The Broiler Industry
Most of us eat chicken at least once a week, if not more. Chickens have been around as long as people have been on the Eastern Shore. The difference is in how we grow them now. A hundred years ago there were chickens running around every farm. I think they are referred to nowadays as “free range chickens”. They used to just let them eat grass, bugs and whatever else met their fancy. Some of the females were kept housed for their egg production but every other chicken was subject to find himself on the business end of an ax and wind up in the frying pan.As early as the 1800’s, there were attempts by farmers to grow a meat-type bird that could be marketed at a young, tender age. These efforts were generally short-lived and met with little success.
In the year of 1923, Mrs. Wilmer Steele of Ocean View, Delaware grew 500 broilers along with her laying stock. At sixteen weeks of age, these broilers weighed 2 ¼ pounds and sold for 62 cents a pound. The following year, Mrs. Steele grew one thousand broilers and made a profit. This was the start and the birthplace of our gigantic broiler industry as we know it today. Folks on Delmarva said look what Mrs. Steele has started. More chicken houses were built, more profits were realized, higher standards of living were enjoyed along with social growth. By 1935, Delmarva was already growing the fantastic number of 10,000,000 broilers per year.
Comparing broiler production today with that of 1927 is like comparing apples to oranges. In 1927, 16 weeks and 12 pounds of feed were needed to produce a 2 ¼ pound chicken. In 1965, a 4 pound bird could be had in 9 weeks with only 8 or 9 pounds of feed. The improvements can be attributed to the many phases of science – genetics, nutrition, disease control, housing and management.
In the beginning of the industry, broilers were the by-products of the market egg industry when cockerels were separated from the Barred Plymouth Rock pullets being raised for egg production. Later, these Barred Rocks were crossed with New Hampshires to give us the Red Rock cross. The raising of the birds was now directed by modern science. The feed had additives to insure more meat production and less disease. In the beginning, broiler producers lost 15-20 % of the flock before they were large enough to go to market. Now they raise nearly 100 % to maturity due to the improved production methods now used. In 1927, it took 16 weeks to produce a 2 ¼ lb. broiler with a feed conversion of 5 lbs. of feed to produce 1 lb. of live weight. By 1957, it took only 10 weeks to produce a 3 ½ lb. broiler with a feed conversion of 2 ½ lbs. of feed to produce 1 lb. of live weight. By 1965, many growers were producing a 4 lb, broiler in 9 weeks on a feed conversion of approximately 2 lbs. of feed per pound of meat.
That was 47 years ago. How much progress have we made since then? Two things are certain – chicken is one of the more moderately priced meats at the grocery store and we certainly eat a lot of it.
4 comments:
We now produce a 6.5 lb. (live weight) bird in 49 days. We have 320,000 birds in 8 houses and it takes the full time labor of only 2 people plus an occasional helper. It takes about 1.85 to 1.95 pounds of feed to produce a pound of chicken. The most valuable and highest priced part is not the breast meat but the feet! The feet bring about 5 cents each on the wholesale market and are exported to China where they are served like french fries and a considered a delicacy.
Anyone who raises chickens now deserves a trophy.Companies are really tuff on growers and expect the most updated equipment at the growers expense no matter if the farm still has a loan on prior equipment that the company required.They will drop you quick if you compete with other growers and place on the bottom of the pay scale leaving you stuck with a big farm debt.It looks wonderful when you build the houses and are put on new house pay but as the houses get older you are put back to minimum pay which can be as low as $115.00 dollars per thousand birds with a high electric bill break downs on equipment you are lucky to break even sometimes go in the red at the end of the year.Most farms on regular pay take losses every year.High executives at the poultry offices make the big bucks.Some of them makeup to 400,000 dollars a year wow and dont even do any of the hard work that the grower does. They call them pencil pushers they are all about the figures and numbers.My husband grew chickens for 31 years and a small blessing came to us a couple of years ago and collasped the roofs due to the weight of the snow and the insurance company paid all the farm debt off and we walked away free of farm debt. Thank You God. We do not miss the rat race and the high overhead and can get out of bed when we please without a stupid alarm going off.With the houses closed in and pulling air through vent boxes all it takes is one computer to have a glitch and you could lose the whole house of birds.Then the company will put you on probation or possibly dropping you even if it was out of your hands thats is the great equipment they want you to have its like when you go to the DMV and the computers are down nothing can be done but the grower better be sure that the computer never glitches or it is your fault.Amen to all the growers out there struggling to pay the bank and keep your own bills paid most growers now have one or more persons working off the farm to make ends meat. Back then you could make the money from home but thanks to all the greedy pencil pushers that is no more.I remember as a small child the old hanging feeders and water jugs that had to be filled every day two to three times a day boy have things really changed thanks for the great story George it brings back good memories from my childhood but not as a adult living in this computer age.
Anon 1:39 sounds like Carol Morrison. I wrote the first comment and have been growing chickens since 1969. The chickens put three kids through college and provided a very comfortable lifestyle for me and my wife. It paid off the farm mortgage long ago and still provides enough income for annual trips to Europe. It's all in the management. Some people manage money and assets better than others.
5:11 PM No this is not who you think it is I am glad you are so well off from poultry production.Take a poll of all the growers and you will see it is not as profitable as you think.Maybe you had a egg nest already you are relying on because you can not convince me that poultry is profitable.Go sit in Bankruptcy court and see what the lawyers and judges say about poultry production it is a laughing joke!
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