Poultry Litter Management
Poultry litter, combined with our Agri Minerals Graphite Sand (AMGS), is proving to be a highly beneficial way to improve quality of life for poultry. Thus, keeping your flocks healthy and happy.
Additionally, AMGS mixed with the litter and used as a soil amendment, benefits produce crops and minimizes water and air pollution, at the same time.
Let’s talk in depth about poultry litter.
Depth
Generally, litter should be kept at a depth of 2-4 inches. If it is too shallow it might not absorb moisture effectively. Furthermore, reused litter should be thought of almost as a living organism, with its microbiome of bacteria and microorganisms.
Moisture Control
Ventilation is essential to remove moisture from the air and the litter. Poor ventilation holds more humidity, promoting diseases. Water management, ensures your birds are well-maintained and prevents spillage, to reduce water waste.
Temperature
Keeping the right temperature helps in controlling moisture. Too cold, the litter might not dry out, too hot and it might become a breeding ground for unwanted pathogens.
Types of Litter
Litter types include, wood shavings (mainly pine), straw, rice hulls, peanut hulls, and sand such as AMGS’s graphite sand.
Regular Stirring
Turning the litter helps in drying out the litter and reducing caking. Odor control involves managing the birds’ diet, litter type (recommend using AMGS), and ventilation.
Cake Removal
If cakes form (wet, compacted litter), it is important that they are removed to prevent build-up and disease.
Ammonia Levels
Regular monitoring of ammonia levels is crucial for the welfare of the birds. Ammonia damages the cilia in the respiratory tract and reduces the chickens’ ability to remove contaminants and protect the birds from viruses and bacteria.
Poultry Health and Bacteria Control
The microbiota (bacteria) found in a poultry’s intestine as well as on their skin and feathers contribute to their health and production. The microbiome has complex interactions with their hosts, which could be harmful (pathogenic) or beneficial (symbiotic) and can play a key role in human and animal health.
Pathogens prefer a pH of 6-8. Poultry litter is 7.5-8.5. Acidic environments are more likely to be hostile to pathogens, so managing the litter pH to a more acidic state will help reduce pathogenic proliferation. Along with controlling ammonia levels, litter amendments are used to control microbial populations. The lower the pH the better, for controlling pathogens. Recent research shows the elevated acidity kills pathogens like Salmonella and E. Coli. Furthermore, to achieve ammonia control, the pH level should be below seven. Additionally, killing pathogens requires a level of 4 or below. Our AMGS has a pH of 3.5 (acidic) making our graphite sand ideal for poultry houses, as a litter amendment.
Litter Amendments
Using our proprietary product Agri Minerals Graphite Sand (AMGS) as your primary litter sand works in several ways to combat many of the challenges faced by poultry farmers. Thus, making successful poultry litter management, achievable with AMGS.
The primary function of a litter amendment is controlling ammonia volatilization from poultry litter. To achieve the genetic potential of today’s broilers and maximize performance requires minimizing stressors related to air quality and poor litter. Litter treatment is an opportunity to aid in the balance of nitrogen to phosphorus in litter to better suit crop requirements when applied to agriculture land as fertilizer.
When considering using a litter amendment, you should consider the type of litter you should use. Additionally, you should consider the litter and air quality concerns influencing bird performance, health, and profitability. This includes food safety and environmental matters.
A good litter treatment has an acidifying product, such as AMGS which has a pH of 3.5 (Acidic). AMGS contains graphite which is a bio-inoculant (important for good microbial activity in combination with manure as fertilizer), containing about 2-3% graphite and about 28% graphitic clay (graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions). We recommend using Agri Minerals Graphite Sand (AMGS) as your poultry litter. Use AMGS as a strategy to assist in the reduction of ammonia emissions from broiler houses and other poultry settings.
Healthy Soils When Using Graphite Sand
Graphite in the sand is photocatalytic, it excites the electrons in the sand. In poultry houses the graphite will disinfect the manure and the sand will handle the ammonia. Graphite helps reduce nitrogen leaching, preventing the nitrate (- charge). Soil doesn’t hold nitrate, it is soluble goes where water goes. However, ammonia and ammonium have a positive (+) charge. Therefore, they hold soil, so no leaching occurs.
If you are going to mix graphite sand (pH 3.5) as an acidifier in compost, mix it with about 10% graphite sand. Graphite in the mine tailings is a bio inoculant so as a soil amendment it will increase the good soil bacteria the bacillus. While we recommend our graphite sand, AMGS, for commercial size poultry houses and as your primary chicken litter, it is also great for arenas and stalls.
If you were using the graphite sand as a bio inoculant as a soil amendment and were only using pure graphite, you would only need 20 pounds per acre. This speaks to its effectiveness. Thus, we only offer graphite sand and it is currently available as our AMGS product. The recommended application is no more than roughly 500 pounds per acre with a spreader. Example – applied on a no-till hay field once or twice a year (for the warm season grasses and again for the cool season grasses). With every purchase you would be going green, helping us recycle graphite mine tailings back into the environment in a productive and eco-friendly manner. Thus, helping reduce environmental pollution while improving your crop.
Articles that discuss litter management in depth include:
- University of Delaware
- WATTPoultry
Got sand? Yes, we do!
Here at the old graphite mine in Texas, we have about 2 million yards of Agri Minerals Graphite Sand (AMGS), available for bulk purchase.
For more information on our AMGS and sales, contact us.