The chicken miners have hit the "Mother Load"

Since we had a short discussion a few days ago on facebook about apple cider vinegar, I thought I would share one of Southland Organics newest products and give a little info about the differences in Vinegar.

Not all vinegar is created equal.

First let's talk about the types of Vinegar:

White Vinegar: White vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid. It is typically only good as a mild acidifier and normally contains 4-5 percent acid. Often it contains some form of flavoring. This will not provide much benefit when given to poultry.


Powdered Vinegar: Typically powdered vinegar is dehydrated acetic acid. It can vary in strength from 4 to 20 percent and most marketed for poultry are in the 5 to 8 percent range. Powdered ACV or Dry Cider is a typical variant that is normally just flavored acetic acid. Most powdered vinegar will only provide an acid content to the water source and some added flavor. The water consumption may rise due to birds being attracted to the flavor.


Liquid (ACV) Apple Cider Vinegar: There are two forms of liquid ACV. Filtered ACV will have a clear appearance and will not contain the "mother of vinegar". This is normally the most inexpensive version of ACV but does not contain many benefits. In general powdered vinegar will provide a less expensive source of acid if that is your main concern. Neither provide much, if any real health benefit.

Raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized, ACV contains the "mother of vinegar", a strand like substance composed of a form of cellulose, acetic acid bacteria,  and enzymes of connected protein molecules. This is where many of the good health benefits come from. Apple Cider Vinegar has been highly regarded throughout history. In 400 B.C. the great Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, used it for its amazing health qualities.  A quick google search will reveal that it is important to use raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized, ACV to take advantage of the wonders of this product.

Our ACV poultry supplement is made from only raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized, ACV.

https://www.southlandorganics.com/products/apple-cider-vinegar-for-chickens

Southland Organics

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR with a twist

Mother Load Apple Cider Vinegar poultry supplement

Why our ACV is better……..  

Beware – The ACV you see on the shelf in your local supermarket is normally the pasturised sort. Pasteurization kills the helpful bacteria!

• Acidity:  Sixty Grain ACV will provide a better rate of acidification to the water supply than the typical vinegar that you find in most grocery markets.  

• Unpasteurized, therefore retaining the mother of vinegar which is vital to the health benefits of ACV. The mother contains the acetic bacteria which help ACV act like an antibiotic.  
• High in acetic and malic natural acids
• Great source of potassium that will help flush out toxins
• Good for the birds joints
• Promotes water consumption: Chickens like the taste
• Increases calcium absorption
• Promotes healthy mucous flow
• High in vitamins, enzymes, and minerals
• Will help fight off respiratory infections
• Pectin in ACV helps to detoxify the blood by removing heavy metals
• GARLIC: Nature’s infection killer.    Our ACV has been infused with natural organic garlic that provides additional antibiotic properties and immune system boosting power.  
• The combination of Garlic and ACV work to attack the bad bacteria by multiple methods
• Our ACV will help prevent worms, mites, and skin irritations
• Some studies have shown anticoccidial properties
• Produced from U.S.A. grown apples: not apple juice concentrate like many others on the market.  

So, if you have been searching for a better ACV give us a call and we will be happy to get some headed your way.  We believe that our product is the best on the market made with only the best ingredients available.

256-558-1473  Jason (JFF Poultry Health, Alabama)

or

1800-608-3755  Allen (Southland Organics,  Worldwide)

Beneficial Bacteria And Organic Acids In Poultry Health

Tips from Top Growers #1

Regardless of your opinion of the reasons behind the push for antibiotic free poultry, it is now the direction the industry has embraced.   Poultry growers as well as integrators are left scratching their heads in attempt to find a path to better health for the flock.  It just seems that it is much higher on the priority list for the farm owner who is stretching every last dollar.  The guys at Southland Organics have a unique perspective that most growers, service techs, and integrator personnel do not experience.  We deal with all 3  of the previous mentioned groups from all over the world, on an ongoing basis.  We hear the problems  associated with antibiotic free poultry production as told by all of the growers, the service techs/managers, etc . from every integrator and geographic location.   We don't just sit behind a desk in an office.  We are in the field often with visits to complex offices, litter life applications, general litter management consultations, service tech/grower seminars, and trade shows.  The input from the field is a very important part of what drives how we approach poultry health. 
We have many growers who are consistently placing towards the top of the sheet.  We are not going to give away some deep dark secret to the ranking system, nor are we going to give you some lame sales pitch promising something that we cannot possibly deliver. 

The best secret that all Top Growers know is this:  

"Animal agriculture is not simple science, it is an art form, and art does not come easy."  

We would like to share some of the ways that we have observed top growers using our products to help keep a healthy flock. 

What about BOB?

"BOB" or Big Ole Bird is a poultry probiotic that has the Biology Optimized for Birds.  

