Aviagen puts winter ventilation top of the agenda
Aviagen’s central and eastern European technical team recently organised two events for Xavergen and Mach Drubez, two of the key players in poultry production market in the Czech Republic. Over 100 broilers growers attended the events in Havlickuv Brod, close to Xavergen’s hatchery at Habry, and at Mach Drubez’s head office at Litomysl.
Aviagen is devoted to providing on-the-ground technical support for the poultry industry around the world and to supporting their customers’ customers. As part of this initiative, Aviagen invited external consultants Bernard Green and Barrie Fleming alongside Aviagen’s Regional Technical Manager, Neil Clark and Vlada Zima, Aviagen’s Sales and Technical Manager for the Czech Republic, to give presentations at the events to address broiler growers’ concern about winter ventilation costs.
“Good ventilation is vital to flock performance all year round”, said Ventilation expert Bernard Green. “People sometimes incorrectly think that minimum ventilation is simply operating a minimal number of fans and opening inlets to let some air in. With the sharp rise in energy costs over the past 12 months, the big temptation is obviously to try ventilating less in order to save on heating. But this is just a case of false economy as flock performance can be badly affected by this approach.
“Priority number one should be to make sure the house is extremely well sealed. Excessive air leakage leads to cold drafts and stress on the birds, heat loss from the house, and ultimately reduced bird performance and high heating costs. The more air tight you can make the house, the more control you will gain over internal conditions and bird comfort. Also, the more air tight you make the house, the better the negative pressure, and the easier it is to move the cold incoming air into the peak of the roof. Good air inlet management and the correct setting of the ventilation rate (cycle timer) are critical during minimum ventilation”.
The event is an annual seminar organised by Aviagen looking at topical and relevant subjects to offer practical advice for the customers of Xavergen and Mach Drubez. In order to provide comprehensive knowledge, different external speakers have been invited to the events to share their knowledge.
Source: Aviagen
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