Insights
Sourced research on running a pig, broiler or layer operation - the kind of detail we bring to every DeepLoop build.
2026-10-26
Layer Climate: The Feed Table Has a Temperature In It
Every nutrient level Lohmann prints is calculated for one house temperature: 20 °C. Run it hot and the hen eats less of the identical feed - the label never changed, but the egg shrinks.
2026-10-19
Pig Welfare: Score the Pig, Not Just the Pen
A pen can meet every resource rule - space, floor, air, water - and still be full of lame, bitten or wasting pigs. The pen is the risk; the animal is the result. Score the pig.
2026-10-12
Broiler Uniformity: The Average Weight Is Lying to You
Two flocks can hit the exact same average weight on kill day and pay out completely differently. The difference is the spread - CV% - and it's decided in the first week.
2026-10-05
Layer Rearing: The Rearing House Sets the Laying Life
A hen's whole laying life is largely decided before she lays a single egg - in the rearing house, by whether she hits her body-weight curve. And the two things that matter are ones a silo can't tell you.
2026-09-28
Pig Growth Targets: The Number Moves With the Weight
A growing pig doesn't have one target daily gain - it has a curve, and the number changes with every weight band. Quote a 'finisher ADG' without its weight range and you're comparing three different journeys.
2026-09-21
Broiler Litter: Wet Litter Is the Whole Game
Ammonia, hock burn, downgraded feet - treat them as separate problems and you chase each forever. They are one problem: the litter got wet. Keep it under 35% moisture and the rest follows.
2026-09-14
The Layer Curve: Peak Is Not the Number That Pays
Almost every flock climbs to nearly the same peak. What separates two flocks is persistency - how slowly the curve comes down - and the fact that egg number and egg weight move in opposite directions.
2026-09-07
Pig Water: The Nutrient Nobody Meters Per Pen
Get the water wrong and feed intake follows it down. The daily requirement doubles across the barn and drinker flow-rate targets split across five breeders - set once at housing and it's wrong at both ends.
2026-08-31
Broiler Lighting: The Dark Hours Are Doing the Work
The oldest instinct is to keep the lights on. Both breed manuals say the opposite - darkness lets the bird lay down late growth, leg strength and breast yield. And Ross and Cobb set the dark to different depths.
2026-08-24
Layer Feeding: A Hen Eats Grams, Not a Percentage
The percentage on the feed label is a requirement divided by how much the hen actually eats - and she doesn't eat the same every day. Phase feeding is two dials turned against each other, not one turned down.
2026-08-17
Pig Heating: The Set Point Is Not the Answer
Two pigs, same weight, same building - and their correct temperature is 5 °C apart. The only difference is that one is eating and the other is not. Why the controller can hold set point while the pigs are nowhere near it.
2026-08-10
Broiler Brooding: Decided Before the Chicks Arrive
A day-old chick loses heat into the floor it stands on - which makes preheating a floor job, not an air job. The targets both breeders agree on, and why one reading at placement tells you almost nothing.
2026-08-03
Layer Lighting: Why White and Brown Birds Run Different Programmes
Light is the switch that starts lay. Two rules sit above everything - and the white bird and the brown bird are not run the same way, even from the same breeder.
2026-07-27
Pig-House Air Quality: The One Limit Five Sources Agree On
A Danish advisory body, two Dutch genetics companies, an American breeder and a Danish one - all working from different research - land on the same ammonia limit. Most farms still measure it in the wrong place.
2026-07-13
Cold-Weather Ventilation: What Ross, Cobb and the Data Actually Say
Sealing a broiler house tight for winter feels right on the thermometer. The breed guides, a published camera study and a university airflow dataset all say otherwise.