Merck Animal Health has introduced a new tool to help the broiler industry evaluate the cost differential between in-feed programs and vaccine programs for the control of coccidiosis in their flocks. The calculator guides live production managers and their veterinarians to input key production and feed data, including average bird weight at slaughter, weekly bird placement and average feed cost per ton. Users also input in-feed and vaccine coccidiosis control programs, including pounds of feed consumption, plus cost per ton for in-feed anticoccidial and cost per thousand doses for Coccivac-B52 vaccine. The return on investment is then calculated, comparing the cost of the in-feed program to the vaccine program and calculating the break-even feed conversion ratio improvement needed.
“The Coccivac-B52 Cost Calculator is a quick and easy way for live production managers and their veterinarians to take the guesswork out of which coccidiosis control program to run – just by inputting their data into the tool,” said Charles Broussard, D.V.M., senior account manager for poultry sales, Merck Animal Health. “We have done all of the work on the back-end to run the comparisons so decisions can be made on what program will provide the best return on investment.”
The Merck Animal Health Coccivac-52 Cost Calculator is available through a Merck Animal Health sales representative who can also provide a demonstration and instructions for accessing the web portal. The cost calculator tool is free of charge. For more information on Merck Animal Health’s poultry product portfolio including vaccines, visit https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/species/poultry.
