HOW TO RAISE GAMEFOWLS AT A LOWER COST

By Larry Locara

Game fowls are expensive to raise but with a few tricks and sound fundamentals, a small time raiser can raise healthy stags and cocks and earn at least P70 per month per stag or about P700 per head of a ten month old stag. Here's how:

*Selecting the breeding stocks is the most crucial aspect if one has to get into game fowl raising. The industry is so competitive that one has to raise good fowls that can hold its own in the cockpit. The main criteria for selection for small scale game fowl breeding are the looks, winning percentage of the brood cock and the brothers of the hens, conformation and size (the offspring should weight between 1.9 to 2.1 kilograms for the stags with a proportionate height for its weight.

It helps if the breeding stocks came from a known breeder or cock-fighter or one has connections to breeders who will help him sell later.

When selecting brood stocks, select true to types or those looking very close to the breeds that you claim they are. If you are a new comer, get advice from those who have the experience in raising and fighting stags and cocks because most often, they know which breed it is with just one glance.

*Determine the level or size of your operation so that you can feed your chickens well. For small breeders, it is wise to start with a brood cock and two hens, known popularly as a trio. This level will enable you to raise at least 10 stags during the stag banding season by asking a breeder-friend to have your chicks banded under his name and maybe 20 more during the off season, which you can later sell as cocks. Each cock or hen eats between 60 to 100 grams per day. Hens are voracious eaters mainly due to their need to eat more so they produce eggs for hatching.

*As soon as you can identify the males from the females, cull the female chicks you think won't pass your criteria as next yera's breeders and feed the culls with a lower cost but high protein feeds so that they will also grow fast for the table. During the off season, feed the hens with a low protein diet so they won't lay eggs but still maintain their health.

*Don't scrimp on feeds for the stags and cocks. Their health is the first criteria for buyers. Stag and cocks with good bodies and without fat deposits (bul-o/sapola) are most sought after. While specialized feeds for game fowls are expensive, you can substitute with feeds provided you take note of the protein, carbohydrates and vitamin/mineral/amino acids content so that the stags will grow well and with good conformation, which are also the criteria for selection by buyers. One practice of Villa Arevalo small raisers is to use broiler mash or pellets and add broken rice (binlud) during the late growing stage. They also use cheap but effective vitamin-mineral preparations often used for large flocks. By buying as a group and dividing the product among themselves, they often save as much as 25 percent of the cost compared to the small packaging such as sachet or bottles.

*Use technologies to lessen costs such as the use of “probiotics”, which you can make at home. The probiotics technology or the Natural Farming System is the technology, which harnesses beneficial micro organisms in farming and animal raising. You may go to the nearest agriculture office for more information and technology transfer.

*Compute your costs well and impute all possible cost areas so that you can determine your selling price. The industry standard for most small scale raisers is to price the chickens at P100 per month of rearing for which they would earn about P30 per head per month of rearing. However, if one has already the reputation of raising winning lines, the price goes up to the level that can be met by the buyers. Large scale or big breeders sell at a range between P6,000 to P12,000 per head at ten months of age.

*Spar the stags as often as possible. Sparring develops the fighting skill, which may be inherent or bred in but is fine tuned with constant practice. However make sure that you are watchful and have equipped your stags with gloves and reduced the possibility of hitting at hard objects. The feet of the stags are still tender and are easily damaged when they hit at each other.

*Study everything about cockfighting so that when buyers come, you can discuss details with them and which is one of your come-on. Read as much and surf the internet for cockfighting communities which are helpful especially to newcomers. Some of these sites are http://sabong.net.ph; http://sabungero.trip-media.com; http://www.supermax2010.webs.com/ and many others.

*Most importantly, you should love what you are doing but never lose sight of your goal which is to sell the stags and cocks, not to fight them yourself. Always remember that you will join this industry to earn.

- See more at: http://www.iloilonewstoday.com/component/content/article/144-other-views/6284-low-cost-game-fowl-raising.html#sthash.jvijZD8V.dpuf

Read more about Between by ■ The News Today

By Larry Locara

Game fowls are expensive to raise but with a few tricks and sound fundamentals, a small time raiser can raise healthy stags and cocks and earn at least P70 per month per stag or about P700 per head of a ten month old stag. Here's how:

*Selecting the breeding stocks is the most crucial aspect if one has to get into game fowl raising. The industry is so competitive that one has to raise good fowls that can hold its own in the cockpit. The main criteria for selection for small scale game fowl breeding are the looks, winning percentage of the brood cock and the brothers of the hens, conformation and size (the offspring should weight between 1.9 to 2.1 kilograms for the stags with a proportionate height for its weight.

