Feed for better profits

To get the most out of your feed, start with the most efficient animals for your production environment. So says Dr Leon Ekermans, director at Bester Feed and Grain.

Ekermans adds that the feed efficiency of genetically improved animals is significantly higher than that of indigenous breeds. Since the early 1960s, the feed conversion ratio of broilers and porkers, for example, has more than halved, with modern broilers requiring about 1,6kg of feed for every kilogram of weight gained and porkers needing approximately 1,9kg to gain a kilogram.

Having an animal that is genetically feedefficient is not enough, however, as feed efficiency is