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| ORGANIC BROILER FARMING | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General principles Organic livestock production in general is a land based activity and shall be an integral part of organic farm unit and management of livestock shall be in consistent with the principles of organic farming and shall base on: a. Natural breeding; b. Protection of animal health and welfare; c. Fed with organic feed and fodder; d. Access to grazing in organic fields; e. Freedom to express natural behaviour; f. Reduction of stress and g. Prohibition of use of chemically synthesized allopathic veterinary drugs, antibiotics, hormones, growth boosters, feed additives etc. Choice of Breeds The choice of livestock and poultry, breeds, strains and breeding methods shall be consistent with the principles of organic farming, taking into account, in particular, the following: a. their adaptation to the local climatic conditions and b. their vitality and resistance to diseases Sources/ Origin a. Animals must have been born or hatched from production units complying with these guidelines, or must be the offspring of parents raised under the conditions set down in the guidelines by APEDA; b. Transfer of livestock and poultry between organic and non-organic units shall not be permitted. The accredited Certification Body shall ensure that brought in livestock and poultry from other units comply with the Guidelines; c. Livestock and poultry raised on non-organic production units shall be converted to organic as per the Guidelines; d. When a producer demonstrates to the satisfaction of the accredited Certification Body that the organic source livestock are not available, the accredited Certification Body may allow such livestock and poultry under the following circumstances:
a. Each batch shall bear unique identification number. b. Identification devices on the animals can be printed ear tags, RFID tags, wing tags, shank tags, Barcodes or any other suitable tag which is clearly visible. Record keeping Following data for each animal/ herd or batch shall be maintained and made available to the accredited certification body for verification during inspection: a. Parent details; b. Source and purchase details; c. Bird details; d. Breeding details; e. Feeding details; f. Health care details including details of vaccination, medication, veterinarian prescription and withdrawal period etc; g. Production details; h. Sale details and i. Any other relevant details Special conditions for Poultry a. Housing of poultry in cages shall not be permitted; b. Water fowl/duck shall have access to a stream, pond or lake whenever the weather conditions permit; c. Poultry house floor shall be of solid construction covered with litter material such as straw, wood shavings, sand or turf. In case of layers, the floor area must be large enough to permit dropping collection. Perches/ higher sleeping areas of a size and number commensurate with the species and size of the group and of the birds shall be provided. For outdoor access appropriate exit/entry holes of adequate size must be provided; d. In the case of laying hens, manipulation of day length may be permitted through the use of artificial lights; e. Poultry shall have access to open area as specified in Annex 1 and shall have freedom to move freely between indoor and outdoor area; f. Open air areas for poultry shall be mainly covered with vegetation and be provided with protective facilities and permit birds to have easy access to adequate numbers of drinking and feeding troughs; g. Where poultry are kept indoors due to restrictions or obligations imposed on the basis of provincial legislation they shall permanently have access to sufficient quantities of roughage and suitable material in order to meet their ethological needs; h. Multi-level aviary systems for layers shall have no more than three levels or tiers above ground level. Total floor space shall meet minimum indoor and outdoor surface area requirements specified in further text. In all such cases access to the open air run, needs to be ensured under all-in and all-out system to avoid the mixing of birds among flocks; i. Buildings shall be emptied, cleaned and disinfected, between flocks, and runs shall be left empty to allow the vegetation to grow back. Conversion Period a. When a livestock production unit, with entire herd, or flock of sheep/ goat or batch of poultry birds or small mammals such as rabbits, is in transition to organic production, pasture and feed produced on the land undergone a minimum period of 12 months of conversion period may be considered organic for feeding to organic livestock; b. Meat products: from the second day of hatching to the entire life span as determined by the accredited Certification Body; c. Eggs/for layers: 6 weeks. d. For broilers: 10 weeks e. For pasture reared birds: 12 months Minimum Surface Area Indoors & Outdoors for Broilers Indoor area: 10 birds per m2 with maximum of 21 kg live weight/ m2 Outdoor run: 10 birds per m2 with maximum of 21 kg live weight/ m2 List of Diseases for Flock Diagnosis
What actually “Integration” is?
Participatory Guarantee Scheme (PGS) by National Centre of Organic Farming, Ghaziabad The PGS is an internationally applicable organic quality assurance system [like ISO 9000] implemented and controlled by the committed organic farmer-producers through active participation, along with the consumers, in the process based on verifiable trust. It is not an “inspection raj” certification system but, rather, one that is based on personal integrity and peer pressure. Integrity is honesty when no one is looking over your shoulder to see what you are doing. The farmer pledges that the production process is free from manufactured chemicals [fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, hormones, etc] and lives by his word of honour. The “Local Group” of five or more organic farmers is the fulcrum of the self-regulatory support system of PGS. The quality assurance standards are harmonized by the PGS Organic Council, which permits the use of its PGS label on a product as a mark of quality. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements or IFOAM defines PGS thus: “Participatory Guarantee Systems are locally focused quality assurance systems. They certify producers based on active participation of stakeholders and are built on a foundation of trust, social networks and knowledge exchange.” |
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| Division of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, R.S. Pura, SKUAST Jammu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||