Introduction

Farm record keeping involves collecting an account of a farmer’s

daily operations in the farm. There is no universally accepted definition of

farm records. However, Torres (2001) gave two definitions for farm record

keeping. Record keeping is keeping of detailed records by a farmer of his

farm’s daily operations, income and expenses. He added that record

keeping refers to record keeping activity of a research organisation

which involves the keeping of records of a group of farmers with some

guidance and support from the researcher.

According to Devonish et al., (2000) and Aning (2006), most farmers

keep their farm records manually. Both stated that the majority of farmers

(81%) kept their records hand written, that is in books, ledgers bills and

other loose leaves. Devonish et al., (2000) further stated that 4% of them

store their records on the computer using some type of accounting

software and 15% of the farmers keep both hand written and

computerised records. In a study by Okantah et al., (2003), poultry

farmers were asked to determine the frequency with which they collected,

inspected, analysed and referred to their farm records. It was noted that

most farmers collected farm records on a daily basis but tended to refer to

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them on a weekly or monthly basis. Thus records were not likely to have

an immediate influence on the daily business decision making process by

the poultry farmers. Devonish et al., (2000) showed contrary results that

most of the farmers (38%) interviewed for their research work preferred to

record their data weekly whiles 30% preferred monthly basis and 28%

recorded data daily.

There are various types of farm records but Omoruyi, (1999) and

Poggio (2006) classified them under four basic types. They are the

resource inventories, production records, financial records and

supplementary records. Resource inventories include assets and liabilities

of the farm whiles production records include mortality, breeding, bird

performance, feed information, laying and labour. Financial records include

income from sale of eggs and birds and expenditure from feed, vaccines,

labour and maintenance of farm equipments. Supplementary records

include survey map, the farm layout (map) and the legal documents of the

farm. According to Devonish et al., (2000), 84% of the farmers interviewed

kept records on production (feed, egg production, labour, mortality, birth

and breeding). Okantah et al., (2003) also found that majority of farmers

(96%) kept production records (weight of birds sold, the amounts of feeds

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and drugs or vaccines administered). These high percentages prove that

most farmers are more concerned about the productivity of their farm

business. According to Devonish et al., (2000) and Okantah et al., (2003),

it was found that majority of farmers (76% and 95%) kept financial

records respectively. These show the importance farmers attach to their

financial needs.

Implications of Keeping Farm Records

Muhammad et al., (2004) noted that farm record keeping is a key

practice used by very successful farmers and vice versa. Essentially,

accurate written farm records are very helpful. Chapman (2003) and Iton

(1999) stated that a farmer who has a well-kept farm record is in a more

favourable position to borrow needed funds than one who has no farm

records. This is confirmed by Devonish et al., (2000) that more than half

(57%) of a total of 160 farmers interviewed were obtaining credit due to

the fact that they were keeping farm records. It can be said here that their

farm records helped them in obtaining the farm loans. However, the 43%

who were not obtaining farm credit were those who did not keep farm

records. According to Johl & Kapur (2001), when farmers keep records,

they continuously give the needed information for state and national farm

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policies such as land and price policies. This further helps in research works

which will require precise and correct data which is possible only if proper

records are maintained on the farms and included in the study. Farm

records therefore serve as a helpful tool in obtaining the correct data for

examining and developing sound policies. Farmers must maintain proper

farm records in order to receive subsidies from government. This was

stated by Rolls (2001) that records of building and machinery linked to

farm registration in Hungary are essential for access to government

subsidies.

Factors Affecting Keeping of Farm Records

Keeping of farm records is affected by certain factors. According to

Mariene (1995) and Devonish et al., (2000), farm record keeping is

independent of age, gender, farm size, level of formal education and years

of farming experience. The research by Devonish et al., (2000) however,

further showed that there was a significant relationship between farm

record keeping and the following factors: farmer status, the receipt of

credit and net income. Farmers who owned the larger farms tended to

keep records than those with relatively smaller farms. Full-time farmers

also tended to keep farm records than part-time farmers. A higher

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proportion of farmers who kept records had obtained credit because their

farm records were used to provide an indication of the viability of the farm

business in order to receive credit from financial institutions. Farmers who

keep farm records are likely to have higher incomes.

