THE INTENSIVE SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 21

THE INTENSIVE SYSTEM

3000 FOWLS TO THE ACRE

A little experience of poultry keeping will teach the novice the danger of forming definite opinions. What appears to' be : a straightforward question may be answered 10 different ways and each answer may be correct. It was the Americans, with their massproduction methods, who first gave publicity tq; the intensive system of keeping poultry, and today in nearly every country some poultry men favour this system. If commercial egg production is the aim in view, the hen is regarded only as a machine, to be fed with one food so that another food will be produced. The latest phase of the poultry industry in England is the hen battery system, where each hen is kept in a small cage, only sufficiently large for her to turn round comfortably. This is, of course, the very extreme of the intenMve system of poultry management, and as yet it has not passed the experimental stage, though Mr. Tom Newman, whose opinion is respected in most countries, has much to say in favour of the system. The average intensive poultry keeper runs from 500 to 2000 laying hens to an acre of ground. . Every bird, including the growing stock, is kept under cover, without the privilege of ranging over grass paddocks. Many may think that such management is bound to lead to disaster, but the opposite has been proved time and again. The advantages of the intensive system are not difficult to see. In the first place it is possible to farm the fowls right in the heart of a large city. This is important, for it means not only reduced costs but increased profits. Costs are reduced in freight charges on feed supplies, and returns are increased by a direct-to-consumer trade right, at the back door. Again, the weather is not allowed to interfere with the comfort of the.birds or their owner—a most important point when autumn and winter-egg production is considered. Anyone who has- seen 8000 White Leghorns on four acres of ground will realise the simplicity of management and fully appreciate the value of sheds and flocks of uniform size. Except for the. main internal roadways, the four acres on the Melbourne farm referred to were entirely covered with roofing,;the supports for the roof being used to divide .the pens. On. this farm'each pen was only six feet square, and only ten birds were kept in each pen. That means that 800 individual pens of birds had to be fed twice a day, yet this work was performed by only two • men. The whole farm was managed by four men working eight-hour shifts. Any work apart from routine was done by contract with. expert labourers. Such management would appeal to the keenest and most methodical business men as being almost perfect. Nearer home there is a farm at Masterton where some 3000 layers are kept on the intensive system. Of course the owners bewail the high price of wheat and the low price of eggs, but in the last few years they have built up a farm which is second to none in New Zealand. A home-made incubator with a capacity of 4000 eggs, a feed shed with automatic mixing machines which will thoroughly mix a ton1 of mash in a few minutes, egg-washing machines, and storage room for tons of feed all point to modern and efficient management. The 3000 birds, all housed in uniform sheds and in unifprm-sized flocks, are a picture' of health.- The owner can stop at almost any time to entertain visitors without that worried appearance of mismanagement. Examination of any of the appliances will give proof of a keen.and inventive mind. . THE REASON WHY • How is it that some people can make such a success of their farms? In the first place there must be a methodical brain, and secondly the ability to put into practice proven ideas. Capital is required, but the experience behind that capital is far more important. The Masterton farm may owe much of its success to the fact that it is owner-managed in the true sense of the word. What is attempted is done thoroughly, and there appears to be little work on the farm that could not be done as well by, the owner as by any expert tradesman. .An inspection of this farm must convince anyone that there is a profit to.be made from commercial egg production, even if today that profit is not in proportion to the labour expended as compared with other pursuits. As in any work, it is the man, or men, behind the gun that counts. In Mr. A. Norman and his family we have in New . Zealand poultry keepers that must rank in the first flight of the ■world's best poultry men. As a commercial egg producer Mr. Norman has not much spare time, but if only more poultry men could understand the business of producing eggs as Mr. Norman does we would have a far more profitable industry in this country. It is safe to Bay that whatever trade Mr. Norman had taken up he would have made good at, and it is useless anyone thinking that money is- easily made from poultry keeping. In particular the intensive system demands strict attention to every detail and a clock-like attention to routine work. No one should attempt to keep poultry under the intensive system until they have thoroughly mastered all branches of poultry keeping. DRY MASH FEEDING Many poultrymen have tried dry mash feeding from automatic hoppers, but there is a tendency today to revert to the old custom of wet mash feeding. Mr. Norman is quite satisfied that dry mash feeding is satisfactory, and possibly that is one reason why he continues to enlarge his plant. The latest system of feeding on some farms is to supply dry mash in hoppers all the time, but in addition to the morning scratch feed of grain and the full evening grain meal a wet mash tit-bit luncheon is fed out. The idea of the extra midday mash feed is that variety can be included and scraps used up. An extreme luncheon might consist of just green feed damped with gravy and dried off with maizemeal, if more, of that part*—alar meal was required. One of the most important points to keep in mind with the intensive system is that the birds must be kept occupied as much as possible. It is more or less a matter of habit for a fowl to be scratching for the odd.bit of food all day long. Certainly there seems much sense in omitting the full early morning mash feed, as after it the birds are inclined to go back to the perches and mope. It is noticeable that fowls prefer mash to grain last thing at night, and it has been shown that grain is not essential- at night. The intake of food and the digestive system of the 300 egg layer requires careful consideration. Her egg production depends entirely on the quality and amount of food that she consumes. We read quite a. little about balanced

rations, but the hen seems to be able to balance her own ration very well i£ she is given the chance. Everywhere one meets with opposite views. One poultryman, for instance, has not used any chaicoal for several years, and states that he does not find it at all necessary, whilst another would not leave it out of his mash mixture on any account. Both are successful in their own ways.