In animal husbandry, poultry refers to birds raised commercially or domestically for meat, eggs, and feathers. Chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese are of primary commercial importance, while guinea fowl and squabs are chiefly of local interest.
Chickens that are reared for meat consumption are called broilers. Broiler farming hence involves rearing of broiler birds which are kept for meat from day old to about eight weeks of age for good quality tender meat.
Why is broiler meat cheaper than beef/pork?
Broiler production is time-efficient and adaptable to market changes, due to the relatively short life cycles (production cycles) of broilers (Yakovleva and Flynn 2004). Moreover, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) is relatively low, with a required input of 2.3 kg feed per kg output of chicken meat. In comparison, pigs and beef calves require a lot more resources for breeding, with FCRs of 4.0 and 4.6, respectively (Wilkinson 2011). Therefore broiler production have the advantage of fast growth rate, high feed conversion efficiency, highly preferred source of meat (not forbidden by any culture or religion), which makes broiler meat cheaper than beef or pork.
What is the break even point in broiler farming?
When we say break even, it’s that point any farmer would start to enjoy profits out of his or her broiler farming business. It’s that point you will recover back all the costs you incurred to start the business. Expressed in its simplest form, the break even point of broiler production is the value of the end product minus the input costs to produce that product giving us zero. It will not be a good idea to start your venture with 1000 chickens. I would recommend that you start with a small flock. It is easier to put up a basic chicken coop for three or more chickens. A smaller flock will give you enough time to learn the intricacies of chicken keeping as you work your way up to becoming a seasoned chicken farmer. It is the small steps that count in your farming journey with almost zero labor cost, easier management and hence you will break even at a point with ease and swiftly have a good transition to profitability.
Value addition in broiler farming.
Value addition is the process of adding value to a product or service through special processing, marketing or manufacturing (Value Magazine Team 28 February, 2019, p.1). When you add value to the product, you increase the perceived value of the product. So in broiler farming, when adding value to chicken a farmer gives more value to chicken and its products before offering it to the customers and hence customers will pay more for it because it’s convenient and worth it. It creates a more significant market opportunity and can easily satisfy the demand for products.
We can also talk about when to add value: If you want to have a competitive edge from your business rivals, then it’s time to add value to your chicken. It will benefit you in mitigating losses from chicken meat going bad. Furthermore, Value addition will also reduce waste tremendously. You will be able to make money from simple things including feathers and chicken waste.
Marketing tips in broiler business.
It is uncommon to find a household that does not consume poultry meat, most especially chicken meat. However, despite the high demand for poultry meat globally, the quantities produced usually have not met the market demand. So before the current and future market demands can be met, poultry farmers dealing in broiler business need to adopt effective strategies and best practices in the poultry industry. (DM Agro Investments Ltd, 2019) states the following as some of them:
1. Know and Acquaint Yourself With Prospects.
First, don’t start raising the chickens until you have surveyed the market and know what they want and the quantity. Get the contact details of potential buyers and top buyers in your locality and ensure that you let them know you will be selling to them soon. If possible, ask them the quantity they would buy from you and note it down.
2. Target a Market Larger than Your Supply.
In selling your broiler chickens, you need a large market; do not start counting the number of members in your community or church group and think they will all buy. Target a market that is big enough, such that even if 1-5% of them buy your product, things would have moved.
3. Early Advert
Do not wait until the rush hour. One thing you should know is that human beings are the most unstable in thinking. This minute, they are thinking of buying, and the next minute, they have even forgotten about the product. This is why you need to start advertising early and continue to do it consistently.
Sometimes, you just have to be aggressive at it.
4. Target the Festive Seasons
You should schedule your production well in such a way that you will have matured chicken to sell during festive periods like Christmas, Easter, New Year, Wedding peak period, etc. The sole reason for this is that there will be a higher demand for chicken during these periods.
5. Leverage on the Power of Networking
Form farmers group with other farmers or join existing ones. This will give you more exposure and the opportunity to connect or network with other farmers. Your co-farmers or colleagues could link you up with customers, and you will have more people to buy your chicken. Also you will be able to agree on a market price and also engage in collective sales.
