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Vol 2. No. 12 December 2019 National Poultry Newspaper PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email ben@poultrynews.com.au
CSIRO report shows increased community trust in the egg industry
EFG Broiler Model Workshop
ON Wednesday, No- vember 20 Poultry Hub Australia sup- ported the EFG Broiler Model Workshop run by Peter Chrystal and Greg Hargreave from Baiada at the Univer- sity of New England.
For those who could not attend in person, the workshop was livestreamed online, enabling participation from right around the country.
The EFG Broiler Model is a unique sci- entific and management tool for poultry nutri- tionists, geneticists and managers, but perhaps even more suited to those running poultry experiments.
This model simulates the growth of a single bird, taking into ac- count genetic param- eters, diet composition and feeding program, the environment, stock- ing density and other factors that may affect the outcome of produc- tion decisions in prac- tice.
Growth, feed intake, body composition and yield and an assortment of production indices are calculated in each simulation.
The model is also ca- pable of delivering basic economic calculations to guide commercial decisions.
The model allows researchers to run de- tailed and accurate simulations through the prediction of feed in- take, which is particu- larly useful to project the outcome of a study or recreate what was previously observed to help identify the under- lying mechanisms of the recorded responses.
Peter Chrystal and
Greg Hargreave were very kind to donate their time and experience to introduce the 17 poultry researchers who attend- ed to the broiler model.
It was a fascinating tutorial followed by discussion as the par- ticipants followed along with demonstrations from Peter Chrystal and ran their own simula- tions and scenarios, predicting performance, body composition, yield and economics.
The day ended with a tour around the Univer- sity of New England’s new multipurpose re- search facility and ex- citing additions to the poultry facility, includ- ing a new automatic wa- ter intake measurement
system and the installa- tion of the Feed Logic automated precision feeding system.
Participants gained a new outlook and under- standing on the com- mercial side of broiler production, an aspect
Poultry Hub Australia believes is extremely important for all poultry researchers.
Again, a big thankyou to Peter and Greg for such a fun and interest- ing day!
Finally, we would like to welcome a new member to the team: Mr Bruce Dennison, our new education officer.
Bruce has come to Poultry Hub Australia after an extensive ca- reer in the secondary schools sector.
He has hit the ground running after complet- ing his first Poultry Job Ready training in Tam- worth recently.
by TAMSYN CROWLEY Director
Mr Bruce Dennison (right) awarded a partici- pant his certificate at the completion of the first Tamworth Poultry Job Ready Training.
Participants at the EFG Broiler Model Workshop.
NEW data from Aus- tralia’s national science agency CSIRO reveals the level of acceptance and trust in the egg in- dustry by the Austral- ian public has increased since 2018.
The CSIRO research is based on a representa- tive sample of over 5630 Australians and is part of the second annual cycle of community engagement to inform the Australian Egg Industry Sustainabil- ity Framework.
The aim of the research is to provide the egg in- dustry with a deeper un- derstanding of communi- ty sentiment and measure the impact of engagement and responsiveness by the industry on key sustain- ability issues.
Lead scientist Dr Ki- eren Moffat said, “Our main goals this year were to evaluate any change in community sentiment and explore in more detail is- sues that were identified last year as important to the
Australian community.” “The data showed a pos- itive shift in people’s per- ceptions of environmental impact, an area unclear to many respondents in 2018 despite being a key focus area for the egg industry’s Sustainability
Framework.
“There was a substantial
increase in the number of Australians who felt egg farming has a lower im- pact on the environment than other industries (76 percent compared to 66 percent last year) and those who believe egg farming is a good use of land (77 percent compared to 73 percent last year).
“Hen welfare continues to be an important topic for Australians, with 77 percent of respondents stating more needs to be done to improve the living conditions of hens.
“However, only 57 per- cent of the respondents agreed that egg prices would need to rise for this improvement in wel-
fare to happen.” Australian Eggs manag-
ing director Rowan Mc- Monnies said, “Running a transparent community engagement process is not for the faint-hearted and we wanted to see if the ef- forts made by the industry would cut through.”
“It feels like we are on the right track and egg farmers are starting to see the real value of increas- ing their engagement with the public.
“The CSIRO results in- dicate the process is val- ued by the community, providing egg farmers with additional motivation to continue the good work they are doing in address- ing industry challenges.”
Now in its second year, this survey is a three-year research project aimed at enhancing livelihoods, improving community and animal wellbeing, reducing environmental impact and ensuring the economic sustainability of the egg industry.
Merry Christmas
to all our valued customers from the Stockyard Industries team
Stockyard Industries 54 King Street,
Clifton QLD 4361
07 4697 3344
Steven Clohesy Joe Oliveira Tin Phung www.stockyardindustries.com
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