Constraints of Keeping Farm Records

Farm record keeping is often seen as a mundane task by farmers

(Poggio, 2006). Obviously, farmers are faced with constraints which cause

their inability to keep farm records. Minae et al., (2003) noted that the lack

of keeping farm records is more pronounced due to the high levels of

illiteracy and low numeracy levels in most low resource African farming

communities. Another constraint faced by farmers is that, most of them

engage in several enterprises and mixed farming systems, and thus farm

record keeping requires much of their time. They are therefore faced with

time constraints which hinder them from keeping farm records (Johl &

Kapur 2001). Johl & Kapur (2001) further stated that the subsistence

nature of farming does not produce any incentive for keeping the farm

records. Farmers therefore cannot engage separately trained accountants

for helping them in farm accounting. Singh (2001) commented that the

small farmers know that because of the small size of their farm holdings

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they will not be able to effect economies of scale hence do not show

interest in farm record keeping. Minae (2001) noted that lack of

sensitisation on the importance of farm record keeping on the

performance of farm businesses by extension agents or enumerators is a

constraint. Johl & Kapur (2001) further stated that sufficient numbers of

trained specialists in farm management are not available who could help

farmers maintain records of their business. Johl & Kapur (2001) stated that

farmers are always afraid of new taxes and so they fear that if they

maintain records and their incomes show up high in their record books,

some sort of high tax may be levied on them.

Constraints in Record Keeping, Management and Dissemination

The different sets of constraints in farm data management and

dissemination highlighted are directly linked to low and declining

investments of the public sector in record keeping, analysis, dissemination

and storage. Nevertheless, it should be noted that there are many projects

and institutions currently involved in different aspects of farm data. In

general though, the quality and quantity of data that is available hardly

reflects the efforts and resources that are allocated to this effort. As noted

there is minimal effort to synthesise and present the available data in a

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manner that can be used for decision support at the farm or community

level. A concerted effort to harness and co-ordinate the various efforts

would contribute significantly to the compilation and dissemination of farm

data. The main constraints can be summarised as follows:

 Poor institutional capacity in record keeping and management.

Institutions mandated with farm management related advisory services

lack adequate resources and human capacity to sustain systems and

structures set up for farm data compilation and dissemination.

 Lack of the necessary skills and computer software in data

management and analysis as well as limited financial resources for data

production and reproduction. Compounding the problem further is the

limited application of the data due to low accessibility to smallholder

producers and inappropriate packaging into simple user-friendly

formats.

 Inadequate logistical and technical support for enumerators and

supervisors to facilitate accurate and timely record keeping and

monitoring field activities coupled with poor supervision is a serious

problem in terms of ensuring data quality. This is compounded by the

long distances enumerators have to cover to collect data, (e.g. in

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 Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania) making record

keeping very costly and cumbersome and resulting in delays in record

keeping and analysis.

 Low numeracy and literacy rates, as well as a lack of aptitude for

managing farming as a business, do not lead to adequate incentives for

farmers to maintain farm records.

 Absence of a central database or reference point for farm information to

provide some form of harmonisation and co-ordination in record keeping

methodologies, indicators, variables and analysis limits harnessing of

data from different sources to built up a strong data base that can be

used for supporting farm information systems.

 Costs of production, reproduction and dissemination of reports and

pamphlets result in limited access of farm information to end-users.

Most of the information is generated and disseminated in English, which

further limits its use due to language barriers beyond the more general

problem of illiteracy and poor numeracy.

One of the major problems of the available farm data is that its

quality is low because of the complex subsistence production systems, with

multiple products and services and potential hidden costs and by-products

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record keeping is difficult and tends to end up on underestimation or over-

estimation of data. For instance, it has been estimated that household

livelihoods for some rural areas in Nigeria may be under-reported by as

much as 50% because environmental services have been overlooked.

Requires minimum investment to start with

In comparison to other livestock, poultry farming requires less

investment to start the farming on commercial scale. Agricultural labourers,

marginal and small farmers, will profit adequately if they start this business

on a small scale. The average investment on fixed capital and total cost of

rearing 100 chicks to the point of lay, works out to be Rs 10,000 only. The

layers start laying at 18 months for one year. The normal economic life of a

bird is therefore 18 months after which it is sold as a bird meat. The broiler

can be sold at 6 weeks when it attains a live weight of approximately 1.250

kg. As per 1990 data, for 200 birds per cycle of 6 weeks amounting to 8

cycles, the investment is only Rs 9,000.

Housing of birds

Depending on what type of bird(s) someone is interested in

purchasing, you will need to prepare a shelter. In preparing a shelter, you

should give consideration to the location on someone’s property and

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potential threat of predators, i.e. cats, and dogs. It may require, depending

on someone’s location, that some of the fencing wire be buried below the

surface to prevent any of these aforementioned predators from getting to

the birds. Along that line, be sure the fence wire size is small enough to

prevent other critters, i.e., minks, weasels, etc., along the outside edge to

access the birds.

