Hello everyone,
On behalf of Farbest Farms I would like to welcome you to the grower portal. For many of you this is a reintroduction, for others this is likely your first time exploring this website. Regardless of your familiarity with the website I encourage you to explore the various features of this website. Along the left side of the homepage, you will find multiple tabs for various categories of topics. If you click on the tabs, it will open a new page where you can access documents files, powerpoints, videos, and links to external resources. In the center of the homepage is the header titled News and Announcements where the most recent updates will be listed. Each time new content is added to the grower portal an announcement will be added with instructions for locating the content. There are a few new items I would like to discuss which are listed below.
1.) Farbest Farms recently made a routine change to our coccidia control program. Effective 2/20/2023 poults will receive a controlled exposure to coccidia via spray vaccine at the hatchery. The spray contains fluorescent gel droplets that the poults consume by preening it off each other. As a result of the change Farbest has been transitioning all conventional starter diets (0100-0300) to the ABF diets (0101-0301) for flocks placed on or after 2/20/2023. The finishing diets (0400-1400) will continue to have the coccidiostat, Coban, in the feed until further notice. This is important because of the potential risk of killing the coccidia in the vaccine if poults are exposed to the wrong feed within the first 3 weeks of age. A presentation titled “Cocci Control Program” has been posted within the Flock Health Information category that reviews coccidiosis, recent changes in control measures, and essential practices for maximizing the efficacy of the coccidia vaccine.
2.) During our grower meeting on 3/13/2023 attendees received training on the Process Verified Program (PVP) and animal welfare and handling. For those who were unable to attend you will need to receive these trainings from your flock supervisor by 4/10/2023. In addition, flock supervisors will be responsible for conducting internal audits of each premise by 4/10/2023. To ensure Farbest Farms is in compliance with the PVP, an external audit is performed annually by a third party. This year’s external audit will occur on 4/11/2023 and 4/12/2023 and will include visits to farms, feed mills, and processing plants. The audit will cover all 4 points of the PVP. The slides from the grower meeting have been posted to the grower portal under the category titled “Grower Meeting”. Please take the time to review this document and familiarize yourself with the 4 points of PVP as well as animal welfare and handling.
3.) Prior to Kent Peter’s retirement from Farbest Farms he kindly recorded a video presentation which details the steps for calculating grower payment. Many growers likely have a good understanding of how to calculate flock settlements, but this is a useful resource for new growers and anyone needing a refresher. The video is located under the category titled, “Grower Payment” within the “All Grower Files” tab.
If anyone has questions or suggestions regarding the grower portal, please feel free to utilize the “contact us” in the top right corner of the homepage.
Respectfully,
Trent Eckle, DVM