Animal husbandry is defined in many ways, but basically, it is the science that deals with the production and care of farm animals, including nutrition, genetics and breeding, housing, handling facilities and techniques, hygiene, sanitation, health maintenance and disease prevention. In the future, poultry husbandry will ultimately go in a direction that will change the face of poultry production. Poultry industry professionals from around the globe share their insights on how new technologies and societal pressures will affect how poultry is produced.
“Nothing will be the same in poultry husbandry in the upcoming twenty years,” said Dr. Mário Penz, key accounts director for Cargill Animal Nutrition, in a simple but rather clever statement used as a benchmark in this article.
In the last 50 years, the poultry industry has been driven primarily by feed conversion and production costs. In contrast, animal rights, environmental and social issues will play a much larger role in future production decisions. "Will the idea that 'chicken is chicken' continue to hold true?” asked Zur Fabian, vice president, Diversified Imports. Maybe not, considering there are consumers willing to pay a premium for poultry raised according to specific animal care and environmental standards.
Nutrition in real time
From a nutrition perspective, “The main task will be more than simply pushing for better performance,” said Luca Vandi, regional marketing officer at Biomin. Precise nutrition and nutrient evaluation with real-time data will all play a role.
“Precision nutrition promises to shift the role of feed additives to some degree,” said Vandi. But rather than pushing for a better performance, “It will entail creating the optimal diet to minimize gut stress and maintain a balanced, diversified gut microbiota. There is already increasing awareness that feeding an animal means feeding a microbiota,” he continued.
Therefore, we can expect that in the next decades there will be a greater focus on the evaluation of ingredients to see what impact they will have on the gut microbiota.
Water in the sights
Water, often the neglected nutrient, will play a major role in the next few decades. “In my opinion,” said Vandi, "water will be the main limiting factor for the poultry industry’s growth.”
Even with the best feed formulation, an animal will not be of much use without adequate drinking water. Therefore, technologies that optimize water usage and supply will need to be developed. “Water quality will be monitored and provided on a daily basis,” said Chris LaPak, sales manager, Americas, Chore-Time. Also, “Water requirements [for farm animals] will be raised to that of human quality drinking water,” said Fabian. Therefore, upgraded technologies, such as UV light, will be needed.
I, chicken robot
Although it might appear like a dystopian science fiction movie, “No doubt robotics will be all across the poultry business,” assured Penz. It is likely that the main issue will be efficiency. “Automation and mechanization will be essential to permit cost effective, controlled, repeatable and reliable production,” emphasized Jassen Jackman, sales manager at Vencomatic. “Artificial intelligence could interpret animal behavior in real-time, signal where intervention is needed and order the unit/equipment to carry it out.”
“Artificial intelligence could interpret animal behavior in real-time, signal where intervention is needed and order the unit/equipment to carry it out.” –Jassen Jackman, Vencomatic
There will be further automation of feeder lines, allowing proper feed access and levels, as well as automated feed height adjustments. Automation of drinker line pressures and consumption will be graphed to show hourly bird consumption. “Future feeders and drinkers, as well as supplements, may be administered in a ration manner, where birds that have eaten will no longer have access to feed,” added LaPak.
Replacing wires with wireless or Bluetooth will be a means to reduce installation, labor and maintenance costs, explained Fabian. There is also potential in alternative concepts like heated floors, which would enable smarter energy use while maintaining ideal floor temperature for dry litter with less ammonia. On climate control systems, LaPak said that they will continue to be automatic.
Robotics will also be more utilized for bird harvesting and mortality disposal. But all this “will have to become far more animal welfare-oriented,” said Michel De Clercq, managing director of Petersime.
Drones, videos, microchips and biosecurity
Any tool that decreases manual intervention has plenty of potential for the industry. For instance, “Drones may fly through a house to apply a treatment or vaccine,” highlighted Vandi, or “Video monitoring of bird activity will probably be required to exhibit bird health and potential house equipment issues,” added LaPak. Managing birds and making decisions from a distance will be the rule. Drones can also be used to stimulate birds and retrieve mortalities. And cameras, in combination with heat and motion sensors, can alert producers on the movement and condition of birds.
But this can go further: the use of small microchips in birds to monitor bird health. LaPak thinks that data acquisition could be made accessible to the public, and clear indications of producers may be made available to consumers, much like what is done with eggs. Data acquisition software could also identify and remove any birds that are considered unhealthy or contagious.
Extreme biosecurity measures will likely be observed and followed, and human access will be very limited, meaning improved biosecurity. Less contact with chickens contributes to the further reduction of antibiotic use, matching the demand for antibiotic-free products.
Alternative energy resources
Increasing efficiencies should be a focus as well as a smart system to use natural resources. “Alternative energy sources will play a vital role in helping us meet the demands of production while focusing on sustainability. Wind and solar power, and rainwater harvesting can offer sustainable solutions, while also helping with our public reputation as a mass consumer of resources,” said Fabian.
Purpose-built equipment
The strong anthropomorphic attitude of society toward animals is having a strong influence in poultry husbandry and production. In conjunction with this, Penz thinks that society will force egg production to go in a direction that is not fully proven to be the best to the hens. On the other hand, this new driving force is pushing for changes in equipment, like improved cage-free design, which is rendering progress. “We are already reducing things like floor eggs or keel bone damage,” said Jackman.
It is important to point out that, while entering this new wave of cage-free production, purpose-built equipment must be applied. New housing system designs must allow for an increased barn space utilization, without compromising stocking density for meat and egg production.
In ovo sexing and on-farm hatching
Something that would change the entire system in the near future is on-farm hatching of broiler chicks. “Hatcheries can be expected to be significantly larger than today’s and more automated, with eggs moved automatically throughout the different areas,” said De Clercq. But there is also “the possibility of keeping chicks at the hatchery until days 3 to 7 to help them get stronger before placement,” added Fabian.
Along with automation, advances in hatchery technology will make it feasible “to have better hairline crack detection and perhaps even accurate sexing of birds in ovo and better hatchability,” said Jackman. Along with in ovo sexing, “Vaccination and administration of additives will be common place,” said De Clercq. Other advances include embryos of the unwanted gender not being hatched and incubation performance improving due to individual egg/embryo monitoring.
Antibiotic-free production, husbandry
The good old concepts of biosecurity, feed quality and management will be more mandatory now than ever. Caged production egg systems have been helpful to isolate animals, in a way, from pathogens. The poultry industry will need mechanisms for controlling these pathogens and disease, if isolation is no longer permitted.
Slow-growing birds and antibiotic-free feed will require closer monitoring of bird health, since birds will be in the houses longer, and the industry will likely need to find organic alternatives to treat birds. Much work is being done on that today, but the demand that the poultry industry will face will probably require looking at synthetic replacements.
