Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
A matter of finetuning
Making money from an egg unit depends on many factors, and each has to be fine-tuned to optimise profits, as this article revealed.
It is often said that egg yield (the number of eggs per bird) is the leading factor determining the profit in egg production.
That is not the complete answer, otherwise ducks would rule the roost, with their far more prolific output.
Questions of public taste, egg size, feed consumption and even publicity all play a role in profitability.
The ‘inequalities’ in such things as feed and pullet costs, overheads and egg prices are the factors that can tip the balance between profit and loss and make the running of an egg unit a matter of fine-tuning, where small adjustments can have a large effect on final results.
The successful producer is constantly concerned about keeping down mortality and feed wastage, limiting egg breakages, improving handling techniques, and generally maintaining efficiency in a multitude of small ways.
Some come with experience, while others can be calculated systematically.
Food costs vary, but it can broadly be reckoned that they represent rather more than 70% of total production costs in the average egg unit.
Nobody, sensibly, pays more than he or she has to for feed, but price-cutting must never be at the expense of performance.
BULK FEED
Feed is cheaper if delivered in bulk rather than bags, to the extent that investing in a bulk bin should repay its cost within at least 18 to 24 months.
Quantity discounts are also available and, in this context, co-operative arrangements with other buyers are well worth considering.
An on-farm feed mill is also a practical method of keeping feed costs down if home-grown grain is available, but the capital cost of equipment and power to run it must be taken into account.
Egg producers who buy ready-to-lay pullets should check with the rearer on their choice of feed and programme to ensure a smooth transition to the layers’ feeding pattern.
From a business point of view, a high, early peak in egg production is very important. But this is not to advocate early laying. Birds encouraged to lay before they have reached a mature body mass will simply produce undersized eggs for a lengthy period of time.
The object is to have the flock producing at the optimum for the breed, because days lost by birds being late into lay will never be recovered, and profit-wise the effect will be similar to stimulating a too-early start.
In a flock of 5 000 layers averaging 113g feed intake per bird per day, total daily consumption is 567kg, or more than 1t every two days. That represents a lot of money being spent if nothing is being returned in egg sales.
Although nutrition is not the sole influence on laying performance, it does provide a useful throttle-and-brake business control for the egg producer. Over and above the birds’ essential dietary needs for growth and body maintenance, they must also have protein and the right balance of amino acids, energy, calcium and phosphorus to produce the required total egg mass (egg numbers multiplied by individual egg mass).
The producer can alter the average egg size up or down by changing the daily protein intake of his or her hens.
The aim is to obtain the widest possible margin for value of output over the cost of input. In other words, when market prices for large eggs are good, you want the maximum number of eggs in that category, but only if the quantity and cost of the feed required leaves the best margin.
Sometimes the cost of adjusting egg mass upwards will not be justified, and sometimes it can be more easily achieved by other means.
Water pipes and drinkers may need checking, as reduced water intake is associated with decreased egg size. Also, hens will drink more if the water is cool.
REPLACEMENT
Replacement costs affect the profit margin, and producers would do well to analyse their policy on this aspect of egg production.
Does it pay to rear your own replacements, or would you be better off buying pullets at point of lay?
In the long run, with established rearing premises and brooding equipment, it may be cheaper to rear your own, but if you cost things out, you may be surprised to find that the difference is only slight.
Home rearing gives positive control over the dieting, lighting and general condition of the pullets and cuts down on moving stress.
On the other hand, rearing is a business in its own right, which it might pay you to leave to the experts with greater experience.
Buying point-of-lay pullets enables the egg producer to concentrate on his or her own expertise in the management of layers, which is also a specialised business, without any distractions. This article first appeared in the 14 July 1989 issue of Farmer’s Weekly and has been edited to adhere to the current style of the magazine.
The recent passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has left South Africans and the world completely empty and hopeless. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of South Africa’s driving forces behind putting an end to the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government from 1948 until the dawn of the country’s democracy in 1994.
Tutu’s civil and human rights work was saluted around the world and his fearless stance against apartheid made him a true symbol of the Rainbow Nation.
I want to urge every South African to follow in this great icon’s footsteps by always engaging in non-violent endeavours to defuse all types of conflict in the country, especially those surrounding land disputes in large parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
These disputes have prompted Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza to set up a special task team to try to resolve such cases that are caused primarily by the acquisition of agricultural land via the Restitution Programme, as well as illegal evictions and land invasions. Didiza’s leadership in dealing with these disputes is undoubtedly inspiring, and reminds all of us about what Tutu stood for.
It is important to state that the police, the criminal justice system, and many other state organs must ensure that all people in South Africa are safe. Moreover, citizens must be made aware that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Land Claims Court are the first ports of call whenever land disputes arise, as these two institutions are custodians of laws such as the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, the Community Property Associations Act, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, the Sectional Titles Act, and many others.
South African citizens must respect the rule of law as well as the fact that the court’s decision on any matter remains final.
Ubuntu and the Rainbow Nation will flourish for generations to come. There is no need for our people to take the law into their own hands by killing each other over these disputes.
There are a few non-governmental organisations like the Human Rights Institute of South Africa and Land Access Movement of South Africa that have been established to mobilise communities to collectively fight discriminatory colonial and apartheid land laws, as well as racial and gender discrimination, and those who feel aggrieved should choose to consult such organisations for help, instead. Rankepile Khomo Duduza, via email
A wildfire that started in Highlands, at an old pine plantation managed by the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, near Kleinmond in the Western Cape, has destroyed more than 4 700ha of fynbos and plantations since it began on Saturday, 8 January 2022.