Nebraska Cooperative Extension 4HF66 4-H MARKET BROILER PROJECT By Kevin Kock-Extension Assistant F. John Struwe-Extension Assistant Earl W. Gleaves-Extension Specialist-Poultry Official Record Book Name of Club Member ___________________________________________________________ Mailing Address ___________________________________________________________ E-Mail Address ___________________________________________________________ Birthday (mo/day/yr) ___________________________________________________________ Name of Club ___________________________________________________________ Date Project Started ___________________________________________________________ Date Project Finished ___________________________________________________________ PLANNING GUIDE Before you start your broiler project you should do some pre-project planning. This planning will help you identify the possible costs of the equipment needed to complete the project. Talk with your parents and 4-H leader about the following areas: Housing Where will the birds be raised? How large is the building (square feet)? What kind of floor is in the building? What kind of litter will be used? How much feeding and watering equipment will be needed? Are there problems with temperature, drafts or ventilation? Birds How many birds will be raised? Where will the birds be purchased? When to start and end the project? Cost Enter the estimated cost in the record book. What kind of feed will be used? How much will the chicks cost? How much will the feed cost? What is the cost of building and equipment? How much will the building and equipment cost? Marketing Where will the birds be sold? How many birds will be held for home use? How will a price for the birds be established? WEEKLY RECORD No. Avg. Wt. Total Gain Per Lbs. Feed Feed Feed Problems or Conditions Wk Birds Per Bird Flock Wt. Week Consumed Type Cost Affecting the Gain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Lbs. Consumed = _______________ Total Feed Cost = _______________ To figure the average weight per bird, weigh three or more average-size birds (not the biggest or the smallest). Add the individual weights together and divide the answer by the number of birds weighed, or weigh a group of birds together and divide the total weight by the number of birds weighed. It is important that you keep track of the weights of your birds to see if they are growing at an acceptable rate, or if they are sick or doing poorly. You need to know what your birds weigh when you take them to the fair. DEPLETION RECORD Record the number of all chicks, and birds that died or were culled, sold, or eaten at home. For dead chicks or birds, mark (D); for culls not marketable, mark (C); and for birds sold or eaten, mark (M). Example: 3 chicks died January 5, mark 3 D on that date; 2 chicks were culled January 16, mark 2 C on that date. Number of birds at start of record _____________________ Dates birds were received __________________________ Date Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Livability = Number of broilers sold = ________________% Livability at end of project Number of broilers started EXPENSES AND RECEIPTS This is a complete financial record and shows whether you have made a profit or suffered a loss. Keep this record from the time you get your chicks until your records are due. Include in expenses the value of*: Include in receipts value of: Birds bought or given free Meat sold or used at home Feed purchased - amount, kind, and cost Other items - feed bags returned, manure, etc. Home-grown grain used Litter, shell, cost of heat for brooding, etc. Equipment purchased Homemade equipment *Estimate cost of donated items in second cost column Expenses Receipts Date Description and quantity Cost Est. Date Description and quantity Amount Total Total $ INCOME To find out how much you could sell your birds for, you need to know the current market price. Your local Extension educator or the Extension poultry specialist at the University could help you with this figure. Once you know this figure, multiply the total weight of the birds you have to sell times the price. Total weight of all birds (in pounds) X market price ($/lb.) = Total Income Total weight (lb.) _____________ X ____________ ($/lb.) = _________________ Total Income $_________________ minus (-) Total Production Costs $_______________________ equals (=) Total Profit $______________________________ (If your total profit is a negative number, you will lose money on your market broiler project if you sell your birds for the current market price.) Did you make a profit on your birds at this price? Calculate profit per live bird by dividing the total profit by the number of birds sold. This amount is how much money you made on each bird you raised, to market weight. This number also gives you an idea of how much money you could make (or lose) if you raised say, 10,000 broilers. Total Profit ( ) Profit per Bird ( ) Number of Birds ( ) The Finished Product When broilers are slaughtered, about 1/4 of the weight of the bird is thrown away as waste (feathers, intestines, feet, etc.). To figure out how much finished product