During the Pig and Poultry Exhibition, the team from Grange CSE Ltd in East Yorkshire, England was approached by a producer of ducks in traditional sheds. He was interested in using the mini drinker and Val Watering nipple drinker system in place of the drinkers normally installed in duck farms.
He has three goals. First was to reduce his set up time during flock change and reduce the amount of work cleaning straw from his drinkers. Second was to reduce the water spillage from the drinkers and therefore reduce the quantity of straw required during the flock. The final goal was to reduce the turnaround time for cleaning between flocks.
The team from Grange CSE Ltd installed the equipment, working closely wi
th the producer.
The first flocks are now under way – aged four weeks and three weeks – covering eight sheds of 10,500 birds each. The results to date have all been positive, and all goals have been met or exceeded.
· There has been a massive reduction in set up time. What previously took two men to do in half of a day per shed now takes one man two hours to complete.
· Minimal time to upturn and reposition the troughs during straw blowing, no cleaning required.
· Water spillage greatly reduced resulting in far less straw being used.
· Birds performing extremely well with the use of the drinkers and nipples.
We are honoured to have helped a very happy producer improve the performance and efficiency of his farm. We look forward to helping other poultry producers across the UK experience similar results.
Andy Taylor
Grange CSE