USA- Poultry nutrition experts at the Poultry Science Department at the University of Georgia have launched a new mobile app to help farmers optimize their feed mixes.
Optimizing chicken nutrition, the free mobile app for chicken farmers is set to make optimal poultry nutrition easier while helping farmers save money and improve profits.
The new FeedMixer App is funded by the World Poultry Foundation and is meant to address a major challenge that chicken farmers face.
According to the World Poultry Foundation, many farmers self-mix their chicken feed due to rising commercial feed costs and a limited supply of certain grains.
However, these farmers often find it challenging to achieve the right balance of nutrients while process of mixing these feeds.
“When feeding birds, it’s about nutrients, not just quantity of feed. With the right feed mix, they will be healthier and more productive,” Maureen Stickel, Director of International Program Development at the World Poultry Foundation, says.
“The FeedMixer app guides farmers on feed mixes for layers, broilers, and dual-purpose birds of various ages. We specifically worked to include a large library of feed ingredients, with their nutritional values, to guide farmers,” Maureen added.
According to the app developers, users of the app simply click on the type of chickens they are feeding and select the ingredients they have available to them and in the proportions they intend to blend.
The app then indicates whether their chosen mix delivers adequate energy, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to nourish the birds without wastage.
Users can also input the cost of the ingredients they use to calculate whether their feed mix is cost-effective.
“The FeedMixer app is designed for ease of use by people with a basic poultry background – including backyard and emerging chicken farmers. With the app, we are trying to make it simple for farmers to use local ingredients to formulate a diet that meets basic poultry nutrition requirements and achieve their basic production goals,” Prof. Sean Chen, Assistant Professor/Extension Specialist at the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia, remarked.
FeedMixer is available in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese and is thus optimized to serve a diverse demographic of poultry farmers.
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