Bedding material sourcing and quality control guide
Bedding material sourcing and quality control guide
Why important: Low-quality bedding and/or material with high initial water content can cause operational problems. Therefore, additional management practices to ensure optimum meat chicken performance and health, and low odour emissions, such as pre-treatment (drying) and turning are required.
Outcome: Bedding material is sourced from the best available supplier, which reduces cost and ongoing management requirements.
Performance measures: The sourced bedding material has been assessed to have the correct physical characteristics, desired moisture content and has been assessed as being safe to use before spreading in poultry sheds.
Best management actions:
- Ask suppliers to provide or describe their policies and procedures relating to the manufacture, storage and distribution of their bedding materials. This information could include quality management measures or checks that are undertaken prior to supply. Alternatively, ask for a statement of quality assurance which guarantees the condition of bedding on delivery (e.g. free from contaminants, specified moisture content and particle size). This may be in the form of a commodity declaration.
- Inspect each batch of bedding material delivered and notify the supplier of any issues, such as particle size, contaminants, dead animals, high moisture etc. It is recommended to keep a representative sample of bedding upon delivery which can be tested if issues associated with contamination are discovered during or after the growth cycle.
- If bedding is stored on-farm prior to placement, ensure it is kept dry and cannot be accessed by pests and vermin.
- If an alternative bedding material is proposed, conduct a risk assessment to help manage any increased risks to meat chicken performance and health, human health, or food safety.
