all the important factors of production into account. For example, 3% and 4% mortality rate might seem like an insignificant number but when you have 10,000 birds in your farm, the numbers begin to make sense. It means you are losing 300-400 chickens due to poor management practices. That means you are losing money! A poultry farming consultant will help you in plugging these holes and take the guesswork out of poultry farming.