NCGA
Encouraged by Canadian Use of Corn for Poultry Feeding (6-5-03)
The National
Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has long recognized the livestock
industry as the number-one customer of domestically produced corn.
Now the Canadian poultry industry is sharing U.S. livestock farmers'
view of the value of corn by switching from a wheat-based feed to
corn.
"When
wheat prices escalated in drought-ravaged western Canada, Alberta
poultry producers found they could save a substantial amount of money
by substituting lower-cost corn in their birds' rations," said
NCGA Livestock Information and Programs Manager Tracy Snider.
"But
what they didn't expect," she continued, "was the fact the
corn-fed birds grew faster, cutting days off the time needed to prepare
them for market."
Wheat is a
key component in the diet of western Canadian chickens, but birds
raised in eastern Canada, as well as parts of the United States.,
Asia and Australia tend to eat more corn. As a result, the characteristics
of how both grains act when fed to poultry have been well researched.
But even taking
into account the differences in the nutrient and energy values of
the two grains, Alberta farmers have seen some surprising improvements
in the growth rates of their corn-fed birds.
In the May
19 issue of the Federation of Animal Sciences Society newsletter,
University of Alberta poultry nutritionist Doug Korver said, "It's
kind of puzzling. Normal market age for broilers is about 40 to 42
days and typically (producers) are seeing them reach market weight
two to three days earlier. We haven't seen this in the past when corn
has come in.
"If we
can figure out what is causing this, we can make some decisions as
to whether or not it's valuable to keep some corn (in the diet) even
if corn becomes more expensive relative to wheat," he continued.
"Also, it gives us some information for the future because we
tend to get droughts periodically in Alberta."
In the U.S.,
the poultry industry comes in a close second to beef as the second-largest
livestock consumer of corn, using 27.3 percent of the corn used as
animal feed. NCGA Corn Board member John Tibbits said utilizing corn
as a feed source for poultry is a good idea, both economically and
nutritionally.
"Here
in the United States, the poultry industry is a large volume user
of corn products," said the Minneapolis, Kan., corn grower. "Even
with a lower wheat price, I think they would still find corn to be
a substitute not only price-wise, but quality-wise as well.
"It's
encouraging to see our Canadian counterparts in the poultry industry
are recognizing corn for its feed value and its feed efficiencies,"
Tibbits concluded.