François Tilly, poultry specialist with the French group told us the use of a pre-starter broiler feed is very common in countries such as Mexico and Brazil but not really employed in European markets due to the labor intensive nature of the delivery of that kind of feed to chicks.
“Asian is a big market for this kind of feed as well,” he said.
And the strategic approach to launching it in that territory as well as in South and Central American countries, said Tilly, is very much dependent on the type of poultry production practices in each market.
“In Brazil, for example, poultry manufacture is heavily concentrated in the south of the country so, there, we would approach the small and medium sized integrators directly, but in the north of the country, where production is less dense, we would look to use distributors,” he said.
The company has already made inroads into the African poultry market with Genesa, and Ukraine and the Middle East are also on the animal nutrition group’s hit list for the additive.
Critical components
The pre-starter feed is a combination of corn, wheat, and soybean ingredients.
“The first of three really stand out components of Genesa, which is fed to the chick during its first 10 days is that it is well balanced and highly digestible, with the formulation taking into account the immaturity of the digestive track of the young bird.
Secondly, the inclusion of our activated copper additive, B-Safe, supports the immune system of the chick in the shift away from the use of AGPs. The antimicrobial properties of that additive have been backed up by 40 R&D trials.
Finally, the look of the feed is critical is terms of feed selection by the bird – we have achieved a crumble finish whereby 80% of the granules are one to two milimeters maximum in size through the use of mastered grading technology,” said Tilly.
The company’s production facilities in Latin America and Asia are being upgraded to ensure uniformity worldwide in the manufacture of the pre-starter “To reflect that factory transition phase, we are rolling out Genesa in a staggered manner in those regions – in Q1 next year for South America and in mid-2015 for Central America and Asia,” said the poultry specialist.
Research shows ROI gains
“The total quantity of feed consumed in the first week of a chick’s life is a tiny percentage of overall intake so it is worthwhile investing in this critical life stage for greater lifetime performance,” said Tilly.
Trials in both France and Mexico have validated the return on investment (ROI) from the use of Genesa in the first week of life of a chick, he said.
The French study, involving 800 birds and six replications from 0 to 35 days, used a standard chick feed as a control and was carried out in an InVivo facility.
“The data showed a ROI of 2.6% for producers and a hike of eight grams in terms of bird weight. In fact, the results indicated a positive correlation with the weight of the seven day old chick and the weight of the bird at slaughter,” said Tilly.
The Mexican trial, which was conducted on 40 birds with 12 replications, achieved a similar result, he said but the ROI at 4.6% was higher given the current prices for meat in that market. And on farm trials are in progress in Brazil to support market entry there, he added.