A poultry farmer, Malik Mumuni, has advised poultry farmers to invest more in procuring less costly feeds to make their birds affordable.
Mr Mumuni said local poultry farms can yield more returns in their businesses if they can explore more affordable alternative means of procuring quality feeds for their birds.
The Chief Executive Officer of Malykon Farm Limited gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He stressed the need for poultry farms to always consider the viability of farming grains for feed production or purchase grains at cheaper rates from cheaper sources.
“A cheaper source where you can get affordable grains is usually the northern part of the country because of its abundance there.
“Aside the grains, there are other additives you can source for cheaply and they are also available locally. The affordability of these additives depends on who goes to source them for the farmer.
“Basically to enable the local poultry farmer process affordable feeds for his birds, he must be able to procure a feed mill, no matter how small it is even if it going to be a half the size of an average mill.
“You can get affordable locally fabricated feed mills from welders and iron fabricators around your locality, with this you are ready to go into production.” he told NAN.
Mr Mumuni, however, called for adequate training of the local farmers to successfully embark on affordable feed mill processing.
He said a local farmer cannot just go into birds feed production without undergoing necessary training and tutelage on the processing.
The affordability of bird feed, he said, is most times determined by where the farmer stays, and the management of the poultry farms and how he/she wants to mix the components.
People who cut corners in the processing of local bird feeds, he said, usually produce sickly and malnourished birds.
Referring poultry birds as special creatures that must be given special care and attention, Mr Mumuni said rearing birds is just like taking care of an infant.
“The birds cannot complain to the farmer about what it is going through. So, the farmer has to be very observant and careful with the component of their feed.
“Poultry business is an interesting venture. But, you just have to give it extra care and time to get the desired result you want,” Mr Mumuni said.
He also revealed the necessary components and ingredients that a locally processed bird feed should contain in their right percentages.
“There are several ingredients that make up a healthy and well-balanced feed for poultry birds and the farmer must know how to mix them in their right quantities.
“Some of the major components of maize, either the yellow or the white specie. Most feed processors prefer the yellow maize because it is believed to have more nutrients than the white ones.
“Wheat offal or wheat bran is also another important ingredient in bird feeds as well as poultry salts, groundnut cake, and limestone amongst others.
“The composition of ingredients in their varying percentages is determined by the kind of birds you want to feed. We have different feed composition for broilers, layers, cockerels, turkey,” he said. (NAN)
