In this focus, Rebecca Tierney from Teagasc and our own David Wright report on what is once again a challenging time for the poultry sector as the impact of avian influenza (bird flu) continues around the country.

While the majority of flocks thankfully have no contact with the flu, flock owners are restricted and legally required to keep all flocks indoors until the order is lifted. In an effort to limit the spread, all producers must tighten the biosecurity measures being implemented on-farm.

Those in the sector might also be interested in listening to Peter McCann talk to Bronagh Dempster and her career choice to go work with Noble Foods, one of the egg suppliers of choice for McDonald’s.

Catch this on the latest Youngstock Podcast – the podcast by young Irish Farmers Journal journalists specifically aimed at young people in the farming sector.

The other major and long-term challenge for the sector discussed this week by David Wrigh, and last week by Stephen Robb and Barry Caslin is the challenge of energy costs.

Poultry producers are large users of energy for heat, ventilation, lighting and feed delivery so improving energy efficiencies is key to achieving a margin on all farms.

The capacity for savings is bigger on older farms and there are potential investments that can be made that might now have a very quick payback period given where the cost of energy has gone in the last 12 months.

Depending on the situation, grant-aided solar photovoltaic panels can be paid back within three to five years.

As high energy users, there is a clear onus on poultry producers to investigate options.