Fanning, Saturday, October 22, 1994
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Penn State |s£pi£\
Poultry j
Pointers
IT’S NOW OR
NEVER FOR
POULTRY PRODUCERS
Dennis E. Buffington
Professor And Head
Dept. Of
Agricultural And
Biological Engineering
Producing broilers or eggs is a
highly competitive business. All
successful poultry farmers are, by
definition, successful business
managers of highly competitive,
complex enterprises.
Today’s poultry producer needs
to keep abreast of many day-to-day
concerns such as feed efficiencies,
costs of various feed ingredients,
disease prevention and control,
environmental issues, mainte
nance of facilities, labor, work
men’s compensation, insurance,
taxes, etc., etc., etc.
It is understandable how a poul
try producer could get buried in all
of the numerous details that need
to be addressed. As poultry pro
ducers become engulfed in the
many details, they may believe
that they don’t have the luxury to
"dream about the future."
It is like the engineer who
waded into a swamp with the long
range objective of draining the
swamp. But he completely forgot
about his long-range plans for
draining the swamp when he real
ized his immediate problem was
that he was up to his hips in
alligators.
Poultry producers need to seri
ously address the issues of flies
and odors, even if there are no
immediate concerns being
expressed by neighbors today. If
you have any interests or desires
for your poultry entetprise to be in
business five to 10 years from
now, then it is essential that you
begin planning now for both fly
control and odor control.
I certainly am not in a position to
specify which best management
practices (BMPs) need to be
implemented to address these two
critical issues. However, it is
important that you begin develop
ing strategies for control of flies
and odors.
You are probably thinking, “It’s
those dam city slickers” who are
fussing about a few flies and a little
bit of smell. First of all, it is not just
city slickers and their suburban
OGDEN, Utah antelope
Island just outside here is the
home to more than 400 American
buffalo (properly called “bison”)
and this summer it was also host
to more than 150 American Bison
Association (ABA) members and
1 their families.
j.r
The ABA has more than 1,400
members in all 50 United States,
cousins who are complaining
about odors and flies. In fact, in
some cases, fanners are complain
ing and threatening lawsuits about
the flies and odors of their neigh
boring farmers. You certainly can
not use the argument “I was here
first” as though that gives you a
grandfather’s clause for producing
odors and flies.
The best strategy a poultry pro
ducer can adopt is to begin recog
nizing that flies and odors repre
sent serious problems. Then begin
addressing these problems through
the adoption of appropriate man
agement strategies. It is also essen
tial that you establish and maintain
communications with your neigh
bors to let them know that you are
sincerely concerned about the
potential problems of flies and
odors. Also, keep them informed
of what you are doing to address
these potential problems.
It may seem somewhat silly that
your future in the poultry business
may depend on something as tri
vial as flies and odors. However,
you need to address these cridcal
issues now if you are interested in
long-term survival in the poultry
business.
American Bison Summer
Conference Held
Canada and 14 foreign countries.
The membership has almost dou
bled in the past two years, “and
we expect to grow by several hun
dred members in the next two
years,” said newly elected Presi
dent, J. Robert Collins of Green
wood, Del. “One of the reasons
we will grow so quickly will be
because we are asking our mem
bers if they want to consolidate
with the National Buffalo Associ
ation of Pierre, SD. They have
about 400 members that are not
members of our association.
“In addition, bison ranching is
appealing to a great many people
from the dairy, cattle, and sheep
industries. This animal requires
less care than traditional herds,
and because the bison is native to
the U.S. and Canada, it is easy on
the land. The best part of all is the
taste of the meat-it’s great!”
Collins said the demand for the
meat and by-products continues to
grow faster than the supply.
The following is a list of the
ABA board of directors. Those
with an asterisk were elected at
the summer conference:
• J. Robert Collins, president,
Colvine Bison Farm, Greenwood,
Del.;
• Paul Jonjak, vice president.
Blue Mountain Bison, Lyons,
Colo.;
• Rusty Seedig, secretary/trea
sure, Denver Buffalo Co., Denver,
Colo.;
Skip Sayers, past president,
Sayersbrook Bison Ranch, Potosi,
Mo.;
• Hilda Thomas, Rocky Moun
tain regional director. Bar X
Ranch, Powell, Wyo.;
Marland Ray, Western regional
director, Wild West Ranch,
Spokane, Wash.;
• Art Stewart, Midwestern
regional director, Needmore Buf
falo Farm, Elizabeth, Ind.
• Norman P. Straub, Eastern
regional director, Bison Have
Ranch, Grove City, Pa.;
• Dale Rengstorf, Northern
regional director, Rolling R
Ranch, Pelican Rapids, Minn.;
• Mitch Larsson, director at
large. Antelope Island State Park,
Ogden, Utah;
Jim Sample, South Central
regional director, JES Bison
Farm, Salem, Mo.;
Dixie Byrd, director at large,
Trails End River Bison, Presho,
SD.; and
• Len Ross, international
director, Prairie Buffalo, Taber,
Alberto, Canada.
Bison herds in the U.S. and
Canada combined now number
200,000 and the ABA predicts
there will be a half a million ani
mals roaming the North Ameri
can continent by the year 2000.
Individual herd sizes are growing,
and the number of new herds
being formed is escalating rapid
ly. For more information on any
aspect of the bison industry, call
the ABA at (303) 292-2833, or
write to ABA, 4701 Marion St.,
#3Ol, Denver, CO 80216.
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