Benchmarking: The Key to Smarter Decisions in Poultry Farming

Benchmarking: The Key to Smarter Decisions in Poultry Farming 

By Nayara Tavares Ferreira, PhD 

Director of Strategic Marketing and Technology - Poultry, Trouw Nutrition North America 

To support our egg producers in benchmarking their flocks’ performances, Trouw Nutrition Canada has developed IntelEgg™, a digital tool designed to simplify performance evaluation and data-driven decision-making. 

What is benchmarking? 

Benchmarking is the process of measuring and comparing farm performance—whether against previous flocks, industry standards, or other operations. Key metrics like feed intake, egg production, and mortality rates help producers identify strengths, address inefficiencies, and optimize profitability. 

Why does benchmarking matter for poultry producers? 

Benchmarking plays a crucial role in helping poultry producers improve their operations. By analyzing data, producers gain valuable insights into production costs, performance, and efficiency, allowing them to identify both strengths and areas for improvement.  

Comparing these insights to industry benchmarks helps set clear, measurable goals that align with performance expectations across the industry. This not only boosts productivity but also creates a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. With defined metrics in place, teams can track progress, stay motivated, and strive for better results. Benchmarking also supports smarter decision-making by validating current strategies, ensuring that feeding programs and management practices are effective. Ultimately, it enables producers to streamline operations, identify cost-saving opportunities, and improve profitability across the board. 

How can IntelEgg help egg producers with benchmarking? 

Using IntelEgg, egg producers can generate flock reports in real time, covering both bird performance and economic measures. These reports can track daily and weekly performance via measures such as egg production and egg weight, and compare these results to established standards for that specific breed and housing type. All data is securely stored and easily accessible at any time, and can be shared with a Trouw Nutrition/Shur-Gain advisor for proactive support. 

Because IntelEgg provides information in real time, it empowers producers to quickly detect performance issues, enabling earlier intervention and corrective action. Altogether, this digital tool empowers producers to make more informed, data-driven decisions.  

At Trouw Nutrition, we’re committed to providing innovative tools like IntelEgg that contribute to our producers’ success. IntelEgg is the latest digital tool in our toolbox to support you, the producer.