Do you run a poultry farm business and you want to scale or diversify?
If YES, here are top 10 tips for growing or expanding your poultry farm
business.
Poultry farming is profitable alright, but a lot of people still fail
and incur lots of losses in this business all the same. Poultry farming has
been in existence for ages and while some people have smiled to the bank and
expanded their businesses, a lot of investors have blamed themselves for going
into this business.
I always remind people that no business is easy. There is always the
risk of failure in any business. Even if it is just selling candies; if you do
not do it right, you cannot succeed at it. Also, I always remind people that
every business has its ‘trade secrets’ and a lot of people fail in business
because they do not know the trade secrets of their business.
Poultry, just like any other business out there has its trade secrets
which you have to know to increase your chances at success. Some of the trade
secrets to expand your poultry business include the following:
Top 10 Tips
for Growing / Expanding Your Poultry Business
1. Start Small
Don’t start large
scale poultry farming if you are inexperienced in the business. Don’t
read about how people are making millions from poultry farming and then go
ahead to invest your life savings into the business or go and obtain loans to
start a business you are inexperienced at. For a business like poultry farming,
you have to start small and then expand gradually as your business grows and
demands for your products increase. You should also do a proper feasibility
study before you go into the business. If there are too many competitors or if
the supply for poultry products exceeds the demand in your area, then look for
somewhere else to start your business or look for another business to start.
There are several other lucrative businesses in the livestock farming industry
that you can consider.
2. Consider
Meat Packaging and Production
A lot of people get their poultry products from grocery stores and
supermarkets. Very few people still buy live animals because they feel it is
less stressful when you buy already packaged meat which you can use to make
your meal in few minutes. Therefore, you should really consider having your own
meat production and packaging business to sell the products from your farm.
Once you have your poultry farm, starting a meat packaging company
is fairly easy. Just create a space for butchering and cleaning the animals,
hire butchers and buy equipment that would make the job mechanized and faster,
some refrigerators and then approach food regulatory agencies in your area for
a license and boom! You are ready to start packaging your own meat.
3. Have Your
Own Sales Outlet
Another way to expand your poultry business is to have your own
sales outlet and not rely only on supplying to retailers. You don’t have to
have too many sales outlets; you can start with just one. You can sell your own
branded chickens and chicken parts and fresh eggs to consumers.
4. Offer Mobile
Sales and Delivery Services
Twenty-four hours in a day is just not enough for most of us because
of the kind of busy lives we lead. Now, imagine having to cook, shop for
groceries, tend to the kids and do all sort of other house chores and still
maintain a 9 to 5 job. It’s really not easy for a lot of working parents and
this is why mobile sales and delivery services always works. A lot of people
see such services as a live saving one; a service that brings you necessities
without dealing with stress and traffic. With a van or two, you are ready to
start offering such services within your area and that is also an expansion of
your income.
5. Employ Sales
Representatives
Don’t think that your business is too small to employ sales reps or
that poultry business is not serious enough to have sales representatives.
Right here in my office, I have someone who brings me fresh eggs weekly and
frozen chicken when I feel like having chicken.
She’s a sales rep and earns commission for each item she sells. I
have also been able to introduce her to my colleague and friends who also buy
from her regularly. Now, her employer is a very smart poultry farmer because
even when I buy from the grocery store, I only buy their products. Having a
sales representative is a good way to increase awareness for your products and
increase sales too.
6. Have Your
Own Hatchery
Instead of purchasing day old chicks, it’s more cost effective to
have your own
hatchery for hatching new chicks. You would be able to reduce the costs
of hatching and also increase output compared to outsourcing the service to
other people.
7. Produce Your
Own Feed
Another tip for growing your poultry business is to have your own
feed mill for producing chicken feed. Chicken
feed production is not so hard; if you can learn how to raise chickens,
then you can learn how to produce chicken feed and if you are able to reduce
the costs of producing feed, you would be able to increase on the overall
profitability of your business.
8. Employ
Experienced Staff
Another way to grow your poultry business is to employ people who
are experienced to handle the operational aspects of the business. If you have
a really large poultry farm, you can employ business consultants to suggest
ways through which you can expand your poultry business.
9. Take Stock
Regularly
You should also keep an eye on the output from your farm. You should
have a store where eggs are stored and have some people who would be in charge
of stock
keeping and counting the chickens regularly. This would help to prevent
thefts.
10. Apply for
Government Grants
Agriculture is something that the government is always interested
in. And that is why there are a lot of support programs for investors in the
agricultural sector. Such support programs come in the form of government
backed loans and grants. You should look out for such grants and apply for
them.
This is where
we will be ending our discussion for today. Remember to share your comments, views and opinions.
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