Lastly, you will want to give some consideration to proximity to the

house before construction begins, because you may decide to run

electricity and/or water to the facility, which will be nice when you need

light, heat, and water. You will want to choose a location, which drains

well, because birds move a lot during the day following a rain whereupon

they will make a tremendous mess.

As for bird space, home flocks are given space at approximately 3' x

3' per bird, so if you want 20 birds, you will need 180 square feet of floor

space which is equal to a 10' x 18' pen.

As mentioned above, the location should be well drained. Depending

on how you construct the pen, a good absorbent litter may be included.

Some of the most common litter choices are pine shavings, rice hulls, or

ground corn cobs. Another good choice for bedding materials during the

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wet season is sand, because it allows for excellent drainage. You should

avoid using hardwood shavings, because they potentially provide a good

environment for molds.

A. Battery system (cage system): In the cage system of poultry

farming the poultry house are constructed over the pond water surface in a

row manner and the poultry dropping are allowed to fall to the pond water

directly. However, if the poultry houses are constructed on the

embankment of a pond below the cage some pots are placed to collect the

poultry droppings and from these pots the poultry droppings are applied to

the fish pond.

B. Deep litter system: In the dip litter system the poultry houses are

constructed on the pond embankment or any convenient places of the fish

farm. In this system the floor of the pen is covered with 10- 15 cm thick

easily available dry organic matter like- dry leaves of tree, chopped straw,

hay, saw dust, lime, etc. The dropping of the birds which fall gradually

combined with the materials used and bacterial action started. When the

depth of litter becomes less, more organic matter is added to maintain the

sufficient depth of litter. The litter is regularly stirred and after 2 months it

becomes dip litter and in about 10- 12 months it becomes fully built up

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litter In case of litter becomes damp lime is applied to make it dry. This is

preferred over the battery or cage system because of higher manorial

value of dip litter or fully built up litter.

Construction of Poultry House:

Production of good number of chicken eggs and meat can get if the

farmed poultry stock remains comfortably in the poultry house. Poultry

house must provide adequate space, cool during summer, warm during

winter and provide adequate supply of sunshine, good aeration and dry

environment. In construction of a poultry house it should be noted that the

house should always remain clean and dry. In direct integration the house

is constructed above pond water surface and in case of indirect integration

it is constructed either on the pond embankment or in any convenient

places of the fish farm. The height of the house from floor to the roof

should be 3.6 m and the height of walls should be 2.72 m.

Through the control of light and air the house should made air-

conditioned. The ceiling of the house is needed to be covered with a

screen. In direct integration the house floor is constructed with small holes.

This poultry house may be constructed at cheaper rate with locally

available materials like- bamboo, thatch, wood, etc. But this house may

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also be a concrete structure. In case of direct integration the floor of the

house should remain at least 1.2- 1.5 m above the pond water surface.

The space of the house required is calculated based on the number of birds

going to stock. Normally for every bird 0.3- 0.4 m2 space per bird is

required. In intensive farming of poultry in 1 house up to 250 birds can be

farmed.

Selection of Poultry Birds:

Depending on the utility, economic value and fancy purpose, etc. the

poultry birds are classified as-

1. Meat type (Broilers)

2. Egg type (Layers).

3. Game.

4. Ornamental.

5. Bantam (Fighter).

In the integration of fish and poultry farming both egg type and meat

type are farmed. In the cage and dip litter system both egg type and meat

type are grown. But in storied house (chang ghar) egg type birds are

farmed. In the dip litter and cage system any of the high yield (egg and

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meat) variety of poultry birds like- Rhode island, Leg horn, etc. are

suitable, but in storied house Kisten golden breed is only preferred.

Housing of Birds:

Just 1 month prior to stocking of fish pond with fish seed after vaccination

against viral diseases and after providing all prophylactic measures about 8

week aged poultry birds are brought to the house for farming. Before

introduction of birds into the house the house and

the utensils to be used in the poultry raising practice should be disinfected

with disinfectant like- potash.

When the poultry birds becomes 18 months aged then their egg

laying capacity will be reduced and the old stock should sale out and a new

stock should introduced to the house after cleaning the house with

disinfectant. For every 1 hector water spread area 500- 600 (67- 80 birds/

bigha water spread area) birds are sufficient for poultry-cum- fish culture

practice.

