U.S. Agricultural Team Vaccinates Chicks

Multi-National Force - Iraq ^ | Jamie Vernon,

[SandRat]

Charles Russell, a member of the U.S. State Department Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team and an agricultural advisor, sprays 21-day-old chicks with a vaccine to prevent Gambaro disease, which attacks a chick's immune system, at the Poultry Agkardi Hatchery during an EPRT event in Mahmudiyah, Feb. 27. Photo by Jamie Vernon, 1st Armored Division Public Affairs.

MAHMUDIYAH — The U.S. State Department’s Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (EPRT) participated in a project inoculating and delivering chickens to the Mahmudiyah Poultry Association, Feb. 27.

Charles Russell, an agricultural advisor for the EPRT, traveled to the Poultry Agkardi Hatchery here to assist local Iraqi farmers in spraying 22,000 chicks—each 21-days-old—with a vaccine to protect them from Gumboro disease.

Gumboro disease (also known as infectious bursal disease) destroys a chicken’s immune system, leaving it susceptible to infections much like AIDS does in humans. Untreated, the highly contagious disease can lead to high mortality rates among chickens.

The chicks were taken from the hatchery to the Mahmudiyah Poultry Association where they will be raised for 40 days, long enough for them to grow to a weight of at least 2 kilograms. At that weight, they will be ready to be sold to local markets and the Iraqi populace as poultry.

Prior to the program, the chicks were raised for 60 days. Many times the chickens would only weigh 1.7-1.8 kilograms, not enough to be sold as poultry.

This EPRT project helped reduce the amount of time needed to raise the chicks, consequently cutting back on feed costs, as well as the fuel used for the hatchery’s heaters.

“The profit is in the management. When the feed is not good, and the breed of chicks is not good, the [outcome] is not good,” said Shaykh Labid Khalid, owner of the coops and a board of director member for the Mahmudiyah Poultry Association.

In the past, the poultry association did not have healthy chickens to sell. The farmers of Mahmudiyah could not rely on having enough poultry as their source of income. The EPRT funded this program to help the Mahmudiyah Poultry Association create better management. This, in turn, helps provide job stability for the Iraqi people, and supports their economy.

“This project, established with U.S. assistance, is going in a smooth way,” said Mr. Shakeir, owner of the Poultry Agkardi Hatchery and a member of the board of directors for the Mahmudiyah Poultry Association.  “This is a wonderful project that creates a lot of jobs for many different tribes and helps the economy in the Mahmudiyah area. The money that went to cater to this project went to the right place.”

More vaccines will be given to the chicks in the coming weeks to help further prevent Gumboro and other diseases related to reduced egg production.

(By Jamie Vernon, 1st Armored Division Public Affairs)

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My thought seeing the head line:
U.S. Agricultural Team Vaccinates Chicks

ITS ABOUT TIME!

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