"We're always looking to add more value— that's the key."
DR. RAE FISCHER

Nearly 3 years ago, Dr. Rae Fischer made what some people in the broiler industry might have called a very brave decision. Others might have said it was foolhardy.

The innovative CEO of Fisher Feeds¹, Listowel, Ontario, decided to stop using in-feed anticoccidials at his company's feed mill, which produces 100,000 tons of feed per year—about two-thirds for poultry.

About half of the poultry feed produced at the mill supplies his family's poultry operation, Bert Fisher Farms, and its contract growers.

His strategy, Fischer explained at the time, was to put more emphasis on nutrition, particularly in the early stages of chick development, and rely more on vaccination with Coccivac-B to keep coccidiosis in check.

Emphasis on nutrition

"This may sound funny coming from someone who owns and operates a feed mill, but I just hate putting chemicals and antibiotics in the feed," he told CocciForum magazine in 2005 (Issue 11). "I want the emphasis to be on good nutrition programs, with quality raw materials, ingredients and processing."

He added, "As a veterinarian, I want to see these decisions made on science, not emotion or propaganda. But either way, if [poultry raised without antibiotics] is what the consumer wants, somebody's going to have to produce it. We need to be ready for drug-free production, and that's one of the reasons we wanted to start vaccinating."

Fischer still separates broilers by sex, growing cockerels to 2.5 kg (5.53 lbs) in 38 days, and pullets to 2.4 kg (5.30 lbs) in 40 days. After a few weeks of his new program, he knew he was onto something good when he saw that birds vaccinated for coccidiosis performed as well or better than birds that received an in-feed anticoccidial.

"We never saw the dramatic drop in performance that we were looking for," Fischer reported at the time, "probably because our nutrition program helped to condition the gut and help it tolerate the challenge from the vaccine."

All or nothing

So how's his new program working more than 2 years later? Apparently very well.

Encouraged by the strong performance of his flocks, Fischer decided to take the next big step and get rid of all in-feed antibiotics—a move he thought would allow his operation to focus even more on good management, nutrition and vaccination as a means of promoting good intestinal health. He says he's not regretting the decision—and neither are his birds, which have not experienced any significant setbacks in health, performance or profitability.

Two factors drove Fischer's decision:

• Consumer demand. He was acutely aware of shifting consumer perceptions and the growing demand for birds raised without antibiotics. (See accompanying article.)
• Better science. Fischer felt that dropping in-feed antibiotics was simply better science. With a degree in veterinary medicine, Fischer wasn't convinced that medicated feed was the best way to keep enteric disease in check. He was also concerned about reports from other markets about growing resistance, which reportedly developed after prolonged use of in-feed anticoccidials. Closer to home, he felt some feed medications were losing their effectiveness.

"We've also been watching the regulatory climate, " he says. "There aren't any new in-feed anticoccidials being developed, and the trend in Europe — a market that's very similar to ours in Canada—has been to ban some drugs altogether. We don't have as many tools available to us as we did 5 or 10 years ago. And now, there's growing pressure from regulators and consumers to reduce and even eliminate drugs from the feed.

"We saw this situation as an opportunity to differentiate our product and add value," he explains. "We also wanted to prepare ourselves for a market that was coming up."

Focus on first 7 days

Fischer's feed formulations are proprietary, so he can't get into details about the changes he's made in his nutrition program to improve intestinal health.

"What I can tell you is that we have to be far more specific on our nutrition and more precise in our management," he says. "With antibiotics, you can have some insult to the livestock and still not have a visible disease problem. When you go drug-free, you have to remove all those stresses that antibiotics might protect you from."

Progressive poultry companies are reducing or eliminating antibiotics to meet consumer demand.

Booming market in North America for ‘natural and organic'

It's easy to see why Dr. Rae Fischer wants to produce drug-free birds.

Studies commissioned by the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada show $1 billion is a conservative estimate for total retail sales of certified organic products through all market channels in 2006. According to data provided by The Nielsen Company, Canadian supermarkets sold $412 million worth of certified organic food products in 2006. This represented a 28% increase from the previous year, with 31% growth in pre-packaged products and 22% growth in fresh product.

