14/04/2026
There are no "experts" in livestock production. You have experienced farmers, you have well trained farmers, you have farmers that have made a lot of money, but there are no experts. The moment you think you have mastered it, you will raise a batch that will show you wahala.
As long as you are in livestock production, you will keep learning and innovating or you will soon go out of business. The reason is simple: the animals you are raising today are different from the animals your mother or grandmother raised. I remember when it was very difficult to achieve 2kg in six weeks in broiler production. Today, some good farmers are having 3kg in 5 weeks! There are improvements in genetics, feed, drugs, organic farming, tools (eg AI) and equipment (eg bell drinkers), etc.
I raised my first broilers in 1979 (47 years ago), but I'm still learning and innovating. I'm still learning new things from fellow farmers, even from mentees. For instance, a few years ago I learnt proper heating and ventilation from a new farmer I was mentoring in Umuahia. I'm still read articles on Facebook and watch videos on YouTube daily. As I'm writing this article, I'm still researching how best to use organic herbs in the first five days to get zero mortality. I now know how to get two mortalities out of 1000 bx in the first five days, but I will keep striking until I consistently get zero mortality out of 1000 bx in the first five days.
But I'm still making mistakes. Last year, I made a series of mistakes that cost me a lot of money.
When you get very good in livestock production, keep working on perfecting marketing.
So, fellow farmers, I encourage you to keep striving for perfection in live stock business. Don't let anyone discourage you. Get training in the beginning and keep on educating yourself. It never ends.
Follow Ducil Farms on Facebook and YouTube for more information.