It helps if the breeding stocks came from a known breeder or cock-fighter or one has connections to breeders who will help him sell later.

When selecting brood stocks, select true to types or those looking very close to the breeds that you claim they are. If you are a new comer, get advice from those who have the experience in raising and fighting stags and cocks because most often, they know which breed it is with just one glance.

*Determine the level or size of your operation so that you can feed your chickens well. For small breeders, it is wise to start with a brood cock and two hens, known popularly as a trio. This level will enable you to raise at least 10 stags during the stag banding season by asking a breeder-friend to have your chicks banded under his name and maybe 20 more during the off season, which you can later sell as cocks. Each cock or hen eats between 60 to 100 grams per day. Hens are voracious eaters mainly due to their need to eat more so they produce eggs for hatching.

*As soon as you can identify the males from the females, cull the female chicks you think won't pass your criteria as next yera's breeders and feed the culls with a lower cost but high protein feeds so that they will also grow fast for the table. During the off season, feed the hens with a low protein diet so they won't lay eggs but still maintain their health.

*Don't scrimp on feeds for the stags and cocks. Their health is the first criteria for buyers. Stag and cocks with good bodies and without fat deposits (bul-o/sapola) are most sought after. While specialized feeds for game fowls are expensive, you can substitute with feeds provided you take note of the protein, carbohydrates and vitamin/mineral/amino acids content so that the stags will grow well and with good conformation, which are also the criteria for selection by buyers. One practice of Villa Arevalo small raisers is to use broiler mash or pellets and add broken rice (binlud) during the late growing stage. They also use cheap but effective vitamin-mineral preparations often used for large flocks. By buying as a group and dividing the product among themselves, they often save as much as 25 percent of the cost compared to the small packaging such as sachet or bottles.

*Use technologies to lessen costs such as the use of “probiotics”, which you can make at home. The probiotics technology or the Natural Farming System is the technology, which harnesses beneficial micro organisms in farming and animal raising. You may go to the nearest agriculture office for more information and technology transfer.

*Compute your costs well and impute all possible cost areas so that you can determine your selling price. The industry standard for most small scale raisers is to price the chickens at P100 per month of rearing for which they would earn about P30 per head per month of rearing. However, if one has already the reputation of raising winning lines, the price goes up to the level that can be met by the buyers. Large scale or big breeders sell at a range between P6,000 to P12,000 per head at ten months of age.

*Spar the stags as often as possible. Sparring develops the fighting skill, which may be inherent or bred in but is fine tuned with constant practice. However make sure that you are watchful and have equipped your stags with gloves and reduced the possibility of hitting at hard objects. The feet of the stags are still tender and are easily damaged when they hit at each other.

*Study everything about cockfighting so that when buyers come, you can discuss details with them and which is one of your come-on. Read as much and surf the internet for cockfighting communities which are helpful especially to newcomers. Some of these sites are http://sabong.net.ph; http://sabungero.trip-media.com; http://www.supermax2010.webs.com/ and many others.

*Most importantly, you should love what you are doing but never lose sight of your goal which is to sell the stags and cocks, not to fight them yourself. Always remember that you will join this industry to earn.

Read more about Between by ■ The News Today

Problems are Opportunities (7): Raise Chickens for Eggs and Meat (Part 5)

February 28, 2014 | Filed under: Agriculture | Posted by: Larry Locara

The Dangers of Antibiotics in Chicken Raising:

Modern living has brought with it modern but more virulent diseases. Medical discoveries like antibiotics, starting with penicillin were initially hailed as the ultimate cure only to be found that bacteria and other disease-causing microorganisms evolve to become resistant to them. Then comes the never ending phenomenon to discover newer versions of antibiotics just to combat resistant bacteria.

In earlier decades, antibiotics were also included in the feeds for livestock. The argument was that it was best to incorporate them so that they would be ingested and thus act as prophylactic or as prevention. It was later found that the regular use of these substances will also cause bacteria to evolve and thus become resistant. The more alarming findings however is that livestock grown on antibiotics have residue build-up in their bodies that when these animals are slaughtered for human consumption, these residues will also be ingested and will eventually cause bacterial resistance. People would then need higher doses and newer and more expensive versions of antibiotics.

