Issue No. 37

 

1.      Avian Influenza Update

2.      A Guide to Valuing Ostrich

3.      Understanding Productive Value, or Relative Feed Value of Alfalfa

4.      Producer Education

5.      WOA Documents

6.      Contributions

 

 

1.      Avian Influenza Update

 

H5N1 continues to dominate the headlines, with the increase in infection in the wild bird population.  We have updated our guidelines to reflect the developments in the acceptance of vaccination in some areas and increasing understanding of their use. 

 

Governments have generally been slow to react to this threat and only now gearing up to accept vaccination as a method of control.  The result of this is there is a limited supply of vaccine and it will take time for the drug companies to gear up production.

 

It is important to remember that this is a new disease, governments, scientists and industry are continuing to learn, so achieving absolute answers on many things is not always possible.  For example, while transmission can be by wind, current evidence indicates that AI does not move a great distance by wind, hence the 3km control zone. 

 

There are very few ostrich throughout the world, when compared to poultry, so any members directly affected are encouraged to share their experiences.  This association provides the best mechanism for communication and distribution of information in our industry.

 

Our thanks to Alan Benyon for keeping us informed.

 

2.      A Guide to Valuing Ostrich

 

Last month we announced that your directors would develop a guide to Valuing Ostrich.  This has now been completed and will be available on the web site and also emailed as part of this newsletter in .PDF format.   

 

Compiling the document makes us all aware of how immature our industry is today.   We have hugely variable production per breeder, few records to accurately reflect the performance of genetic lines and low profitability for too many.  With slaughter birds we have slaughter age varying from under 200 days to in excess of 375 days, with no meaningful price differentiation practiced through meat grading and strong marketing.   

 

The key to valuing production livestock is establishing their productive value.  The document gives advice on how to establish the “productive value” of the livestock. The starting point for establishing a productive value is good record keeping.  Records that prove the productive performance of the breeders as well as sale price of progeny and gross margins achieved.    

 

Commercial livestock are raised as a source of food or other products (e.g. Wool, leather, oils) that are usually considered by-products that also contribute to revenue.  Whatever the reason for production, it is essential to make a profit.   The figures demonstrate clearly why early slaughter, combined with good meat yields are essential to commercial success of ostrich production.

 

3.      Understanding the Productive Value, or Relative Feed Value (RFV) of Alfalfa

 

The Blue Mountain Ostrich Feed Company has been a strong advocate for using high quality Alfalfa (Lucerne) as the forage ingredient in commercial and/or home mixed Ostrich feed formulas.   They have always promoted the understanding that the productivity and commercial viability of any ostrich business is dependent on quality alfalfa, but how to calculate the productive value of alfalfa is not well understood by the Ostrich industry. 

 

Blue Mountain has recently published a document called "The Alfalfa Guide" that explains how to identify quality alfalfa and why it is so important to use as the forage ingredient in any Ostrich feed formulation.  You can view "The Alfalfa Guide" in its entirety at the Blue Mountain website at http://www.blue-mountain.net/bulletin/bull101.htm.  Some background discussion and key points from this guide clearly demonstrate why quality alfalfa is such an important Ostrich ingredient.

 

We regularly hear that it can’t be grown in a region, or producers want to grow crops with a perceived higher value.  Alfalfa is the 3^rd most valuable crop produced in the United States, behind Maize and the Soybean, the other two essential components in productive ostrich diets.  We also hear that alfalfa cannot be grown locally, that the climate is wrong or soil type is wrong.  A quote from a poster produced by University of California, Davis ^[i]

 

Quote: Alfalfa is one of the most versatile crops in the world. It is grown in environments ranging from burning hot deserts to cool high mountain valleys, from frozen continental prairies to humid pastures and dry Mediterranean valleys. With proper fertility and drainage, it can be grown on soils ranging from beach sands to heavy clays.  It is grown as an intensive cash crop under irrigation, or as a lower intensity pasture crop in forage mixtures. End quote

 

The guide is a compilation of articles and scientific papers produced by a number of different authors that cover the reasons why quality alfalfa contributes to high levels of productive performance in Ostrich and other commercial livestock.  It also covers information on how to correctly sample batches of hay, procedures for testing and how to understand lab reports.   There is also a paper on how to calculate the Productive value or Relative Feed Value (RFV). 

 

Figure 1, taken from a paper in this guide, illustrates the influencing factors that control animal performance and clearly indicates their interdependency one to another and the important role of the forage crop in commercial livestock production.  

 

The productive value of Ostrich and all commercial livestock is controlled by a combination of factors, the greater the production, the greater the value of that livestock. For example the genetic influence cannot be demonstrated to its optimum performance when the forage quality is failing to provide adequate nutritive value and the overall ration is unable to achieve its productive value.  Even the best forage requires to be supported by the correct rations and management systems – all aspects are interdependent on each other to achieve total success.

 

Figure 1 - Factors Influencing Livestock Performance

 

Clearly establishing the feeding value of the forage crop is a key factor.  The forage portion of a ration is significantly more than simply “roughage” as we see it referenced all too often.

 

Alfalfa (also referred to as Lucerne) is well documented as the most productive forage for commercial livestock production and the reason it is the third most valuable crop in the United States.  Quality Alfalfa provides not only valuable digestible fibre, but also quality protein, energy and many macro and micro nutrients.  Quality Alfalfa is a nutrient dense highly digestible forage and extremely valuable feed ingredient in rations required to support high levels of livestock production.  

