UTILITY POULTRY NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 19

UTILITY POULTRY NOTES

EDUCATION OF FUTURE POULTRYMEN (Written for tlie “Times” by Geo. IT. Ambler.) There never was a time when so many ambitious, willihg-tcMvork men and women have gone into poultry-cu)-. tore as a business as during the last five years. That all have not succeeded has beenv- largely due to the fact that few of them indeed have foeeh grounded in the principles underlying the business. They have been strong on science and short On practice. It used to be expected that all poultrymen would learn tneir lessons in the school of experience, and it was no disgrace to make blunders in feeding, or build a poultry house th*t had to be remodelled, or put together matings that were foredoomed to failure. Such learning by doing took its costly toll in time and money, and graduated successful poultrymen after zl) years in overalls. It used to be the stereotyped advice of experienced poultrymerl to beginners, that they start in a small way and increase their operations as they acquired knowledge. It was good advice. There were few up-to-date poultry farms where a beginner could go to learn the fundamentals of poultry husbandry, and he was left to his own devices. It is to-day, however, pathetic to see a little individual poultry experimental plant conducted by an untrained man. The price lie will pay for knowledge ! The lessons that tie will learn have already been learned and are being taught to those who will take 12 months on some up-to-date poultry farms. CULLING THE FLOCK As a case in point: A farmer who bad huilt a large poultry house and increased the size of liis flock came into my office to see me during Hist summer. He said he was not getting enough egss considering the size of the flock that he was feeding. I told him to eiift his flock and explained how to cull them. He was much pleased with the results of culling* but as the summer season advanced, and animal food became scarce, his production again decreased. A neighbour then recommended that he add meat meal to the ration. Having found that advice was sometimes good, he bought some meat meal. He did not know what proportions of the ration the meat meal should form, but based on its price he figured that he could stand to make it oiks quarter of all the food his hens ate. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. Instead of increased egg-production his liens began to suffer from diarrhoea. It soon became acute and cholera-like. Ho than made another guess, and reduced the meat meal, so that it formed o per cent, of the dry mash alone, instead of 15 per cent, of all the feed that his hens were getting. The fact is that when the feed was changed on tries© farm hens, the mash should not have consisted of more than 10 per cent, of meat meal. This quantity would have increased egg-production and proved to be economical feeding. But the feeder did not know the part that each feed plays in the ration, or the upper limits of a hen’s capacity to utilise animal protein, and he made the mistake of. overdosing.his hens with meat meal.

If, on the other hand, this feeder had informed himself on the subject of poultry feeds and poultry-feeding, he would have found that the pitfall, which he overlooked, would have stood out distinctly before him, and the problem which loomed large when groping his way without a knowledge of basic facts on which to form a judgment would have yielded to analysis and become mere detail that would have wafted away on the first passing breeae. So much for the man or woman who is going into poultry-keeping for himself or herself. How about those who are to manage large poultry plants that have been built by men of means? There are big plants, and it is well known that incompetent poultrymen have done mere than all else to make poultry-raising a business of uncertainties, and their inefficiency has not infrequently forced enthusiastic owners to close up their poultry operations. The dearth of successful poultrymen who could take the position of manager on a large poultry plant is not due to a shortage of industrious, energetic men, but to lack of men firmly grounded in the general principles that underlie poultry culture. POOR MANAGEMENT An illustration of the costliness of poor managers was vividly brought to my notice some little time ago, when I visited a large plant on which eeveral hundred pounds had been spent. We were standing in the brooder-house with the owner. The house had nine pens in it. The owner said, “We originally had oil-burning hovers in each pen. My man then came to me and recommended that we install coal-burn-ing hovers, because ot their greater chick capacity. Wo put them in. Then one day he said it would be a source of .economy if we had a coal furnace at one end and ran hot-water pipes the length of the house. It seemed reasonable that we should dispense with the nine individual coal stoves and put in the hot-water system. We have done bo— but now you tell me that in the far half of the house, in order jto get the necessary rise and fail to the water from the heater end, we have the pipe* too far from the floor where the chirks arc to be brooded.” Wo walked on to the laying-house. Here the poultrymnn was feeding two kinds of rations to find out which one would produce the best results. One of the rations was palpably hopeless. This owner, like any other business man, did not want to have to pay for experiments. What he wanted and what he needed was a poultrymnn who knew his business. What would you think of a man designing and building a bridge who was not a trained engineer, or what would you think of a man engaging in the drug business and filling prescriptions if he wore not a pharmacist? Y©t. men lay-out and build poultry plants who do not know poultry-hous-ing problems, and men mix feeds without a knowledge of the elements required to make growth of eggs. Indeed, failures in poultry are not io he wondered at as much as the successes—that any should succeed without the necessary preliminary training. This question of education, of inrtnietion that is to fit c man for the work which he desires to do and by *yhioh he is to support his family. )V»u!d be the most important personal problem that the working poultmnan lies to meet. There is but one way to get til© necessary instruction, and that is by a keen study of all the different rficLes of poultry-keeping. It is not enough to become an efficient poultryman on one plant tinleHi it he one taking in all branches, for such an

apprenticeship leads to specialisation too soon, the beginner finding everything cut and dried, everything having its place, and everything in its place. When tho cards are shuffled and he begins work on his own resources under new conditions, he finds himself inevitably deficient in that resourcefulness and adaptability that can come only from a knowledge of first principles and the fundaments of poultry culture. The poultry business has reached the point where a man must hare a thorough knowledge of all its branches, and also a keen business training. I would, therefore, urge all budding poultry farmers to first of all obtain a business training, and then take a course of instruction on a commercial poultry farm where all the different branches of poultry fanning aro efficiently conducted. It is not sufficient to know how to run an incubator successfully if one does not know how- to rear the chickens or feed tho adult stock.