The implementation of good management is included in the factors that determine the success of raising chickens. One of the important components in good management is the activity of recording maintenance performance or also known as recording maintenance. Recording maintenance on chicken livestock is very important to do.
Without written records, farmers must rely on memory while making decisions about their farming practices. However, if only rely on memory not a few breeders will forget after a few days, months or years. Therefore, it is better for farmers to record the maintenance of their chicken livestock.
So what exactly is maintenance recording? What are the benefits of recording maintenance? In order not to get more curious, let’s just look at the full description below.
Understanding maintenance recording in chicken livestock
Maintenance Recording is a record of all events regarding the chickens that are kept in order to provide the necessary information to determine an objective decision based on existing facts, so that the decision made is a good decision. In the management of modern chicken farms, recording maintenance becomes very important. This is due to the large number of chickens that are managed. In addition, recording becomes very important because the data that is successfully documented can be used as evaluation material both for the ongoing maintenance period and for the next maintenance period.
Component recording maintenance
Here are some components of maintenance recording in chicken livestock that should be carried out routine data collection during the maintenance period :
Total Population
Knowing the number of chicken populations that are kept is very important initial information. Therefore, you should record the number of chicken populations in the cage and the number of these populations must be updated regularly. This is because if there are dead chickens, culling or missing can be known. So that the number of the population remaining in the cage can be calculated the amount of drinking water, feed, vaccinations, as well as the dose of medication.
Number of feedings
Chicken feed allocates costs up to 70% of all total production costs. Therefore, data on the number of feedings need to be considered by farmers. It aims to determine the amount of feed spent, the rest of the feed, as well as the availability of feed stocks in the warehouse. Data from the number of feedings is very useful for calculating the amount of expenditure and evaluating the performance of livestock.
Daily production performance produced
Production performance Data is the data that distinguishes between broiler chickens and layer chickens. In the maintenance of chicken layer performance is recorded, among others, body weight, uniformity, egg production, and egg weight. While in the maintenance of broiler chickens monitored data is the achievement of high body weight by using efficient feed. All this information, both layer chickens and broiler chickens, is very important, because it determines the size or size of the profit obtained from the maintenance.
Environmental conditions in the cage
The important Data in the next maintenance recording is the environmental conditions in the cage. If the environmental conditions in the cage are good, then the chickens in the cage can feel comfortable. Changes in environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity can cause discomfort in chickens. Therefore, it needs to be followed by management adjustments, especially related to ventilation. The condition of this environmental information can also be used as one of the considerations for other maintenance management such as feeding time or cage widening.
Medical history (medical record)
Medical history is data that is important to note. This is because these data are needed to decide exactly when to vaccinate, administer drugs, and roll drugs.
Benefits of recording maintenance on chickens
Some farmers consider record keeping only a way to control the performance of plasma and cage offspring, so the goal is simply to calculate profit and loss. In fact, data recording should be understood in a broader sense. If recording maintenance is done well and consistently will provide several benefits, these benefits include :
1. Knowing the final population
Good and consistent maintenance records in chicken livestock can be used to determine the final population of chickens in cages. This Data is very important, because it is necessary for farmers to make financial records in terms of profit and loss. With the knowledge of the final population, if farmers experience losses, then farmers can know the cause of the reduced population of chickens in cages. It could be that the reduced number of chickens is due to loss, culling, death or something else during the maintenance period.
2. Evaluating maintenance management
During the maintenance period there may be problems or obstacles that the farmer does not want. For example, there are obstacles to achieving performance such as body weight that is not achieved. This can be evaluated by looking at the maintenance recording. Not reaching the body weight can be caused by environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) that are not in accordance with the needs of chickens, so it will affect the feed intake. In the end, it results in the achievement of body weight that is not in accordance with the standard. Therefore, maintenance data recording is very useful to be a reference in tracing the root causes of problems during maintenance, as well as evaluation material.
3. As a tool to handle cases of disease
Recording maintenance that is done well, neat and consistent is useful to help in handling cases of disease in chickens.This is because information about the cage or flock affected by the disease will help in drawing up a visit schedule. Without a good and consistent maintenance record recording, it can have an impact on disease transmission between drums or flocks. From this information, farmers can make improvements and evaluate health programs, especially in determining vaccination schedules, hygiene programs, and cage disinfection. That way he hopes that in the next period this case does not repeat itself.
Now you know the definition of maintenance recording in chickens, the components of maintenance recording, and the benefits of maintenance recording. By doing accurate maintenance recording, it will make it easier for farmers to evaluate and control the development of performance produced by chicken livestock. In addition, maintenance recording can be used as a proper reference base for the determination of the next maintenance program.
Thus this article, may be useful and add to your insight. Thank you and see you on another occasion!