Thomas D’Alfonso, PhD, Worldwide Animal Nutrition Focus Area Director at the U.S. Soybean Export Council, recently spoke to The Poultry Site’s Sarah Mikesell about the value of uniformity in the turkey flock. 

“What’s important in turkey production is to get them to the processing plant at the target weight because in that weight range, they receive the highest revenue per pound or kilogram of turkey meat produced. That’s why it’s important to have a consistent ingredient like soybean meal derived from U.S. Soy.”

“The feeding program is going to be most economical when it more precisely meets the needs of the animal. When you’re changing the diet in the phase feeding program, having the primary source of the essential amino acids and the metabolizable energy be consistent is particularly important.”

“We’ve seen research showing differences in feed conversion [between soybean meals of different origins] of more than three points, and in fact, even between five to 10 points in some cases of feed conversion. These are enormous feed cost differences. We did some estimates of poultry producers, various types of poultry, producing 20,000 metric tons of feed per month. It was $3 million a year in extra profit because less feed is required.”

Read more or watch the full interview here or below.