A SUCCESS STORY
I believe that the biggest threat we face today, in our efforts to remain profitable as poultry producers, is the burden of complying with environmental regulations. This is one problem that will not go away and will consume more and more of our profit margin and management efforts in the future. Most environmental regulations for poultry producers deal with two topics - litter management and dead bird disposal. Both of these issues have been well documented by government entities motivated to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to identify the "problem". Unfortunately, government is not nearly so well motivated to find and fund solutions to the problems.
Second only to litter management, disposal of mortality presents the most expensive, time and labor consuming, and environmentally problematic issue for growers. Composting and burial are the most common methods of disposal now available. The best solution for dead bird disposal would provide an economically feasible, efficient, environmentally correct, and politically correct method of dead bird disposal. I believe that this solution not only exists but has been proven in the "real" world in which we manage our operations.
Approximately 270 poultry feeding operations are located in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, representing about 28% of Oklahoma's operations. Approximately 240 of these operations include freezers provided by integrators for the temporary storage of normal mortality. Most of these freezers have been in place more than three years. Carcasses are transported to a rendering facility at integrator expense.
This method of disposal virtually eliminates all environmental concerns, associated with normal mortality, at the farm level. Odors are minimized, as is any threat to water quality. This method also eliminates varmint problems associated with other forms of disposal. The freezer storage/rendering method of disposal even converts a potential environmental liability into an asset by converting the carcasses into a protein source. This method is readily accepted by Oklahoma Department of Agriculture poultry farm inspectors and is favored by environmental agencies and environmental citizen groups.
Most of these freezers cost the grower only for the electricity that amounts to less than 50 cents per day per freezer. This method requires much less time and labor when compared to other methods of disposal. One freezer typically holds the normal mortality of one flock of 40,000 broilers from 1 to 40 days of age.
This method of disposal is certainly a success story and should become popular throughout the industry with time. Solutions often carry a price tag, however, and Tyson Foods should be credited for paying that price in this case. Tyson not only invested considerable money and effort to initiate the pilot program but also continues to support the program at break-even and sometimes less than break-even returns on investment.
Now just think of all the taxpayer money that has been spent to talk about the "problem" of dead bird disposal. But, as always, there are those that talk and there are those that do. THANKS TYSON.