At Southland Organics we are deeply passionate about providing natural solutions to natural problems.   Big ole Bird epitomizes that passion through hard working organic acids, activated carbon, polyelectrolytes and beneficial microbiology to make sure that your flock remains as healthy as possible.

"Top Growers"  know that it is easy to cost yourself dollars trying to save pennies.........  It seems the top guys run it as recommended or more! 

We have many "Top Growers" who have used BOB to replace the products they once used to keep the gut "tight"(i.e. vinegar, citric acid,water acidifiers, etc.) .  BOB will provide firmer stools that are white capped (which is a good indicator of health).  Dollar for dollar, BOB is a much better value than using pH altering to tighten the gut because of the added benefits.  

"Top Growers" know that BOB is not a miracle potion.  You may not grow the largest bird that you have ever grown just because you used this product, but the benefits seem to outweigh the costs.

"Top Growers" know that clean safe water is the best/most cost effective way to add weight to the birds.  The organic acids in BOB will help to break up biofilm in drinker lines and provide reduced levels of harmful bacteria in the drinking water system.  

"Top Growers" know that it is vital to ensure that the vitamins and nutrients from the feed is utilized to the maximum extent.  Perhaps the biggest benefit of BOB is the enhanced ability for the bird to absorb nutrients from the feed.    

"Top Growers" know that bird health directly effects the bottom line on the farm$$$.    Probiotics alter the intestinal biology and immune system to reduce colonization by pathogens, the same as growth promoting antibiotics. The difference is that probiotics do it by using competitive exclusion to alter the biology in the gut, instead of the “kill them off” method used by antibiotics. 

The "Top Vet" from the "Top Company" has seen benefits from organic acids and beneficial bacteria.    In a recent article on Watt PoultryUSA, Scott Gustin the head of veterinary services for Tyson spoke about the importance of organic acids and probiotics in antibiotic free production.  https://www.wattagnet.com/articles/34925-tysons-leading-veterinarian-on-probiotics-microbiome

BOB provides both beneficial bacteria and organic acids to achieve great results in bird health, size, and feed conversion and many "Top Growers" have decided to incorporate this into their program.   

Check out the video below, as my buddy Allen Reynolds explains BOB. 

http://litterlife.com/video/what-big-ole-bird-and-what-does-it-do

Help for the Hard times: Poultry Health Testimonial (Large Bird)

George Washington Carver has been a hero of mine since I was a child.  He wrote a pamphlet in the early 1900's titled "Help for the Hard Times".   It was written to help struggling farmers with tips for their farms to perform better.  We have taken a lesson from this and decided that our ability to help struggling poultry farmers is what motivates us. 

We want to provide "Help for the Hard Times"

It truly feels good to know that we are helping growers find solutions to poultry health issues. In this line of work we often talk to farm owners who feel that they are on the brink of disaster financially. They are searching for something to help. 

• To help grow a larger bird.
• To help increase feed conversion
• To help reduce mortality
• To help pay the bills

The following is a testimonial of a grower in North Alabama (Pilgrims) who was searching for "Help".

"Our Farm is 9 years old.  We purchased it 2 years ago.  At that time we did not know that the farm had a history of poor performance.  In fact the farm had never placed above average or "+"in the whole 7 years.  As a grower I felt that I could do better than that. Our first flock was a +1 and it has been down hill ever since.  We are currently ranked close to the bottom of all the farms in our complex.  The techs and broiler managers have not been able to pinpoint any deficiency in management nor equipment.  After 2 years of being below average, finances were tight and the thought of giving up and selling the farm had started to sound good.  Big Ole Bird and Litter Life have been a game changer for us.  This last flock, our birds were very healthy and we placed 2nd in a strong week with a 9.53 lb bird with a 2.03 F.C. +66 points and over $12000 more than our previous flock.  The only significant change would be the addition of the Southland Organics poultry health program with Big Ole Bird and Litter Life." 

These are the stories that drive us to do what we do.  

   The traditional methods for dealing with many of the major diseases that effect poultry have been virtually eliminated in a very short amount of time.  This has many farmers left holding the short end of the stick.  Keeping the birds healthy on the farm is one of the biggest challenges that a commercial grower faces.  In this new climate of NAE (no antibiotics ever), ABF (antibiotic free), and Organic production, there are few options once a bird gets sick.  

When it comes to bird health, I am completely convinced that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Southland Organics  offers products that are proving to be some of the best tools that a commercial grower can use to help provide that ounce of prevention.   

What about BOB?

"BOB" or Big Ole Bird is a poultry probiotic that has the Biology Optimized for Birds.  

