Management Tool

Environmental Appraisal System (EAS�)

An effective poultry environment means healthy birds, good weight gain and feed conversion, and optimum egg production. A Cargill environmental appraisal evaluates key aspects of your birds’ environment so that you can make objective decisions about ventilation, curtains and lighting.

The evaluation places electronic measuring tools in the house for a period of time, seconds up to several days. We capture changes in temperature, humidity, light intensity, air and water quality. We compare these data with standards and offer recommendations, training materials or guidelines as appropriate. Later, you can use a field checklist to quickly calculate and summarize environmental factors for ongoing monitoring.

Social Environment

A poor social environment can lead to health effects that include reduced body size, lack of uniformity, poor feed conversion rate and increased downgrading of broilers.

A Cargill EAS can help you optimize productivity with management guidelines for floor and feeder space allowances.

Ventilation

Poor ventilation can lead to health problems related to lack of temperature control, increased disease incidence and poor air quality.

A Cargill EAS will help you to regulate thermal exchanges and control the aerial spread of pathogens with ventilation guidelines, ventilation requirement calculations, recommended ventilation rates and airflow based on fan size.

Air Quality

Poor air quality can lead to health effects such as coughing, burned feet, breast blisters, eye irritation, reduced weight gain and a poor feed conversion rate.

A Cargill EAS will help you maintain low levels of ammonia, carbon monoxide, and dust, as well as manage temperature and humidity by offering equipment recommendations, training materials, and measures for monitoring and controlling air quality.

Temperature

Poor temperature control can lead to health effects including low or excessive feed intake, wet droppings, poor live performance, poor eggshell quality, reduced growth and egg production, and high mortality rates.

Heat Stress Management

Heat stress can be a serious problem in poultry production. It’s one reason we’ve included temperature control in our Environmental Appraisal System�. Nutrition and feed management also play a critical role. Our programs for managing heat stress include strategies for maintaining good feed intake, reducing mortality rates and increasing productivity. We’ll not only help you design a program specific to your operation, but we’ll also provide the training materials.

Information Product Database

Here at Cargill Animal Nutrition, we believe in keeping up-to-date on the latest research and information related to the industries we serve. For our poultry business, we’ve established the Information Product Database (IPD™) to house technical information. Topics covered include product quality, management, health, genetics, training, field trials, programs and services, nutrition and ingredients. IPD has proven to be an effective tool in guiding our practices and supporting our business — and ultimately, your business.

Mycotoxin Best Management Practices

Any producer will verify that mycotoxins continue to be a significant economic issue in poultry operations. Annual industry losses range into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Cargill’s Mycotoxin Best Management Practices (MycoBMP™) can help you face this challenge successfully. You can minimize the risks from ingredient and feed mycotoxins to ensure accurate and consistent product quality with:

• General ingredient and finished feed mycotoxin guidelines
• Country-specific ingredient and finished feed mycotoxin regulations and guidelines
• Species-specific mycotoxicosis information summaries
• Control point decision-making aids for ingredient purchasing, receiving, storage, mycotoxin testing and feed formulation
• Recommended sampling and test methods
• Mycotoxin test results database
• Mold inhibitor and mycotoxin binder calculators

Problem Solving Trees

A Problem Solving Tree very simply can help you identify the cause of dozens of problems common to poultry producers. It leverages the experience and knowledge of hundreds of cases and operations around the world, effectively and efficiently. In no time, you’ll be on your way to a solution to issues like:

• Poor chick quality
• Slow growth
• Leg weakness
• High mortality
• Feather pecking
• Pale egg shell color
• Poor egg quality