Tag Archives: Farm Business Owners

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz

FREE: Commercial Catfish Pond Production Manual

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Like I said when I launched this new SD Nuggets blog, I've a lot of useful stuff I plan to share with persons keen on making in-roads into farm business. I'll be scouring the net and letting you know about any useful findings I make that can help you achieve your dreams of succeeding as farm business owners.

If you have any interest in Catfish Farming as a business, and are looking for sustainable low cost ways to venture into it, you’ll LOVE this PDF manual I found.

Below is a screenshot of the cover page of – and download link to – a very useful “Manual for the Commercial Pond Production of the African Catfish” – prepared in Uganda.

Cover page - Manual for the Commercial Pond Production of the African Catfish in Uganda

It was produced based on real life catfish farm business operations run by participants in a collaborative initiative involving Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures; Auburn University, Alabama, USA; USAID; Fisheries Investment for Sustainable Harvest as well as Walimi Fish Cooperative Society in Kampala, Uganda.

If you need any help making sense of the contents of that manual, or with any aspect of the catfish farm business, send in your comment or questions below, and I’ll do my best to get you the answers you need.

1. Click here to visit the source (university) website

2. Click here to download the Catfish PDF Manual directly

AND HERE”S THE FIRST OF MANY NEW ZERO-COST OFFERS FROM ME

If you already own a copy of my Feed Formulation Handbook, and would like to have a .f.r.e..e PDF copy of my new “Annotated Pictorial Introduction to Feed Ingredients report” (which sells for N7,500) simply reply with a YES to info at cbstudio.biz , and I’ll send your copy to you, with your NAME and Email address printed on the cover within 24 to 48 hours – NO CHARGE whatsoever.

This offer lasts until midnight of Monday 6th August 2012.

If you want it, just send email to info at cbstudio.biz, and I’ll send yours to you. You do NOT have to pay anything. It’s FREE. And you get a PDF document of over 25 pages containing more than 35 high resolution photographs I took of feed formulation ingredients, and which I annotated with useful notes about where to find/buy them, prices – and viable alternatives where available.

Remember: This offer lasts until midnight of Monday 6th August 2012. Once it expires, the price reverts to N7,500.00.

Also don’t forget: EVERY person who buys(or has bought) the feed formulation handbook is eligible for a 25% discount to buy my Feed Formulation Software (which now sells for N15,000). In other words, you pay ONLY N11,250 – and you get the PDF guide – which sells for N2,500 – FREE.

This is my way of saying THANKS to you. I am determined to give you tangible continuous value in every way possible. There are more pleasant surprises to come. So stay tuned!

 

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz

Annotated Pictorial Introduction To Livestock Feed Formulation Ingredients

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This is one of many new additions I planned to make to my Information Products Library this year. My work schedule has been quite tight, but I’ve kept at it, and am now pleased to announce that this new report will become available from Thursday.

However, only buyers of the Feed Formulation Handbook will be eligible to buy it.  I’ll do a more detailed post from Friday 27th July 2012.

Got any comments or requests? Why not let me know what they are below!

Annotated Pictorial Introduction To Livestock Feed Formulation Ingredients

 

annotated_pix_intro_to_feed

 

AnnotatedPDFCover

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz

A Poultry Disease That Kills Profits: Protecting Your Poultry Layers From “Fatty Liver Syndrome”

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On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 17:44:21 +0100,  a gentleman who had already purchased my popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook as well as the accompanying Excel-VB Driven Feed Formulation Spreadsheet Software sent in this question:

Hi! Tayo,

I recently transferred my layers to cages and they are doing well but they have gained a little weight. I have read about “fatty liver syndrome” for layers on cages due to lack of physical activity.

The formula I used is maize 500 kg, SBC 75kg, GNC 115kg, BDG 50 kg, PKC 50 kg, whe(a)t offal 70 kg, plus other fixed ingredients in one tone.

Are my birds likely to experience this condition?

Thanks

B.

Below are excerpts from my response to him that I’ve made into a post. If you find the answers I’ve provided useful, please use the social share buttons to tell others you know may find this post of interest. 

Hi B…

Now, your question is interesting because it requires the application of KNOWLEGDE about a principle which has been scientifically established. Feeding of excessively high energy and/or high fat content feeds often causes problems in MOST animals – man included.

In Commercial Poultry Farming however, such inappropriate feeding of in-production birds, as well as a combination of a number of other factors has been shown to pre-dispose them to Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome, which you mentioned. I have personally never seen a bird afflicted with it, but I’d read enough and learnt what measures to take via MAINLY feed formulation, to reduce chances of causing it via wrong feeding regimes.

The key is for the farmer to check energy content of EACH feed formula s/he uses and ensure it matches the needs of the bird group to be fed with it. My handbook supplies recommended values you can start with. As always, I encourage finding out via practical checks, what works best for you. So, subject the formula you sent me, to the check and see if you’re within the acceptable limits.

Note that THIS alone, especially in our hotter and more humid tropical environment, tends to be the major cause of FLS. As you rightly noted, battery caged birds naturally get to enjoy LESS exercise, making it difficult to burn off ANY excess fat that may accumulate from consuming high energy foods. THAT is the reason why, target kcal of energy per unit of food is lower for caged birds than those on litter etc.

Some sites have provided more literature on various causes of this ailment. I am however a believer in focussing on what I can put to use for myself in practical terms. What I can CONTROL by myself – considering that I operate in a limiting environment. With that in mind, it is my opinion that the other implicated factors (mentioned on sites I’ve supplied links to below) such as “deficiency of nutrients that mobilise fat from the liver (lipotropic agents), endocrine imbalances and genetic components” may not readily offer themselves to YOU, as a farm owner, to control.

