Within the context of the Cladan segment in Cátedra Avícola the magazine interviewed Pedro Deluchi – Poultry Division Manager- who told us about this issue that affects production in the summer, Cladan’s strategy to provide solutions and the use of one of its own additives Betaplus: A compound of flavonoids, natural extracts, which has antioxidant, detoxifying actions, also is a liver function enhancer and thermal and water anti-stress.
CA: What does heat stress in poultry farming means?
PD: The concept of thermal stress occurs when the comfort temperature of the animals (the birds have a temperature within which the production is carried out in a normal way, without them being affected) is exceeded by heat, combined with high relative humidity. At that point we can see production affected.
We must take into account that there is the sum of effects between the environment of the shed, the temperature of the animals and the normal radiation during these summer times.
Keep in mind that very young birds have few ways to self-regulate their temperature so you have to apply different management measures such as ventilation, nutrition, moisture control.
When the temperature exceeds 30 ºC the birds begin to gasp, which increases their respiratory rate, what helps the bird to control its temperature, but also causes them to incur in an energy expenditure, an expense that goes to the metabolism. This generates a “maintenance metabolism” which affects daily weight gain, food consumption and also death rate.
The immediate measures that must be taken are to change the density of birds in the shed, the flow and availability of fresh water and to control the consumption of water vs. food. When it is very hot, birds tend to reduce food consumption and if the water is not at the right temperature, that can led to more complicated issues.
CA: What services can Cladan offer the producer to fight this so the animals do not suffer so much heat stress?
PD: Cladan’s anti heat stress program is basically based on three pillars:
Environmental management: We have a highly trained technical team that works under the requirements on-site with the producer.
Nutritional strategy: We make formulas based on a nutrient demand of each shed, fully customized. Each integration has a technological level which is taken into account while formulating. The more challenge – more stress – the animal have, the more they use this maintenance metabolism, so it is critical to take this into account when putting together a diet.
Finally we have the direct use of additives to maximize animal performance. Cladan has a complete palette of additives of its own development, where Betaplus stands out: a compound of flavonoids, natural extracts, which has antioxidant, detoxifying actions, it is a liver function enhancer and also a thermal anti-stress. This means that it allows the retention of water inside the cells, improving the integrity of the intestinal mucosa preventing dehydration.
Keep in mind that all this is a combination of actions of management, nutrition and implementation of additives.
The Argentine poultry producer is always trying to reduce costs and not increase the value of the formulation in the diet so he always evaluates this before including anything. What is the cost of using a product like this?
In the case of the services and consulting that has to do with handling, we consider it a Cladan service for its customers. In the case of the application of an additive like Betaplus in the field, one of the ways in which the producer can test the product quickly before sitting down with our team to draw up a complete strategy is the use of the product’s liquid version.
Applying the product just 48 hours before a heat wave strokes your area, it will already give positive results. With a reduction in mortality between 0.5 and 1%, the product is considered amortized. We must bear in mind that according to our field tests -which we have been doing for some years now in integrations of up to 2 million birds per month- we have seen results that show a 2% reduction in mortality, so the use of the product is more than justified.
We will have an improvement in weight gain as well as improvements in the FEP, so this type of solution generates a significant return, so the application of this product is more an investment than a cost.