Even the administration of antibiotics to treat livestock diseases should follow the correct and precise protocol to ensure that treatment is total and that the animal is treated successfully. Incorrect use of antibiotics will only enable surviving pathogens to resist a particular type and persist to survive within the body of the animal and cause further damage and eventual death.

This is exactly the phenomenon in chickens. In commercial broiler chicken production, the chickens are given prophylactics at about 12 to 16 days so that by the time of harvest which is about 28-32 days, they would appear healthy and pass the standards of the integrator. This period which is about 14 to 16 days from slaughter is considered safe as the withdrawal period of at least 7 days had been met. However there are cases that the flock is affected on the 24-25th days and at the time of harvest, would appear healthy and thus, pass the standards for slaughter.

This situation is even more serious in commercial egg production. When layer chickens are affected with bacterial infection, the raisers often times administer antibiotics without isolating the sick birds which continue to lay eggs. Antibiotics ingested are not totally synthesized and rendered inactive within the fowls’ bodies and a large concentration is still found in the eggs laid. The correct protocol for this is to destroy the eggs by composting and not fed to other animals like pigs. But the common attitude among the farmers is to include the eggs in the batch for sale, after all, our country still lacks sophisticated systems for monitor food safety.

Thus the alternative to commercial chicken raising (both meat and eggs) is still the traditional way where the chickens are raised sans antibiotics and other dangerous substances such as growth hormones which are as dangerous as antibiotics. While at the early stages, the chickens are raised in confinement or semi-confinement to give them a head start, they are then hardened to be released on full range after a while where they will forage the major portion of their diet and are supplemented with nutrient rich feed only when necessary. The range is developed fully and planted with nutrient rich feed like grasses, legumes and medicinal plants which can directly cure or boost the immune system of chickens.

A particular example is to grow malunggay along borders and in straight rows while planting sorghum, grains like the barnyard grass, legumes like rice-beans and munggo in between. The tauri and munggo are allowed to pod and shatter so that the free range chickens can feed on them. The tender leaves are also rich fodder for them as they are high in proteins and amino acids. On certain portions of the range, medicinal plants are established like oregano, lagundi and apat-apat which are considered medicinal and immune system boosters. Oregano is an important plant in livestock raising as they are also grazed or fed on instinctively by chickens to treat their respiratory diseases.

Farmers who raise chickens on the free range also claim that their chickens are tastier than the commercially raised versions. For one, chickens harvested at 4-5 months old have started to develop a stronger tissue system which is already rich in glutamine which is an amino acid known to give flavor to meat. But the best premium for chickens raised naturally is their total absence of antibiotics in their meat. Eggs from chickens raised on the range are also said to be of deeper yolk color than their commercial cousins. This is due to the diet of fresh grasses which contain high levels of natural beta-carotene which is responsible for the yellow pigmentation. Commercial eggs are also yellow colored because of the chemical ingredients which is given through the feeds.

Problems are Opportunities (8): Raise Chickens for Eggs and Meat (Part 6)

March 7, 2014 | Filed under: Agriculture | Posted by: Larry Locara

Fast Growing Meat Type Chickens

Last week on our visit to the proposed Demonstration Farm of the Municipality of Mina, we met Mr. Gerry Suarnaba, a retired army man who lives just outside the perimeter fence of the farm. He gardens a small part of the area inside where he plants a variety of vegetables. What caught our attention were several chickens running around. The hen is a large meat type popularly called Kabir and the roosters were the asil types called locally as jolo. Gerry crosses the jolo males with the kabir hens and says that the offsprings are as fast growing as the kabirs and as resistant as the jolo or asils.

Being promoted as a free range chicken, the kabirs came into the country from Europe or Middle East where they are grown like the common white broiler chickens that we are familiar with. They were also selectively bred for performance, meaning that the breeders sought to improve the breed for fast growth and high meat recovery. Thus in close confinement and commercial operations, the kabirs may perform as well as the white broiler type can can be harvested in the same number of days it takes the white breeds to grow.