 

Personally I stopped actively producing ostrich until I was in a position to control my own Alfalfa production and not dependent on purchasing Alfalfa in a market where supply and demand was the only criteria that set the prices and was not related to quality at all.  I could see the difference in bird performance from one batch of Alfalfa to the other.  When the Alfalfa is below a certain quality it does not feed well and it is not possible to reformulate to make up for those lost nutrients without putting other aspects of the ration out of balance. 

 

When I was living in Spain, I walked a number of fields in the alfalfa producing region and talked to the dehydrating plants that export to a number of countries.  They admitted to having difficulty achieving high standards.  Working with producers from most countries working with ostrich, the limiting factor all too frequently comes down to the ability to obtain Alfalfa of the right quality.   

 

Producing the right quality requires the right variety for the region, the right level of inputs, with environmental and management factors being carried out correctly.   It requires a market environment where there is price differentiation based on quality.  In order to achieve such price differentiation, the market place must have a way to establish a method to calculate the productive value.

 

One of the reasons it is difficult to achieve the right quality, unless growing your own, outside the United States is a general lack of understanding of the true Productive Value, or Relative Feed Value (RFV) to be able to set price differentials that encourage the production of quality Alfalfa.  One of the papers in the Blue Mountain guide to Alfalfa discusses how to interpret samples and how to calculate Relative Feed Value (RFV) and Relative Forage Quality (RFQ).     

 

Figure 2 - Forage Quality Values as Alfalfa Matures

 

The table in Figure 2 is from a paper entitled:  “Alfalfa Quality:  What is it?  What can we do about it?  and Will it pay?” by Garry D. Lacefield ^[ii] .  The full paper is included in The Blue Mountain Alfalfa Guide.   Note how as the Relative Feed Value (RFV) reduces the market value also changes. Figure 3 illustrates the different stages of maturity referenced in Figure 2 and demonstrates how the stem portion increases as a total proportion of the plant as the plant matures.

 

Figure 3 - Alfalfa Digestibility and Maturity

 

Alfalfa is a premier forage legume that is a key component of commercial livestock high production rations, and is especially valuable as a major component in Ostrich Rations, with inclusion levels ranging from +/- 30% to in excess of 50% depending on the ration and depending on the quality of that Alfalfa.  The higher the quality the greater the inclusion levels that can be used thus reducing the levels of higher cost protein ingredients.

 

4.      Producer Education

 

The Better Returns Program (BRP) is an initiative funded by DEFRA, in the UK and delivered by EBLEX.   EBLEX is the English Beef and Lamb Executive, an organisation set up to establish communication between producers, industry and the consumers and funded by a levy raised on all lamb at slaughter.

 

The motivation for this initiative is to assist producers to understand how to increase revenue per lamb.  They report that currently only 60% of all lambs sold meet mainstream buyer specifications - so for most flocks the losses from not meeting market requirements can amount to thousands of £s.

 

Lamb is marketed under strict grading and fat classification, with the difference between an R2 and a 4H carcass is £6.00 on a 20kg carcass.   The letters indicate confirmation grade and the number the fat class. Their full grading system can be viewed at:  http://www.mlcclassification.co.uk/downloads/Planned%20Carcase%20Production.pdf

 

The BRP has the support of abattoirs, markets and organisations across the country and involves a series of practical, hands-on workshops, farm walks, market events and abattoir days to help producers sharpen their skills in 3 key areas: better breeding, better carcase selection and better price information.  They expect that by improving sheep handling, encouraging the uptake of better bred rams and a better use of pricing information, the BRP can make a real difference to producers’ returns.

 

This initiative is to support producers in an industry that is already very strong and producing some excellent looking and tasting lamb.  They have decades of records and genetic lines well documented.  They are able to evaluate that by using a high index ram it is estimated a producer can add as much as £2 to the average lamb sold. 

 

What can our industry learn from this initiative?  The economics of ostrich production are such that to be commercially viable, the slaughter age must be progressively lowered with significantly increased yields over the current industry average.  The benchmark targets - http://world-ostrich.org/targets.htm are very achievable with the correct production methods.   

 

5.      WOA Documents

 

Posted with this news letter are 2 new documents:

a.      Understanding and Controlling Avian Influenza in Ostrich, update:  File name: woabirdflu.pdf

b.      A Guide to Valuing Ostrich: file name  woavalueost.pdf

 

A reminder of our other documents:

c.      World Ostrich Carcass Grading:  File name: woacarcass.pdf

d.      Factors Influencing Meat Quality:  File name:  woameatqual.pdf

e.      Meat Yield Classifications: File name: woameatyield.pdf

f.        Ostrich Benchmark Performance Targets:  File name: targets.pdf

 

All documents are freely available to members.  There will be a charge of £12.50 for the document on Valuing Ostrich for non-members.    The remaining documents are available in the public domain as they are documents that support our industry and therefore enhance the marketing environment for WOA members. 

 

6.      Contributions

 

Any comments or suggestions, please post either to the members list [email protected] or Craig at [email protected]

 

Ask not only what the WOA can do for you but also what you can do for the WOA.