Discussion With Poultry Farm Owner From Calyx Pilot Program
Calyx has had quite a busy year! We ramped up production of ammonia sensors, delivered a huge order to a US client despite setbacks from the pandemic, started testing new gas sensors and conducted several pilot programs with Taiwanese poultry farms. Our pilot programs have been incredibly successful, we’ve even been able to help find the root cause of a major problem one of our customers was facing — stay tuned for the story on that in our next post!
This week, we spoke with a poultry farm owner from Pingtung, Mr. Wang, who participated in our pilot program about his experience with using our ammonia sensors and partnering with us.
(Calyx in bold and Mr. Wang in quotes)
What improvements have you made in your broiler houses based on our actionable insights?
“The data insights have allowed us to make live adjustments to our ventilation system. When ammonia (NH3) levels are too high, ventilation gets turned up. However, in the case where ammonia is high but temperature is too low, we tend to wait until temperature is higher before turning up ventilation.
We’re also considering feeding probiotics to the broiler chickens. Because ammonia in the poultry house comes from manure, probiotics may help lower the amount of ammonia released. This is a potential long-term plan that requires more research.”
From those changes, how has the well-being and performance of your flock improved in the past few months?
“After installing the ammonia sensors in the broiler houses, we’ve been able to maintain low ammonia levels which means the chickens get to live in a much healthier and safer environment. Since the chickens are happier and healthier, the two metrics we care about most have improved: Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) decreased by 1% and average weight increased by 0.64 lbs per bird. This improvement is amazing as it has impacted our revenue and thus our profits.”
Has your protocol around the farm changed drastically since implementing the sensor systems? Have you had to implement a lot of extra steps like calibration or maintenance?
“Calyx sensors don’t require calibration or constant maintenance, so there hasn’t been any extra work from the farm which we’re really happy about. All we have to do is let the sensors hang there and feed us data and notifications sent to our phones and computers.”
Were you hesitant about implementing Calyx’s ammonia sensors initially? If so, why?
“Yes, the main concern was the cost. However, ammonia is an important factor affecting flock performance and it’s crucial to know the exact levels in our broiler houses. There are currently no other solutions that read ammonia concentration with such high accuracy in a humid environment — there was nothing to lose by testing it out. Also, after doing some calculations, we found that the ROI is excellent, justifying the cost of the solution. We made a small financial investment for this pilot which yielded great results and are eager to order more units to install around all our farms.
The tech part was also a consideration but the Calyx team demonstrated how easy it is to operate the sensors. Even non-technical people will find the UI to be seamless and straightforward.”
Would you recommend our sensor system? Who would you recommend this system to?
“Yes definitely! In fact, there’s a Taiwan Farm Group on Facebook. When the sensors were first installed, we shared a post and received quite a lot of questions about it. The sensors are really easy to install; the Calyx team did it for us and it was done within an hour. We would recommend it to our neighboring farms and peer farmers, anyone who’s interested in maintaining and improving their broiler house performance.”
What has been the best part about working with Calyx?
“It’s been great working with Calyx! The most important thing is that the ammonia sensor system has been very informative. The product itself is very high quality and durable, there hasn’t been any issues. The team is easy to work with and incredibly supportive. They’ve been true partners at trying to identify issues in our broiler houses.”
Calyx gas sensors use patented bioengineering technology. Our solutions are customizable to suit specific business and industry needs.
To learn more about our company and products, visit us at www.calyxtechs.com.
To contact us, you may email us at info@calyxtechs.com.
