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Workshop and desk study to appraise technical difficulties associated with organic breeder flocks and organic hatching - OF0336
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Description
The main objective of the work is to provide information to Defra and the organic poultry industry on the technical difficulties associated with organic breeder flocks and hatching, and to suggest novel system designs, which may lessen some of the anticipated problems.
The aims of the project will be achieved through a combination of workshops and a review of the scientific literature on conventional breeder flocks and hatching. In the latter part of the work, the information will be assessed to see if the findings are transferable to an organic situation.
The work will consist of:
- An expert-led exploratory workshop to identify potential technical problems that may arise when housing the parent flocks of meat chickens and hatching in an organic production system.
- An assessment of the extent to which technical problems can be overcome by applying information from conventional broiler breeders and hatching.
- An indentification of the technical issues, which cannot be solved using conventional information and thus an identification of further research needs, and a consideration of novel system designs. This will be done in a technical workshop forum and it will require the involvement of organic sector bodies and representatives of Defra.
The work fully supports Defra’s policy objectives to support the sustainable development of organic livestock production in the UK, whilst taking into account the effects of farming practices on bird health and welfare. EC legislation allows a transitional period whereby chicks up to three days of age may be brought into systems of organic table chicken production but this expires on the 31 December 2003 (EC 1804/1999).
After about 26 weeks of age breeder flocks produce fertilised eggs that are of a suitable weight for incubating. The incubation period is three weeks. Thus, if the EU derogation on organic breeder flocks is not to be extended day-old parent chicks will need to be brooded and reared from June 2003, and then undergo a period of conversion to organic before lay. Information is urgently required if UK organic poultry producers are to be able to respond proactively. Although in the UK there are some very small scale producers having what are considered to be ‘fully organic’ breeder flocks they would not be able to supply sufficient numbers of organic day old chicks to sustain the current market. The fact that they allow the parents access to pasture is of concern because of disease risks. An independent assessment of the risk is needed.
Producers, researchers and organic sector bodies need to be creative in their thinking and approaches to developing outdoor systems for organic breeder flocks. The systems need to be in keeping with the ethos of organic production but without compromising on bird health and disease status. A key component of this work will be to stimulate ideas on the designs of future organic production systems and ideas should not be constrained to current designs. Novel new designs may offer more scope in terms of disease control and this will be key to the development of organic poultry production. It is expected that there will be a future requirement for organic breeder flocks of egg-lines and for organic grandparent flocks of both meat-lines and egg-lines of chickens. The findings from this project will be transferrable to these. |
Objective
1. To organise a workshop involving key members of the research community, poultry meat industry, representatives of the organic sector bodies and of Defra to consider technical problems that occur when breeding and hatching organic table chicks and to identify possible solutions.
2. To address some of the perceived key technical problems by reviewing the literature, mainly on conventional breeding and hatching practice, and assessing the extent to which the information collected can be applied to UK organic systems.
3. To reconvene workshop members to discuss findings from the literature review, synthesise the information collected, identify knowledge gaps, discuss novel systems of design, discuss research priorities and to consider mechanisms for knowledge transfer and the involvement of the organic poultry industry in identified research initiatives. |
Project Documents
• Final Report : Workshop and desk study to appraise technical difficulties associated with organic breeder flocks and organic hatching
(182k)
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Time-Scale and Cost
From:
2003
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To:
2003
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Cost: £34,397 |
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Contractor / Funded Organisations
ADAS UK Ltd. |
Keywords
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Fields of Study and Contacts
Organic Farming - organic.standards@defra.gsi.gov.uk |