BOB is a probiotic that has been enhanced with a very rich source of humic and fulvic acids as well as activated carbon.  The ingredients are simple, BOB ingredients .  It just makes sense to me that if you can provide a better, safer, healthier way of raising birds,  then why not incorporate this into your program.  This product is helping many farmers to work through these new challenges in a safe effective way.    

Check out the video below, as my buddy Allen Reynolds explains BOB. 

What is Litter Life and What does it do?

Litter Life is a non-corrosive liquid poultry litter treatment that provides ammonia control and forms a biological barrier for poultry houses and litter beds. Our poultry litter treatment is a patented liquid formula specifically designed to improve the management of poultry by reducing ammonia and pathogens thereby increasing poultry health. Unlike most litter amendments, Litter Life is organic and safe to use and does not employ the use of toxic chemicals. Our poultry litter treatment promotes poultry welfare by using safe and natural methods. 

Litter Life and BOB are a powerful combination that can help growers fight disease, protect their flocks, and ultimately provide a better product to the consumer.  

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound or cure: Commercial poultry health options in the world of reduced antibiotics

Dealing with commercial poultry health options in the world of reduced antibiotics and new consumer trends. 

To anyone who has gone to the grocery store recently to purchase chicken, it is no shock to see a new style of marketing labels on the packaging.  

All Natural 

No Antibiotics Ever

Cage Free

Organic

Etc.

Etc.

Etc.

Most of these labels are nothing more than just that... a label.  Although, there are some trends in the industry that have led to a shake up in the way that commercial poultry is grown.   

With the need to reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics and the consumer desire for more organic options, the industry has made some big changes.  The traditional methods for dealing with many of the major diseases that effect poultry have been virtually eliminated in a very short amount of time.  This has many farmers left holding the short end of the stick.  Keeping the birds healthy on the farm is one of the biggest challenges that a commercial grower faces.  In this new climate of NAE (no antibiotics ever), ABF (antibiotic free), and Organic production, there are few options once a bird gets sick.  

When it comes to bird health, I am completely convinced that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Southland Organics  offers products that are proving to be one of the best tools that a commercial grower can use to help provide that ounce of prevention.   

What about BOB?

"BOB" or Big Ole Bird is a poultry probiotic that has the Biology Optimized for Birds.  

BOB is a probiotic that has been enhanced with a very rich source of humic and fulvic acids as well as activated carbon.  The ingredients are simple, BOB ingredients .  It just make sense to me that if you can provide a better, safer, healthier way of raising birds,  then why not incorporate this into your program.  This product is helping many farmers to work through these new challenges in a safe effective way.    

Check out the video below, as my buddy Allen Reynolds explains BOB. 

Litter Life, that I have talked about before, and BOB are a powerful combination that can help growers fight disease, protect their flocks, and ultimately provide a better product to the consumer.  

 

Living The Easy Litter Life: Part II

Spray tips to make living the Litter Life easier

Litter Life needs to be mixed at a rate of 1:9 with water.  

To help others avoid some of the mistakes that I made during my first few tests trials of spraying Litter Life, I have decided to share some info about my blunders/screw ups/mistakes and how you as a grower can make your life easier when you apply Litter Life.  

Litter Life should be mixed at least 1 hour before spraying.  For best results, 24 hours of steep time will provide a jump start for the biology in Litter Life.  One of the barriers to premixing litter life is the size of your spray tank.  Many if not most poultry farms have multiple houses.  The current trend in the broiler side of the industry is to larger houses.  Much of the newer housing being built is in the 30,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. range.   The size of these houses can mean that a producer may be spraying several hundred or even thousands of gallons when applying Litter Life.  Typically most spray rig set ups that are used will not hold all of the mixture that is to be applied.    

That brings in the issues that I ran into.  When Allen recommended that I let the mix sit for 24 hours for best results, I thought, "that is no problem. I want the best results so that is what I will do".  Boy was I in for a surprise.   My sprayer that I was planning to use was only 60 gallons.   The 800 gallons that I needed  to spray wouldn't quite fit.   I certainly didn't have time mix it 60 gallons at a time.  That's where I decided to apply the "find a better way" principle.  

1.  Use what you have!  

Like I said in  Living The Easy Litter Life: Part I ,  I believe in using what you have on hand if you can.  Just so happens, I had several IBC totes on the farm.    

These used totes are fairly inexpensive and are readily available to purchase in most areas.  They come in 275 gal and 330 gal sizes.  I recommend buying a tote that was used for non toxic materials and wash out thoroughly before using.  

2. Gravity is your friend:    

(Photo: Chris Southers  N.Al Litter Life Customer)

Once you have your Litter Life mixed and ready to steep, your next issue to tackle will be how to get the product from the mix tank to the sprayer.  You can pump it if you have a pump.  I found that using my 2" water pump was a bit overkill and the hose/pump reservoir holds several gallons of product that ends up wasted.   You can use a siphon hose to move the product.  This method is efficient but the elevations must be correct and you must use some form of suction to get it started.  (BTW a mouth full of Litter Life tastes a lot like dirt.  BAD dirt. VERY BAD DIRT!).  