Egg Laying management:

Chicken starts laying eggs from 22 weeks onwards and they lay eggs from

22 weeks to 18 months. When their egg laying stopped then the old stock

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of chicken is replaced with a new stock of poultry birds. For egg laying they

need nest. This nest may be of wood or bamboo or tin made. For every 5-6

birds 1 nest is required. Therefore, based on the numbers of chicken the

required numbers of nests are kept in the house.

Health Care:

The area assigned to these chicks should have some flexibility such

that they can move through a range of temperatures (95 to 75 degree F).

During this period, it will be important to monitor the birds for signs of

stress; for instance, if the chicks are scattered around the area and

chirping loudly, chances are they are hot; conversely, if you notice the

chicks all huddled together in one area, they are likely cold . At the end of

Week 1, begin dropping the temperature by 5 degree F per week until you

reach 70 degree F, and then try to maintain that temperature. Monitor

brooding area for signs of stress.

The most neglected and overlooked nutrient is water. In many cases,

humans walk by what appears to be a bowl of “clean water;” but in fact, it

may contain millions of bacteria. In turn, the bacteria will stress the

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digestive system of the bird, such that it will not grow at the rate believed

to be their potential.

As a good practice, the water bowl or dispenser for birds should be

cleaned and monitored on a routine basis. In addition, the actual bowl and

other items should be cleaned routinely (weekly or sooner) with a product

like chlorine to reduce the incidence of microbial formation. Fresh water

needs to be supplied everyday to insure healthy birds. As mentioned in the

Placing Birds Section, there are critical times in which the care provider

must monitor water, extreme cold and extreme heat. Obviously, during the

cold periods, the biggest concern will be freezing.

There are some general factors an individual should keep in mind

when selecting a feed:

A) Make sure it is the correct feed for the application; for instance, don’t

choose a meat type ration when you are wanting layers to lay eggs.

B) Be sure to look over the ingredients, so that it meets your requirements;

that is, if you want a ration free of meat and bone meal, then just look at

the ingredient list across brands. Perhaps the biggest challenge an

individual will face is “deciding on which brand” to purchase.

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 Though prices differ a lot with location, a day old chick is not less

than N100. In a period of 2 years that the layer is expected to produce

eggs, the farmer can collect an average of 730 eggs from a single layers

and suppose the layer was later sold at N700 and the eggs sold at N10 per

egg, the farmer would make a total of N8000 from the single layer.

If the farmer started with 1000 birds and as expected about 10% was lost

due to death, the farmer would realize N 7,200,000 after 2 years of

operations with management procedure.

The investor can choose to add a chicken processing plant to the

business and derive more benefit by supplying supermarket, fast foods

joints etc.

The main tool is the cavity removal and defeathering equipment

which can be fabricated locally.

Poultry birds are suffered from viral, bacterial, parasitic, fungal and

nutritional diseases. Keeping the poultry house clean and dry and

vaccinating the farmed stock of the poultry birds against all the viral

diseases can help in maintaining a healthy stock of chicken. Before bringing

the poultry birds into the house the house and utensils to be used in the

farming practices should be disinfected. The farmed chicken should be fed

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with balanced feed. The poultry birds should fed the medicine for worms at

least once in a month. The veterinary expert is needed to be

communicated for any type of poultry diseases and accordingly advice may

be taken up.

References

Adekoya, A. E. (2005). Training needs of small scale poultry farmers on

improved production techniques, African Journal of Livestock
Extension, Vol. 4.
Aning, K. G. (2006). The structure and importance of the commercial and
village based poultry in Ghana : Final review report, Food and
Agricultural Organization, [Online] Available: www.fao.org, retrieved
on 6th April, 2009, 10:30 GMT.
Arzeno, A. (2004). Record Keeping in Farm Management, College of
Agriculture and Biological Sciences, South Dakota State University,
Brookings.
Assassie, L.K. (2008). Effectiveness of teaching and learning in the
agricultural colleges as perceived by stakeholders in the Ashanti
Region of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, KNUST, Kumasi (Unpublished undergraduate thesis).
FASDEP 1. (2002). Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy 1 ,
Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Guẽye, E.F. (2002). Employment and income generation through family
poultry in low-income food-deficit countries, World's Poultry Science
Journal, Volume 58, page 541-557, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge Journals Online.
Hansen, J. C., Johnson, D.M., Lesley, B. V. (1991). Developing and
improving your farm records, Department of Agriculture, University of
Maryland.

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