6. Tell the World via Social Media
Don’t underestimate the power of social media. That is why a farmer should be able to make effective use of social media and networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. These sites are great platforms to advertise your products and services and bring more customers to your business. So leverage the power of social media or network to give your farm more exposure and get more customers.
7. Sell Your Broiler Chickens as a Competitor
Interestingly, everywhere remains quiet until the sales period when people start to bring out their chickens to sell. To many, it is during this time that they remember they have competitors. You need to plan and try to be two steps ahead of your competitors. Because you may not always offer a very competitive price, you need to look for ways to convince your customers to choose you. Are your chickens giant? Are they immaculate? Do you offer delivery? Do you slaughter and dress? These are some of the things you might want to consider to stand out in the competition. If you have raised your chickens organically, this is the time to get the bounty that comes with Organic Chicken.
8. Avoid Overproduction
One last and important thing is that you must not produce more than what the market demands. This is the reason why conducting a market survey is important, failure, may find it challenging to know and understand the pattern or behavior of the market, especially for your locality. And if you are unable to sell your chickens at the right time, you may run at a loss because your costs of production would continue to increase. After all, you still have to feed the birds as long as they are always on the farm.
9. Sell Chickens to Processing Plant
Like selling in bulk, is one of the fastest ways to sell your chicken. In marketing your chickens, a lot of factors should be considered for example nearness to your target market. This is a massive advantage because you can quickly sell your broilers to them. On the contrary, even if you don’t have anyone near you, they can come for your chickens and buy them from your farm.
One of the advantages of this method is that the processing plant can absorb any chickens you have to sell. Whether it is just 50 pieces or thousands, processing plants are always ready to buy. But let’s be realistic here. You know it is hard for them to come from 20 KM away for 50 birds, except they have another more massive deal close to your farm.
I keep trying to avoid one option because I don’t like to use it unless nothing else works. Let me just share it for the sake of sharing.
Or Process Them Yourself
+Another idea you could apply when you have excess chickens on your farm is to slaughter, process, and package them to sell to consumers. Slaughtering and processing chickens aren’t as difficult as most people think. You must do the processing in a very hygienic place and with uncontaminated equipment. Have your freezers running and store processed meats inside them.
10. Bulk Sales is the Magic of Selling Broiler Chickens
Bulk sales can be advantageous. First, with bulk deals, you get to sell all your chickens faster, and you can start raising another batch. Without bulk sales, you keep feeding the remaining chickens, which means more rearing capital. However, one thing you should know about bulk sales is that birds go at a lesser per/unit price. This is because people who buy in bulk are re-sellers or restaurants.
11. Use Brokers or Middle Men.
Almost every business has middlemen across its value chain. People that connect the buyer to the seller. They exist in the poultry sector too. They run most of the business activities, and they take most of the gain, which is why I don’t like using them. But they have their advantages. When you are stuck, the chances are that your broker will get a buyer for you. It can save you when things get pretty bad, and your birds are just eating without anyone coming to buy.
Conclusion.
The global broiler industry is growing year by year. In 2018, poultry exceeded pork as the most consumed type of meat (Statista 2019). Broiler production provides employment and regular income within the shortest time possible due to its fast growth and shorter production cycle. However reasonable returns can be guaranteed only when produced at minimum cost of production because net profit is a function of gross returns and cost of production (Adeoti & Simeon, 2013). So as a farmer, your major goal should be to maximise the income you earn from your venture just like any other business person targets by working along within possible limits that their farms can allow.
References:
’10 Proven Ways to Sell Your Broiler Chickens Anytime,’ DM Agro Investments Ltd, 2019, accessed 10 September, 2021, <dmagroinvestments.com>
‘How To Start Poultry and Chicken Farming : Value Addition,’ Value Magazine Team, 28 February 2019, p.1.
Wilkinson, J. M. 2011. “Re-defining Efficiency of Feed Use by Livestock.” Animal 5 (7): 1014–1022. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
Yakovleva, N., and A. Flynn. 2004. “Innovation and Sustainability in the Food System: A Case of Chicken Production and Consumption in the UK.” Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 6 (3–4): 227–250. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]