Blue Mountain
"Benchmark Production Targets for Ostrich"
By: Fiona Benson, Blue Mountain International
By: Daryl Holle, Blue Mountain Feeds
Blue Mountain Ostrich
Nutrition Bulletins were first started by Daryl Holle in December 1996
to develop communication and share information. This Bulletin is
Bulletin No. 100, a significant milestone. Over the years Daryl Holle
and I have spent many, many hours writing these and making the
information freely available to the industry.
The subject matter of this bulletin is benchmarking production targets
for Ostrich. The World Ostrich Association has recently published a
range of production targets for Ostrich:
www.world-ostrich.org/targets.htm
Blue Mountain first published benchmark figures in 1997 with the report
on the Benchmark weight gain trials. That report and a number of other
benchmark trials, studies and comparisons can be viewed from:
www.blue-mountain.net/research/research.htm
WHAT IS BENCHMARKING?
A benchmark is a standard by which something can be measured or judged.
Benchmarking is the process of determining who is the very best, who
sets the standard and what that standard is.
Benchmarking is a management tool used by many businesses to measure
their performance against the standards or other businesses. In the
case of agriculture, performance is measured against other producers.
This is one reason why maintaining good records is essential in
agriculture. Monitoring methods and costs, benchmarking helps farmers
to have a greater understanding of their production systems and how one
or two changes can
make a significant difference to their bottom line.
To help UK red meat producers become more competitive with the recent
changes in farm subsidies, the Red Meat Industry Forum has set up a
benchmarking scheme. A quote for the discussion on the benefits to those
producers:
Quote: One issue is very clear. The meat industry will no longer be
able to afford to produce over 50% of its product outside market
conformation and fat class, or 20% outside the target weight range. By
using this free benchmarking system, we can help producers understand
just how crucial this is to profitability. End quote
There is a very good reason that increased supply of the food on the
market is coming from a decreasing number of suppliers, who are growing
progressively larger. That reason is not confined to the fact that the
major buyers require large scale producers. The reason is that they are
the suppliers (producers/processors) who recognise the current market
needs.
They also operate to a high degree of precision with high standards of management.
That fact became very clear to me the very first time I entered an
ostrich abattoir. An excellent abattoir working to get the very best
product they could to the market - but they had no control over the
birds offered for slaughter. They had to do the best with what they
were presented with. Quality control starts on the farm.
BENCHMARKING FOR OSTRICH
Benchmarking is a method of understanding the norms as achievable
targets, but more importantly understanding that they are targets to be
improved on. Agricultural production has survived the ongoing
price/cost squeeze by continually improving production to reduce the
unit costs of production. eg. For breeder birds - cost per chick; for
slaughter birds - cost per kilo
of meat.
Benchmarking records production statistics produced under commercial
conditions to help commercial producers have something to measure their
performance, analyse their performance against measurable criteria and
work to improve their performance. If they are not achieving the right
performance levels, start asking questions as to why.
Not only are the benchmark targets that have been set very achievable,
they are essential for Ostrich production to become commercially
viable. You can view the Benchmark Production Targets for Ostrich at
the World Ostrich Association website:
www.world-ostrich.org/targets.htm
You can also download this document by clicking on the following link:
Benchmark Production Targets for Ostrich (.PDF Format)
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