Kabir Eggs

Gold jolo with kabir hen

Red jolo with kabir hen

Gerry Suarnaba with a kabir hen

Municipal Agri Officer Xykster Pelaez holding a jolo cock

Kabir hen with newly hatched chicks

As a meat type free range chicken, the kabirs offer an advantage over the traditional native chickens we normally find in the rural areas. They grow fast, voraciously eats anything edible and can be as hardy as the native strains. They are also are docile and won’t stray away from their pasture when food is available. Unlike the native chickens which are flighty, kabirs can’t take off due to their heavy bodies and and short wing spans.

There are variations of the kabir breed. Other entrepreneurs have imported the Sasso from France a few years back and there are already breeders who specialize in selling day old chicks of this breed. There’s also the Sunshine free range chickens that looks like the sasso. Another breed is the naked neck chicken popularly called the cobra which originated in Eastern Europe, particularly from the Transylvania region also famous for the Count Dracula story. This breed is also known to be hardy and fast growing and is known to be made a parent line for free range chickens. The prominent feature of this breed is that its neck is devoid of feathers, thus it is popularly called a cobra chicken.

Breeding method for free range fast growing strains:

The basic method for breeding free range chicken is to cross totally unrelated breeds. In the case of Ka Gerry, he has jolo or asil brood cocks mated to his kabir hens. Since he has two cocks, he can mate the first cocks to the hens first then mate the next cock to the second generation of kabir x asil so that he comes up with fast growing range-adapted chickens. The resulting offspring will be as fast growing as the kabir hen but more resistant to weather conditions of the field. The same is true with other fast growing imported breeds like the sasso. They can be mated with the asils or other hardy large types of chickens.

There are also small farmers who do a reverse breeding program. They look for a large cock to mate with their small native hens and retain the resulting pullets for the next generation of breeding while selling the cockerels. Then on the next generation of breeding, they find another large rooster to replace the original rooster. Both methods are variations of hybridization where the objective is to develop strength in the individuals through complementation where the best characters of both parents are transferred to the offspring. (to be continued).

The dangers of modern chicken production

Modern chicken production strives to provide a constant supply of chickens and eggs to the consumers. The demand for both has led to the development of technologies for efficient production, from genetics to feeding, to disease control and to the inclusion of growth hormones in the diet or directly injected to the bodies of chickens. To enable layers to lay consistently and for more number of days per year, hormones are also included in the diets.

When antibiotics were first found to help fight disease in humans, animal scientists studied its applications in chicken and livestock production. By the 1950s, it was standard procedure to include antibiotics in commercial feeds and as a prevention measure, veterinary companies were selling soluble antibiotics coupled to vitamin-minerals as a standard supplement allegedly to boost immune systems and as a disease prevention mechanism.

The widespread use of antibiotics however has sown a wave of disease resistant bacteria where scientists scrambled to find new generation antibiotics just to check in resistant strains that do not anymore respond to the present types of antibiotics being added to the ration or to the water of chickens. These new antibiotics have also become more expensive that they have added to the production cost of both meat and egg type of chickens.

The need for efficient feed conversion and more eggs laid also led to the research of hormones and their use in livestock. By the late 1950s, the use of hormones became standard in the livestock industry and by the early part of the 1970s, a widely used synthetic hormone, DES (diethylstilboestrol)  had been banned due to findings that it increases the risk of cancer. The efficiency brought about by hormone use however has encouraged producers to continue the use of hormones in other forms and research in this line even intensified.

While the use of hormones is still widespread in large livestock like feeder or finisher cattle, poultry industry insiders contend that there is no need for hormones use in poultry, especially broilers which are harvested in less than 30 days now. They claim that the truth is that no hormones are used in poultry production. This is according to Dr Tom Tabler (Extension Professor), Jessica Wells (Extension Instructor) and Dr Wei Zhai (Assistant Research Professor, Poultry Science) of Mississippi State University Extension Service.

There are several reasons why broilers now. First is genetics: due to the competition, breeding companies breed the fastest growing strains and usually use hybridization which had been tested to produce fast growing and more resistant chickens. Geneticists now have produced chickens which grow to at least 1.2 kilograms in just 28 days.

Second is the new findings in nutrition that allow feed companies to produce the best quality feeds at the least possible cost without the use of additives. Each type or strain of chickens are also studied to determine their exact nutritional requirements so that there is no waste and that optimal growth is attained.

Third is that housing and other environmental requirements are now studied and the best possible growing environment for chickens are given. Concerns such as floor space requirements, ventilation, and other aspects are well taken cared of in the design of housing so that the chickens can grow at their fastest rate.

