Actions to be taken to reduce
antimicrobial usage on poultry
farms.
Diarmaid Kirby.
Western Brand Agricultural Manager
There are two main periods when antimicrobials are administered to poultry:
•
•
To resolve day old issues
To deal with wet litter/enteritis in the grower stage
What factors have an input in modifying usage at these times?
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Quality of Day Old.
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The Environment.
•
The Feed.
• Use of Nutraceuticals.
The grower has varying levels of control over these imputs
Improving Quality of Day Old chicks
delivered to farm
This starts at breeder farm.
Chicks from parent stock with higher health status will have a lower bacterial
challenge when hatched.
If breeders have better gut health there will be a reduced bacterial load on surface of
the egg leading to reduced bacterial challenge/yolk sac infection when hatched.
At Western Brand we have begun administering organic acids to all our breeders to
improve intestinal health, and overall health, of the parent stock.
Improving Quality of Day Old chicks
delivered to farm
Treatment of eggs will have a big impact on bacterial levels and subsequent challenge
to chicks.
In an ideal world only eggs laid in clean nest boxes would be brought to hatchery.
Western Brand are not yet in a position to not accept floor eggs but we would like
to get there.
Western Brand do not accept any eggs which can only be cleaned by immersion in
washing solution. Washing eggs transfers bacteria among eggs and the heating and
cooling causes bacterial ingress to interior of egg.
Improving the Environment.
This will have its chief impact in reducing antimicrobial usage in grower stage.
By far the greatest challenge at this time is dealing with enteritis/wet litter
and the resultant welfare issues.
Most enteritis of broilers is not “infectious” but is “physiological” in response
to stressors. The bacteria implicated are not novel bacteria. Most are present
in intestinal tract of both fit and diseased birds but some stressor causes
changes in balance between the desirable ones and the less desirable ones
towards the latter.
Antibiotics can be an effective treatment for enteritis at this time but it is
important to address the underlying issue to prevent recurrence in
subsequent flocks.
Improving the Environment
This will have its chief impact in reducing antimicrobial usage in grower stage.
By far the greatest challenge at this time is dealing with wet litter and the resultant
welfare issues. Wet litter and resultant pododermatitis are the biggest challenges
facing most poultry growers.
Improving the Environment
Improving water quality.
At Western Brand we have found water quality to be imperative in reducing enteritis
and antimicrobial usage. We encourage all our growers to use products for
maintenance of water hygiene. We have found Hydrogen Peroxide potentiated with
silver compounds solutions to be most effective in this regard both during and
between batches. Sodium Hypochlorite solutions can also be effective if used for
maintenance but we have not found them to be as effective in breaking down biofilm
and they are more pH dependant.
Broiler houses are ideal environments for growth of biofilm in waterlines. This should
be removed at turnaround by effective flushing with higher concentrations of peroxide
based cleaner.
Western Brand perform regular checks on water quality on all farms including broilers
and parent stock.
Improving the Environment
This slide demonstrates falling antibiotic usage on a farm where water hygiene had
previously been an issue. A continuous pumping system using Hydrogen peroxide
potentiated with silver compounds solution was installed on this site at the end of
2014.
Improving the Environment
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Disinfection between batches.
Thorough cleaning and disinfection is an absolute requirement for Western Brand
broiler growers between batches. This prevents harmful bacteria being transferred
between batches and reduces levels of coccidia in environment.
Cleaning and disinfection is subject to independent auditing on all our farms.
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Ventilation.
Getting the ventilation right will often have the single biggest impact in improving
litter quality. It’s worth reiterating that I see poor litter as both a cause and effect of
enteritis.
Unfortunately improving the ventilation tends to mean increasing the ventilation. This
has the effect of cooling the house inappropriately. Unlike our colleagues in Northern
Ireland who, with the help of state support, burn large amounts of Biomass we need
to balance ventilation requirements with cost and sometimes we get this wrong.
Improving the Environment
There are numerous other areas where major or minor adjustments in environment
will affect litter quality.
The type of bedding placed first day will have an effect. Despite numerous trials we
have not yet found the optimum bedding but we have found the worst to be straw.
None of our growers may now use straw at brooding time.
A very small adjustment in drinker line height can have an effect on litter quality. It
pays to be a fussy chicken farmer.
We also don’t recommend using equipment, especially drinkers, beyond its
recommended lifespan. We will assist any farmers in preparing grant applications
to replace aging equipment.
Improving the Environment
Last but not least I should mention Biosecurity. The common reasons we need to use
antimicrobials are present in most chicken houses and only become a problem if in
excess but keeping any novel disease out of the house will have an overall help in
reduction in antimicrobial usage as well as being the first line of defence if exotic
disease threatens.
Improving the Feed
Optimising diet will have an impact in reducing antimicrobial usage especially in regards to
wet litter/enteritis
.
Legislative strictures lead to some dietary challenges: i.e. Formulating diets for
omnivores not containing animal proteins or oils.
Challenge is to improve performance without resort to these sources.
Documented that in terms of intestinal health
Maize
Wheat
Good
Barley
Oats
Rye
Bad
Improving the Feed.
It is increasingly important that any poultry production company has a
close trusting relationship with their nutritional advisors.
Nutrition company must:
• Guarantee the quality of the raw ingredients
• Oversee the milling.
• Formulate the premix to include appropriate enzymes to improve
digestibility
• Use appropriate coccidiostats.
• Add mycotoxin binders if deemed necessary.
• Provide an excellent follow-up and investigative service to assist vets and
company personnel in investigations.
Use Of Nutraceuticals
This is deliberately kept until the end of this presentation as spending money
and time administering nutraceuticals will be of little value if any of the
factors discussed before now are substandard.
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Probiotics are among the more commonly discussed means of antimicrobial
reduction.
These may take the form of competitive exclusion products which contain a
complete gut microflora from healthy chickens to occupy all available
ecological niches and preventing colonisation by more pathogenic
bacteria in time of stress.
They may also be combinations of specific bacteria chosen for their proven
ability to improve intestinal health and production.
Probiotics may be given to day olds, after intestinal upset or after antimicrobial
therapy
Use Of Nutraceuticals
If chick quality is sufficient that no antimicrobials are needed early in life it offers a
great opportunity to administer probiotics in hatchery.
Western Brand have recently taken delivery of one of first gel applicator machines for
hatchery probiotic administration which will be in use from Monday 5th December.
We have done extensive trials into what products we can use to support this desirable
bacterial population. This is part of the “seed, feed and weed” concept
Developed by St Davids, our veterinary partners.
We have found both essential oil based programs and programs based on
combinations of organic acids to have benefits. From 5th December the gut health of
all birds we oversee will be will be supported by organic acids unless there are factors
within the house which preclude their use. We may use essential oils in that case.
Other nutraceuticals which can have benefits include fimbrial blockers. We are
examining their use in our parent stock and may add them to diet.
Summary
In the post antibiotic era, which the poultry industry is entering, it is becoming
increasingly important to get the basics of husbandry right. Antibiotics will no longer
be available to compensate for poor farming practices.
Nutraceuticals are not a panacea for all problems. If other factors are optimised they
will have distinct benefits but these benefits will be overwhelmed by if there are
deficiencies elsewhere.
An overall improvement in ventilation which could best be carried out with
grant-aided biomass systems would have the single biggest effect in reducing
wet litter and antimicrobial usage. This would also level the playing field north and
south of the border for broiler production.
Education/training and increasing overall understanding of the reasons behind the
need to reduce antibiotics are important for our growers and is supported by Western
Brand through the Knowledge Transfer programme as well as in-house training with
our veterinary partners St Davids
THANK YOU