Flockman updates poultry system Mini-Flockman

Feedback from large integrator's R&D sites has resulted in a complete revision of the software Mini-Flockman, which could improve feed conversion rates in poultry.

Results from farms using Mini-Flockman found improvements in feed conversion rate to 1.5s for 35-day and 1.6s for 42-day broilers, which are two to five points better than breed targets.

The latest version of Mini-Flockman now enables site managers to control their birds' daily feed intake the same way that cattle farmers do. Trials showed that on average, payback is in two crops with a 95% certainty of pay-back within three crops.

Before the birds arrive, Mini-Flockman needs to know how many compound feeds are to be used during the life of the birds and for how many days each feed is to be fed. The system also requires knowing if the farmer wants whole cereal to be fed to supplement the compound feeds. A scale factor can be set up to increase or decrease the percentage of whole cereal fed depending on the quality of the compound feeds and the farmer's experience.

There is an option for dimmable lights, non-dimmable lights or both to be used. The dimmable lights can be used just for the dimming up and dimming down function if the low-running-cost non dimmable lights are to be used on their own during the light periods. The dimming up and dimming down times can be set.

The main feature is the Feed/Light Profile. This sets up in advance for each day of the crop cycle, how many feeding periods there are to be for each day and when feed pans are activated. The length of time for dark periods is also pre-set. They can be set to change gradually from day to day if required. Each day does not have to be entered, and they can be set only when changes are wanted.