17/04/2024
THE BEST BROILER BREED YOU NEED TO KNOW.
If you’re a poultry farmer, understanding the breed of birds is the best way to avoid most of the problems with stunted growth, Newcastle infection, height and weight challenges and general carcass quality.
I have heard from farmers countless times that their broilers don’t do very well as the other stocks they raised. It is possible too that they are from the same hatchery but what happens why they don’t grow at the same rate?
Firstly, note that unless you are getting your chicks directly from the trusted supplier or hatchery, they can be compromised.
Secondly, general management practice is another determinant of your broilers performance.
Now Let’s Get the Real Gist.
I have heard people say too that all broilers are the same it doesn’t matter which one you go for. That is a pure lie. All broilers are not the same unless you don’t care to know the different species of broilers and their growth and weight performance. They may look alike but the differences are always very clear in their growth performance and overall health.
We’ll be discussing the 3 major types of broilers species.
Please note that there are numerous species of broilers including Ross 308, Marshall Broilers, Cob 500, Arbor Acre plus, Hubbard and Anak, but we’ll be discussing the 3 major ones in this post.
1. Abhor Acre plus breed of Broiler
2. Ross 308 breed of Broiler
3. Cobb 500 breed of Broiler
Although the result for all broilers remains meat, they perform differently and meet their target meat value at different stages. Understanding this simple truth will help you always have the best experience as a broiler farmer.
Before going for the type of broiler breed, you should have an aim. I mean who are you producing your broilers for? If a suya man is your main target, you should consider raising a broiler that doesn’t have much fat and reach the market size within 4 – 5 weeks. Why? Because the suya men don’t buy too big chickens that has too much fat since it’ll be more difficult for them to roast. Also, to them, the price remains the same however big it is.
Now let’s look at these;
1. ROSS 308
Ross 308: these are the major products of Agrited and Sayed hatcheries. Sayed hatchery produce other breed of Broiler too like Abor acre plus in which they get the parent stock from CHI hatchery. CHI is the only hatchery that have the Exclusive license in Nigeria to import Abor Acre plus parents stock from abroad into the country. So in case you are wondering why the differences in the performance of the broiler you bought from Sayed hatchery, it's because they produce different breed of Broiler but they won't tell you. I'm only saying this because I want to be honest with you farmers but if you think that I'm lying, you can ask those workers that have been working for long at CHI hatchery, they will tell you. Not only Sayed gets their parents stock from CHI hatchery, other hatcheries does, but I won't mention names.
ROSS 308 Broilers are known for their fast growth rate, good breastmeat, excellent feed conversion and considerable lean meat (low fat meat)
2. ABOR ACRE PLUS
Abor Acre plus these are the major products of CHI. They are known for their heavy feeding, good weight and carcass and (good feed conversion)
3. COBB 500
Cobb are some of the products from Zartech, NPG, Olam/Chikun, Goldsmine. Note: we use the word some here because all their products are not always Cobb 500.
The REAL Cobb 500 breed of broilers are known for their lean meat, good height, and good breast mean and good feed conversion.
Now, looking at the above analysis it is obvious that all broiler species are not the same especially in growth performance, height and weight including their lean meat and breast conformation.
So?
If you’re a seller looking to market your chickens live, it is best to go for Cobb 500 from Zartech hatchery and ROSS 308 from Agrited hatchery because of their height and growth performance.
If you’re a farmer who does frozen chicken sales, Abhor Acre plus breed from CHI hatchery are best because of their heavy weight and overall carcass quality. These species may not grow as tall as the Cobb and Ross breed but their weight may take a match.
Note: this is just my opinion from research and base on my practical experience with these broiler species . Some farmers have raised Cobbs that gave general live weight far better than Abhor Acre – this boils down to the management practices.
The Ross 308 breed will produce a perfect result for frozen chicken sales too.
The truth is, what works for someone else may not work for you too so, always do your investigations before going for your broilers understanding that there is a slight difference between the species which may determine your overall experience at the end of the day.
Happy farming.
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