you could get from your market broilers, multiply the total weight of the remaining live birds times 3/4 (.75). Total weight ( ) X 3/4 = _______________ Pounds of Finished Product What is the price per pound for broilers at local stores in your area or a price you know you can receive for a dressed bird? $_____________________________ If you slaughtered your own birds, you could expect to receive the same price for your finished product as the store. To figure your income from the finished product, multiply the pounds of finished product that you figured above times the price per pound at the store. lb. X $ = $ Finished Product Store Price Finished Product Income PRODUCTION COSTS Pounds of Feed Per Pound of Gain and Feed Cost The pounds of feed needed for the bird to gain one pound of body weight is important. It tells you how efficiently your birds gained weight. Birds that require less feed to put on a pound of gain will make larger profit for the producer because less money is spent on feed. To figure the pounds of feed per pound of gain, total the pounds of feed you fed your broilers. Divide this number by the total weight of the remaining live birds. If you are unable to weigh all of your birds, you can use an estimate of the total weight. Multiply the average weight of five market broilers times the number of live birds remaining. FEED CONVERSION FORMULA Pounds of Feed = Total Pounds Fed to Birds ( ) = _______________________ Pounds of Gain Total Weight of Birds ( ) The average pounds of feed per pound of gain for the market broiler industry is about 1.85 for birds that are six weeks old. Your birds will be about six weeks old when entered at the fair. Did you do better or worse than the industry average? A number smaller than 1.85 would mean that you did better than average. A number larger than 1.85 would mean that you were below average. I did better / worse (circle one) than the industry average with my market broilers. Why? Find the feed cost per pound of broilers produced by multiplying the feed conversion times the cost per pound of feed. Example: 2.13 conversion X .10 cents/lb 0.213 feed cost/lbs of live weight Supplies and Equipment Actual Cost Pre-planning Cost Estimate Broiler chicks ______________________________ ______________________________ Feed ______________________________ ______________________________ Medication ______________________________ ______________________________ Bedding ______________________________ ______________________________ Brooder & equipment ______________________________ ______________________________ Building & utilities ______________________________ ______________________________ Total other costs ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ Total Production Costs ______________________________ ______________________________ Total all of the costs involved in producing the broilers listed. This sum will be called the "Total Production Costs." PROFIT OR LOSS To figure your profit from selling a finished product, subtract the Total Production Costs from the Finished Product Income. $ - = $ Finished Product Income Total Production Costs Finished Product Profit To finish the "Profit per Finished Bird," divide the "Finished Product Profit" by the number of birds available for processing. Finished Product Profit = Number of Birds Profit per Finished Bird ( ) Remember that you would have to slaughter and market your birds to get this amount of profit per bird. Would you want to raise and slaughter a large number of birds for this amount of profit per bird? _________________ Are there any costs that you did not include in your profit calculations? (list them) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why is it cheaper for very large producers to produce market broilers? Can you think of any costs that would be reduced on a per bird basis as the size of the broiler operation increased? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ SHOW RESULTS Show Location: ______________________________ Show Date: _________________________________ Number of Expenses Amount Received Value of Birds Placing Premium of Show at Auction Birds Comments about the show. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY OF THE MARKET BROILER PROJECT Describe your experience with the broiler project this year. Write the summary in paragraph form. In your summary include the following information. 1. Describe your successes and failures during the project. 2. What things would you do differently next time? 3. What parts of the project did you need help with (from parents, leaders, friends)? 4. At what stage in the project was good management most critical? 5. Did weather play a part in any problems you may have had? 6. What type house did you brood in? 7. What type of brooder (heat source) did you use? 8. What type of bedding did you use? 9. How long did you brood the chicks? 10. What type of facility did you grow and finish your birds in (confinement, range, small shed and pen, etc.)? 11. Did you have any problems with rodents or predators? 12. Is there anything else you feel is important? 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