By aligning with CSA Animal Nutrition, Hybrid Turkeys said it can help ensure the industry proactively manages adaptations in turkey diets to address the availability and price of ingredients as well as the evolutions in genetics.
Understanding the quality, safety, and nutrient profile of feed ingredients, in addition to the effect of changes in turkey genetics, is critical to providing accurate feed formulations to optimize flock performance, it stressed.
CSA president, Charles Shininger, said his team would provide precise nutrition expertise to match performance goals.
An indpendent consultant, CSA's business is based on providing science based recommendations as technology advances, markets change, and consolidation occurs across the additives, premix, and feed segments. It targets pork, poultry, egg, and dairy producers, feed manufacturers and nutritionists.
Hybrid Turkeys has a global production base, offering parent stock and commercial turkey products to customers worldwide.
“With the rise in feed costs and availability of various ingredients, we want a partner that helps us and our customers navigate changes without compromising product performance," said Trevor Aitchison, general manager, Americas, Hybrid Turkeys, in relation to the alliance with CSA.
He added the knowledge those nutrition specialists will bring to the tie-up should help maximize the genetic potential of turkey flocks across the Americas.
Pellet quality
Feed and feed manufacturing represent a majority of total production costs in integrated turkey production. A study from February this year, published in the Journal of Applied Poultry Research, highlighted how performance and economics can be enhanced if integrators are willing to use feed manufacturing strategies known to improve pellet quality during specific phases of production.
The best feed cost efficiency benefit was observed when feeding 90% pellets, which led to an improvement of US 24¢ and US 11¢ per kg of breast meat for hen and tom turkeys, respectively, found the researchers.
US turkey production outlook
According to the latest USDA WASDE report, US turkey production is set to increase based on slaughter and hatchery data, which will more than offset lower US broiler production.
US turkey meat production, as per USDA ERS data, during January-September 2022 hit 3.91 billion lbs (1.76 billion kg), down about 7% from a year earlier. In 2021, the sector was valued at $5.89bn.
