Livestock Dev: Expert Urges Farmers To Contract Veterinary Doctors

A poultry farmer, Mr.
Washington Ogiri, has challenged farmers to always seek the services of trained veterinary doctors to save their birds from loss.
Ogiri, who hails from Ahoada in the Ahoada East local government council, who stated this to our correspondent over the weekend said most of the time, poultry farmers have problems with day old chicks.
“For effective poultry production, there is the need for prospecting poultry farmers to be able to visit the veterinary clinics for advice on how to manage their poultry farms,” he said.
He said the birds if properly managed could generate income for the farmers.
He stressed the need for following acceptance schedules to ensure optimal production.
Some of the challenges according to him that poultry farmers face include lack of access to loans from the banks.
He said even when you form co-operatives, you find it very difficult to get loans from the banks.
He identified other areas of challenges to feeding, health management, pricing and even in the areas of bio-security to avoid outbreak of disease.
“Before you know you are losing a lot of birds at the same time.”
“If they are well managed birds loses could be minimal,” he said.
Disinfecting forthnightly also  helps to reduce mortality even as he said the average cost of birds was between N1000 and N1500 while local birds sell for N700 to N1000.