Schothorst Feed Research (SFR) has recently started a feed research about laying roosters to respond a new legislation on eggs, which will come into force as of 2022.
For the marketing of eggs in Germany, Dutch laying hen farmers must comply with German legislation. This legislation (in force from 2022) stipulates that the brothers of laying hens may not be killed immediately after hatching but must be kept until at least 90 days old. In Ovo gender determination is currently the only alternative, but still too expensive or not feasible, so more and more set-up of these laying roosters is taking place.
SFR responds to this development and has recently started (feed) research with a first round of laying hens. It was decided to breed the brothers of our (future) laying hens in our own facilities, so that this could be combined with the existing nutritional research. Within the concept, the roosters must reach a delivery weight of 1,300 grams, in a period of at least 90 days.
The following information about the research has been provided in a statement made by SFR: “In this research, we work with 3 different feeding strategies, conducted over 3 phases. It is examined how the roosters can be kept as efficiently as possible up to the target weight. We examine how much forage the animals eat, what this does to growth and which of the feeding strategies is the most cost-effective without compromising animal welfare.”
“Different energy and protein levels in the feed have been compared with the 3 feeding strategies, whereby a difference can already be seen in the degree of feed intake. The feed with the lowest energy level and a higher feed intake and feed conversion can therefore still lead to the lowest feed costs. Currently, we have to wait until the end of the round, when the net (feed) costs and yields of the different feeding strategies will be compared. These results are expected in December and will be shared with our customers,” the statement added.