Although organic meat has a relatively small market in Canada, it is a rapidly expanding segment showing gains of 81% from 2005 to 2006 at a time when raw meat sales overall declined by 2%. Organic poultry (chicken and turkey) accounted for 61.5% of the total organic raw meat.

A similar trend is taking place south of Canada's border, but on a much grander scale.

U.S. organic food sales totaled nearly $17 billion in 2006, up 22% over previous year, according to preliminary findings from the Organic Trade Association's 2007 Manufacturers Survey. About 31% percent of overall organic sales in 2006 were through mainstream supermarkets and grocery stores.

While industry definitions for "organic" and "natural" are still being debated worldwide, progressive poultry companies in Europe and, more recently, the United States and Canada are reducing or eliminating antibiotics from their commercial operations to meet the challenges presented by health-conscious consumers willing to pay a premium for poultry raised without feed medications.

Fischer says the first 7 days of a bird's life are the most critical for developing immunity. Under optimum conditions, he says chicks can grow to 5 times their initial body weight in their first 7 days of life. Fischer also says that research shows that the weight of 5-to 7-weekold broilers has a direct linear relationship to the first week of rearing, regardless of breeder age or day-old chick weight (Pezeshkian, 2002). His primary genetics suppliers, Aviagen and Cobb-Vantress, have also told him that 1 extra gram of weight at 7 days means an extra 5 to 7 grams at market weight.

"Even with conventional production, focusing on the first 7 days will give you an advantage because it will broaden your protection and health status," Fischer says.

"The first 7 days are extremely important in antibiotic-free production. You carry that thought process out a little farther, extend it for the life of the birds and do absolutely everything you can to minimize any insult that might be thrown in their way."

As a feed manufacturer, Fischer is in the perfect position to optimize the nutrition component of a vaccine-based intestinal health program, but he says that's not the only component.

"We've been far more precise on our environmental controls—temperature, air movement, humidity, lighting—to provide that optimal environment and less opportunity for a challenge," he explains.

Threat from NE

Another ever-present issue for poultry producers is necrotic enteritis, particularly in drug-free programs. "When you take out the effects of antibiotics or ionophores, you need to take steps both nutritionally and management-wise that would reduce any kind of clostridium effect," he says.

He is encouraged by preliminary results with a new vaccine for necrotic enteritis—officially known as Clostridium perfringens type A toxoid while it awaits full licensure—that was developed by Schering-Plough Animal Health and is the first product of its kind for poultry. (See related articles on page 16 of this issue.) "We've had some promising results with it, and certainly it will be one of the tools we would want to use," Fischer said. "We're very optimistic on that."

This extra attention to detail required for a coccidiosis vaccination program—nutrition and environmental management—has an inevitable impact on production costs. There are also processor costs associated with segregating and documenting birds from drug-free production. But Fischer does not see these costs as significant, especially in the context of cost increases for other inputs, most notably feed.

While the poultry industry strives for more efficiency, its efforts could be blindsided by the impact of ethanol demand on corn supply—a trend that's rippling through all livestock industries.

"We've looked at some of the byproducts and whether or not we can utilize them, but we've stayed away from them until this point because of inconsistencies and other issues. It's something we may have to look at again, and maybe that is another challenge we will have to face."

And while it's not a welcome development, one can't help but think that it's another challenge Fischer would be quite happy to take on.

Commanding premiums

While there will always be a segment of the market that is very price sensitive, Fischer says his company is focusing on areas it can control—like commanding a premium on a high percentage of his farm's production. Pleased with drug-free experiences so far, the restless innovator already has his eye on other opportunities to keep his operation at the head of the pack.

One possibility is the use of Omega 3-enriched rations to increase the availability of Omega 3 for consumers. It's an attractive goal, but a tough nut to crack, Fischer admits. The challenge right now is that the Omega 3 accumulates in the birds' subcutaneous fat. This tends to be discarded along with the skin when chicken is eaten by health-conscious consumers—the same people who would be attracted by Omega 3—enriched product in the first place. Consumers may well find a more convenient delivery system for Omega 3 in future, but Fischer isn't ready to let go of the idea just yet.

"We're always looking to add more value —that's the key," he says.

Spring 2008

Regresar a North American Edition (#1)