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Egg prices can fall faster than your feed bill, and that’s when “normal” nutrition habits start burning cash. We sit down with Curtis Novak, PhD, Director of Poultry at Alltech, to get practical about what layer farms can do right now to reduce feed cost per ton without accidentally crashing egg production, shell quality, or livability. Curtis brings both bench science and field experience, and he doesn’t dodge the uncomfortable reality that some operations are forced to consider pulling older, lower-producing flocks earlier than planned.

We dig into the decision tree Curtis uses with producers: start with the biggest cost drivers like energy, fat, and protein, then tighten formulation by thinking in amino acids instead of just crude protein. From there, we talk feed additives with a hard ROI lens. Which products protect gut health and reduce losses from issues like E. coli, and which ones can be paused when the only goal is survival? Curtis also explains why enzymes often belong in the “do not cut” category because they’re relatively inexpensive and can unlock nutrients that lower total diet cost.

We also zoom out beyond nutrition, because management and data decide whether any diet works. “You can’t feed yourself out of poor management” becomes a real on-farm standard when ventilation, water, feed delivery, or wet litter problems drag performance down. We discuss how accurate egg counters and better flock data help you spot row-by-row issues faster, and why investing in pullet quality and uniformity sets you up for profitable long-cycle layers out to 90 to 100 weeks.
Contect with Curtis on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-novak-3961b8a2/
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Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Sales - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com