Higher profitability thanks to the solutions of Fancom

The main objective of intensive pig, poultry or mushroom production is to achieve the best technical performance, resulting in consistent high quality that ultimately generates the highest revenues.

Achieving this aim involves continually weighing up and creating the ideal balance between animal welfare and the associated costs. Creating the optimal conditions in the house is the best way to produce a product that the market is willing to pay a good price for. But not every market offers the same potential for margins, so any investments must be carefully scrutinised for their added value in terms of profitability.

Ultimately, it is all about balancing the forces of market price and market demand.

Market price

The price the market pays for products fluctuates daily. The market price of a product is determined by the relationship between supply and demand, but market uncertainty also impacts on the purchase price of materials. This is turn affects the market price of the finished product.

The market price cannot always fully pass on the cost of measures implemented to improve animal welfare and create a more sustainable production process. And there is always the question of whether the market is really willing - and in a position - to pay a premium price for a possible product differentiation and positioning due to additional animal-friendly measures. The cost of a product is often what determines decision-making.

In addition, pigs, poultry and mushrooms compete in an international market. As legislation and regulations are not identical all over the world, this can lead to unfair competition. And for numerous reasons, cost prices vary considerably from country to country.

Market demand

The global population is growing, so the global food demand is also being driven up. All these extra mouths need to be fed, although the number of alternatives to meat and animal products is also increasing. The global market demand for pork appears to be stagnating, and is maybe even showing signs of shrinking. On the other hand, the popularity of poultry, and eggs especially, continues to increase. The growth in demand for eggs is mainly attributable to higher production of products that contain eggs and greater use of eggs in the out-of-home consumption market.

A growing demand allows full production levels for a higher market price.

Climate

The thermal neutral zone is the temperature range within which animals can be housed without production losses. At temperatures outside this range production losses may occur caused by, for example, heat or cold stress that leads to a lower feed intake and consequently lower growth curves. Creating the right climate is therefore vital to guarantee animal welfare and provide the right conditions for optimal results. Fancom can guarantee a constant, optimal climate in the house, irrespective of the outside weather conditions. This ensures uniformity that translates to strong growth and lower mortality rates. It is even possible to adapt the climate to match the age of the animals - all with the aim of realising the best technical performances.

Feeding systems

It is important to provide each animal with the right amount of feed in the right composition at the right time. Not only to maximise the growth potential, but also to minimise costs. Feed consumption - both the type of feed and the size of the portions -varies according to the animals’ life phase. Fancom offers the necessary knowledge and products to automate the feeding process. We even offer systems able to control feed dosing individually and fully automatically. In fact, in many cases the animal decides when it wants to eat and can activate the system to dispense small portions of feed up to a predefined maximum ration whenever the animal is hungry. This achieves the optimal feed conversion rate.

Monitoring

There are many ways of measuring whether the animals are healthy and growing fast enough or producing enough eggs. Fancom offers a number of smart tools that continuously measure and monitor the weight of the animals. This data is a good indication of the animal’s performance. Monitoring in this way also gives insight into the dynamics of the animals, as their behaviour also gives valuable signals about their health. Fancom offers an automated egg counter as well as a sensor that registers water consumption every hour in up to no fewer than eight separate water lines or groups. Water consumption says a lot about animal health. All the data that has been collected can be read out using a Fancom control computer.

Do you want to use complete farm automation in your business?

Market price

Market demand

Climate

Feeding systems

Monitoring

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