Flock Size and Feed Conversion 



It is often thought that feed conversion becomes poorer as flock size 

 increases and management becomes less personalized. Such an inverse 

 relationship between increasing flock size and feed conversion would 

 have an effect on the desirability of size adjustments by contract growers, 

 and thus on income and capital accumulation. A regression analysis 

 was made on the feed ratios of 58 flocks sold over a 3-month period 

 ranging in size from 2,000 to 65,000 broilers. All flocks were produced 

 by growers of a single integrated firm. For these rather homogeneous 

 enterprises, the analysis showed no significant relationship between flock 

 feed conversion ratios and flock size. Figure 2 shows the derived regres- 

 sion for these data. 



Age at Time of Sale and Feed Conversion 



Two analyses were made of the effect of variation in age at time of 

 sale on feed conversion. The first test was a regression analysis of feed 

 conversions of 71 flocks of a single breed produced by 22 growers of a 

 large integrated firm. The age of these flocks at time of sale ranged from 

 65 to 76 days. The regression, illustrated in Figure 3, shows that the ratio 

 becomes poorer the longer the birds are kept. 



To substantiate the above result, a second test was made using data 

 procured in a broiler test where there was less chance of variation from 

 other influences. These data, summarized in Table 1, show that feed 



Figure 2. Relationship of Feed Conversion to Flock Size 

 for 58 Flocks Sold During July-September, 1956* 



2.9 



62.7- 



(T 

 LU 



1 2.5 



o 



Q 

 LU 



£2.3 



2.1 - 



Feed conversion adjusted to eliminate trend. Flock size in thousands. 



7 