This new information should serve to somehow allay the fears of consumers on eating broilers or fast growing chickens. However, native chickens which are grown for a longer period tends to be more flavorful due to well developed tissues where glutamine, an amino acid that gives flavor had been fully developed. This is also the reason why for soups, older chickens are preferred while for fried chickens, the fast growing broilers are used.

Seniors and Still Full of Energy

March 28, 2014 | Filed under: Agriculture | Posted by: Larry Locara

Our visit to the on-going construction of a new farm to market road at Barangay Pandan, Dingle rewarded us with an insight on how senior citizens can still remain productive despite advancing age. Being in the countryside offers a big advantage to these people who can putter around their yard and exercise their limbs and muscles and thus prevent atrophy and debilitation.

Manong Manny Dator, a resident since birth of Brgy. Pandan is in his mid-70s and tapping the coconuts in his front yard is his way of spending his time. With about 6 coconuts planted close to each other, he has defied farming logic of close spacing where it is assumed that closely spaced plants will not bear fruits, or nuts in the case of coconuts. Just about 5 meters apart, his coconuts, the yellow dwarf variety once made popular by the Philippine Coconut Authority, are tapped for its sap or plant juice and either drank as tuba or fermented sap or directly made into vinegar.

Manang Regina Vilłasana holding her set 4kg rooster that came out of her native chickens

To make things easier for him, he has connected the coconuts with a series of big bamboo poles so once he is up tapping one floral shoot, he can proceed to the next palm without getting down, a tedious and painful task for him at his age. On a given day, his six palms produce not less than 5 liters, which if sold as fresh tuba or slightly fermented sap will sell for not less than P100.00, but will sell for P225.00 if fermented to vinegar in one month or more. Manong Manny ages his stocks of vinegar in a corner of his home lot where buyers can simply pass by and get their stocks. He has systematically arranged the bottles so that he knows instantly which bottles are already acidic and ready to sell.

With his family, Manny is getting his whole yard ready for a possible renovation into a home type resort and eating destination in the barangay. The soon to be completed road building project would now make his place easy to access and visitors can partake of clean healthful coconut sap drink, fresh young coconut, fresh vegetables and freshly killed native chickens. His vinegar sells for about P15.00 per lapad or the flat bottle originally containing rum, whiskey or brandy (330 ml.), while his tuba sells for about P20.00 per liter.

Nearby is Manang Regina Villasana who specializes in raising improved native chickens. Her stocks originally came from the darag strain now being popularized by the academe at WVSU and CPU. She complained that apparently that strain in synthetic and prone to diseases because of heavy inbreeding so she decided to do her own brand of breeding. She looked for fast growing strains and started again with the commercial day old chicks intended for growing to 1.5 kilos in 30 to 40 days. She chose the pullets to breed with a rooster from the darag batch and incubated the eggs through the surrogate hens that sit on eggs.

Manong Manny Dator beside one of the palms he taps for coco sap which naturally ferments to contain alcohol and further ferments to become vinegar

Every new generation, she selects same colored chickens to mate for the next generation. Now she has a brood of eight hens colored brown red just like the color of kabir chickens. They also approximate the size of these imported breed but her strain or breed is more resistant to diseases since their genetic make up is just like the darag chickens too. But her total population is never below 100 heads of all ages because of the regular batch that she sells. People already know her and go to her regularly to buy her native chickens. They find her chickens healthy and antibiotics free.

Manang Regina has a practical feeding method. She feeds her newly hatched chicks with a commercial ration for two weeks after which, she gradually shift them to her homemade ration she she herself makes. Once the chicks are ready to be ranged, she directs them together with the surrogate hen to the pile of leaves which she purposely collects and wets thoroughly so that termites will gradually colonize. Termites are excellent feed for chickens as their bodies are rich in amino acids and fats. Termites are also highly digestible. The surrogate hen teaches the chicks how to scratch and feed among the piles of leaves and other debris. Using this method, Regina not only saves on feed and management but also gives her chickens the best nutrition.

At her age, Regina is sprightly and full of energy because of the farm environment and the availability of vegetables that her family grows. Like any progressive farmer, she indulges in healthful food year round by growing them herself. She keeps abreast of the latest in farming because she is a member of the Community-based Participatory Action Research, a project of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 6 under the able leadership of Director Larry Nacionales.