Quick Take-Away : This is a verbatim transcript of Video No. 2 (out of 33) in my New Practical Feed Formulation (& Compounding) Home Study Video Series. I explain background details about my popular feed formulation handbook, which the video series is based on. Watch the full video below. Email tayo at tksola dot com, for a download link to the MP3 audio version.
===Starts===
So I’ll start by talking a little bit about how I got to learn about Feed Formulation.
And I think it’s important that I do that because today I use that knowledge and my expertise in that area to help farmers…
Some have facilities that run into millions of naira.
I (once) had a farm (client) that had over 12,000 layers in production.
And so these are adults.
Most of them are graduates. Some of them have been in business for years. But the knowledge I use to help them in ration formulation is actually something I gained when I was an undergraduate in the university.
And that’s why I feel it is important to mention the time I spent with the Students’ Farm Research Foundation (SFRF) in the University of Ibadan.
I was (a member) from my 3rd year in 1989 till my final year (1992). And that was for 3 years.
I was able to learn by participating in the daily activities of the foundation, which involved the rearing of animals like rabbits, poultry…when I say poultry I mean cockerels, layers, broilers…
We raised all sort of animals. We had eggs we were selling virtually every day.
We would sell of our layers and broilers in the right season.
And we were self funding.
In other words the money we made was what we ploughed back into the business, to keep the farm going.
We never had to borrow. We didn’t need patrons to donate money to us.
Like people would do today. They say they’re students and they want money.
We actually raised our own money.
We used to have an end of year party every year.
And we actually used to give ourselves lots of farm products e.g. eggs, chickens, and we would even give to our patrons, who didn’t have to give out their own money to us.
Instead… many of them were lecturers in Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture.
They were much older than we were, and more experienced.
So whenever we had issues we could go them for help.
But most of the time we ran the organisation ourselves.
We kept out own purse. I was the supplies coordinator in my final year, and we never ran out of money, because we always channelled the money and used it for what we meant.
I did some basic book keeping which I learnt from my uncle.
And so we kept track of what was coming in and was being spent. I would take the ration formulated by the Project Coordinator, who was like the President to the club.
And I would take that and go to the feed mill, and get the ration compounded along the lines of the formula he had prepared.
And every time we had a problem with the supply of a particular ingredient, we could quickly make changes because of our knowledge of feed formulation.
He was extremely good at it, and he later taught the rest of us.
And we could equally come up with a different ration using some other ingredients.
Sometimes we would run out of Palm Kernel Cake, or Groundnut Cake or Maize. And we could use something else like Sorghum to replace maize.
And we always had very good performances.
Sometimes we would have disease outbreaks like Gumboro, and we would have to manage it to still make the most of our production season.
The point I’m trying to make here is we didn’t sit in our classrooms expecting miracles to happen.
We got out and got our hands dirty.
So anybody who runs a farm business will have to have the same attitude, and understand that if we as students could have done it, and had a profitable enterprise that we handed over from group to group.
I mean some people would graduate and the next set would take off…
I don’t know if the club is still there today, but as of then it would run year in year out like that.
And the business was profitable!
If students could have done it in a university, I believe that any adult who is running a real life business can succeed at it as well.
The core focus you should have is on lowering your cost of production, and the area where you have the greatest expenses is in the area of feeding.
That’s why you need to understand the science of ration formulation.
And you should understand how to do the computation. Understand the principles behind it.
Understand the issues relating to anti-nutritional factors. Understand how you need to explore the use of alternative feed ingredients that are lower cost.
And also understand how to use my Ration Formulator, the software which you have bought.
Because there’s no way you’re going to get this video series/package without that.
It all comes as one package. That’s the plan I have.
So if you can do that, then you can succeed in farm business.
And like I said…again, I’m repeating it, if students could have done it, as undergraduates in the university, there’s no reason you as an adult, already a graduate running a real life business, cannot succeed.
So in the next clip, I start talking about the ration formulation process, and what it entails.
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Get your copy of my new Feed Formulation Home Study Package. You can see photos of the Home Study Pack ready for dispatch to a buyer via courier in this article – click HERE.
It comes with 33 videos (totalling 4 hours of instruction) on DVD.
Also included are a FREE print (i.e. physical spiral bound) and digital copies of my popular Feed Formulation Handbook, its accompanying Ration Formulator software, video demonstrations for use of the software etc.
NEW: Practical Livestock Feed Formulation (& Compounding) Home Study Pack