In summary therefore, I am saying I agree with the following recommendation, if you wish to protect your birds/investment:

Protecting your poultry layers from fatty liver syndrome

Whatever I (or any websites) may have to say on this however, B…, as the farm owner, YOU must take appropriate due diligence measures to ensure you arrive at solution(s) that give(s) you the best results. The decision is ultimately yours to make. Information supplied can only HELP YOU arrive at that decision.

Suggested Further Reading:

1. Diseases: Fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS)

http://www.worldpoultry.net/diseases/fatty-liver-haemorrhagic-syndrome-flhs-d24.html

2. Fatty Liver Syndrome: Introduction

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/202400.htm

3. Important Nutritional Diseases that Affect Laying Hens

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1600/important-nutritional-diseases-that-affect-laying-hens

GOT ANY QUESTION(S) – OR COMMENT(S)?

Do you have any question(s) relating to this subject or theme?

Why not post it(or them) in the comments section below, and I’ll either do a direct response or if I find it worthwhile, I’ll research and publish a separate post on it!

Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz

Livestock Feed Formulation: Are You Looking For Practical Training?

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I’m writing this based on a response that I sent out recently to someone who contacted me saying he saw a post on Nairaland.com referring persons interested in feed formulation to my Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas website.

This will not be the first time I’ll be getting such enquiries based on link backs from other websites. Indeed, I have in the past come across websites linking back to my Farm Biz site while I was doing some searches.

Anyway, I’ve used excerpts from the response I provided to this gentleman, to make this post, for the benefit of others who may be interested. If you can come together as a groups, a significant discount on the “fee” for conducing the training can be had.

Below: The enquiry

Hi,as per our discussion.i would like (you to) teach (me) and also have an on-farm practical trainning on livestock feed formulation.please,how do i go about it and what is your advice?thanksediang aniekan archibong

…And my response…

It’s 1.13a.m and I’m still up, working on an Excel Software development project for a client of 5 years.

I mention this to give you a picture of the kind of schedule I keep. Apart from developing Automated Excel Software (like the one for Feed Formulation), I also develop and implement web marketing systems, in addition to a lot of (freelance) writing for clients and my own websites/blogs.

This is why the attention I pay to the Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas service is designed to be on a needs basis. Your request fits in with my expectations of what people want from that area of my service.

However, many do not find my terms of service acceptable. I am hoping you will. So, here are my responses and comments…

1. To “teach” you practical feed formulation in person, one-on-one, will require a 100% advance payment of a non-refundable fee of N35,000.00.

This will get you a 2 hour session with me, in which I will take you through the theoretical aspect of using the Pearson Square Calculation to formulate your livestock ration. This will be followed with the physical selection, weighing and milling of the feed ingredients in the appropriate quantities at a feed mill.

You will get a printed and bound copy of my popular Practical Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook at NO EXTRA CHARGE (N7,500 value).

2. You mentioned on-farm practical training on livestock feed formulation.

First of all, I do NOT run a farm currently. Like I said above, I am a multipreneur, earning income using a variety of skills.

As is stated on the Cost Saving Ideas Website (http://www.iff.spontaneousdevelopment.com), I plan to establish a Farm Business Support and Extension Advisory Services Center at some point in the future. But for now, I do NOT run a farm.

However, a read through the website will reveal I have reliable farm business exposure, experience and network of contacts with farm business owners within and outside Lagos.

One major challenge for me has been getting most farm business owners and those aspiring to understand that my services CANNOT be provided FREE or at unprofitable levels.

Now, I’m not sure how much experience or knowledge you have of feed compounding, but the truth is most of what it entails can happen right in your bedroom – and you’ll only need to step out when you want to measure out the different ingredients in your formula, so as to take them down to the feed mill.

What I’m saying in essence is that typically a farm owner, if knowledgeable about feed formulation, will do his/her calculations, and then measure out the different quantities of feed ingredients based on his computed feeding formula.

S/he will then grind them all together to the right consistency for the livestock s/he aims to feed. Indeed, you may find you go from your home, to the feed mill FIRST, and only arrive the farm when you have the milled feed ready for use in feeding your animals.

Simply put therefore, Ediang, “on-farm practical training on livestock feed formulation” is not really an issue to worry about. Once you understand the practical science of feed formulation, and gain insight into how to select good quality ingredients (with reasonably accurate nutrient composition data), you are good to go.

A SUGGESTION FOR YOU

It’s up to you to decide, but I believe unless you doubt your ability to understand written notes and follow step by step guidelines, you would save a lot of money by simply purchasing the feed formulation handbook, and/or the software with it’s user guide and video tutorials. This entitles you to get FREE support via phone and e-mail whenever you need help.

My SPECIAL BUNDLED OFFER

You can buy the 60 page handbook as well as a CDROM containing my feed formulation spreadsheet software, the software’s PDF user guides, and its 3 audio-video tutorials for N18,500.00 (excluding delivery costs).

Alternatively, simply buy the handbook for N7,500.00 (excluding delivery costs).

LEARN MORE

You can learn virtually everything you need to know about my Feed Formulation Handbook and software by visiting http://www.cbstudio.biz and clicking either “Excel VB Feed Formulation Software” or “A Buyer’s Questions About Feed Formulation” on the vertical left side menu bar.

Among other things, you’ll:

A. gain access to links leading to a video demonstrations of the spreadsheet software being used to formulate a ration

B. read answers to Frequently Asked Questions from past buyers and enquirers

IMPORTANT NOTE ON PRICES

I am currently updating various pages on my websites to reflect my new price regimes. As a result, prices on some of them may be dated.

You should note that any price (be it lower or higher) that I give to you directly via an e-mail like THIS one, takes precedence over any other you may see on ANY of my websites, flyers, Facebook page or other media.

Call me on 234-803-302-1263 if you need further details or require clarification.

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