The simplest method for me, is to pour the Litter life into the tote. Lift the tote with the tractor or place on a higher level than the spray rig (truck bed, platform etc.).  Once the tote is elevated I fill the rest of the way with water and then steep for 24 hrs.  Then you are ready to fill the spray rig. These totes are full draining and have a valve on the bottom that will accept a 2" female cam lever coupler. 

These couplers and hose are sold at many farm stores (TSC, Co-OP, Etc.).  

 I also found out that the cap to a gator medicator happens to work out well to thread onto the end if it has the threaded portion.  It seems most poultry farms have a broken gator laying around.......  

You can attach a garden hose to the gator cap and use it to fill your tank as well.  While this will not provide the volume that a large hose will, it makes up for it in convenience.   

Which ever method you chose for hose, simply let gravity move the mix to your spray tank.  No priming, no wasted product, no loosing suction, no worries.

Until next time:  Keep on living the Easy Litter Life

jej

Living The Easy Litter Life: Part I

Spray tips to make living the Litter Life easier

While Litter Life's easy to apply liquid formula can be applied a number of ways from a pump up hand sprayer to large coverage high volume spray rigs, there is one thing that I believe all farmers want to do, save time.  In all honesty I wish I didn't have to spray anything, but since I do, I choose Litter Life!  When I first started to use litter life I started out by using my herbicide sprayer that is similar to what many farms would use to spray pastures.  Like most of us who are involved in Agriculture,  I am always looking for a more efficient, less expensive, better way of doing things.  It didn't take long to realize that I could make my Litter Life a little easier by doing a few simple things.  While these tips may not directly apply to every operation, the principles can be used in every set up.  

1.  Use what you have!  

I built a spray rig just for my litter life.  I had a large tank and an old boat trailer.  They just seemed to want to be friends.

It didn't take much engineering to mount the tank onto the trailer frame.  I did reinforce the axle and frame in a few places but your spray tank doesn't have to be this large.  

Many farms already have some nice spray setups to spray disinfectants and pressure wash with.  These work fine, but can often be tweaked to make spraying litter life a little easier.  

GO BOOMLESS

Many of these spray rigs are equipped with a boomless nozzle setup.  If you are not using a boomless setup to spray with, then I would start looking into building one.  Within a poultry house booms can be very aggravating. It normally only requires a T pipe fitting, a nipple, a spray tip and some simple plumbing skills. The tips that I prefer are Hamilton nozzle tips.  They can be purchased for about $25 each from many farm supply stores.  

VOLUME IS A TRUE TIME SAVER

Most sprayers are setup to deliver a specific droplet size.  If you are applying herbicide, fungicide, or certain pesticides, then droplet size is key.  With Litter Life, we just need it to be spread fairly evenly over the entire house.  VOLUME, VOLUME, VOLUME.  My first time of spraying took over 2 hours per house (40,000 sq ft).  My herbicide sprayer was simply not designed to deliver 200 gallons in a short amount of time.  I changed tips to the largest flood tip that my local farm supply had and saved about 15 minutes per house.  Boo, not good enough.  That's when I decided to build my own boomless sprayer to deliver product at a higher volume thus saving time.  

This is a double nozzle setup.  The tips are offset so the spray patterns do not hit each other.  These tips come from the factory with different volume sizing.  

Even with the #20 on 60psi a nozzle should put out 7.1 gallons per minute.    Again BOO, not good enough when I have to spray 200gallons per house. 

The Hamilton nozzles have 2 screws so you can adjust it from 90 degree spray to 180 degree. Simply remove the plates and it exposes the orifice.  A drill bit through the brass orifice was an easy solution to making what started out as a 2 hour per house task into about 10 minutes of spray time in each 40,000 sq. ft. house. 

This also eliminates multiple passes and cuts down on having to drive back over an area that has been sprayed.  If you drive over the litter you have just sprayed, it will often stick to the tires of your tractor and leave stripes of untreated litter making it harder for the product to work.  

Litter Life has made my life better in several ways and I hope these tips will help to make your Litter Life a little better.

JEJ

Initial introduction

Life is full of adventure, full of risk, and full of the unknown. The world of agriculture, while full of uncertainty, is also full of nobility, honor, & pride. The purpose of this blog is to share the adventures of farm life and the faith it takes to take the step out of your comfort zone.  We are leaving our comfortable stable lives and stepping out on faith to begin a new venture at the Jackson Farmstead.  Feel free to join us as we enter a journey of faith.

 With the following posts, we intend to document our endeavors into farm life, the drastic change in the way we do "life".  

Welcome.  

JEJ