CAGE HOUSING

27 LOHMANN › MANAGEMENT GUIDE 27 a synergistic effect. Further – if onemycotoxine is present it can be supposed that other others will be there as well. If farmers or veterinarians ‘have the feeling’ that animals or a flock of poul- try suffer from mycotoxines, a well-established monitoring program of the used feed raw ma- terials first and finally compound feed needs to be carried out; there is the golden rule – one analysis of one sample tells you nothing – as mycotoxines mostly occur in spots and will never show an even distribution. Thereafter it needs to be decided if the level of contamina- tion is acceptable or if a so called ‘binder prod- uct’ needs to be used in order to protect the animals. If those products need to be used they should be bought from reliable companies and being added only with recommended dosage, which can vary in regard to different products. The general risk of harming the birds from mycotoxines can be easily reduced in an high extend via normal control and handling of raw materials, which means for instance a nor- mal visual and physical check of ALL incoming raw materials and / or an easy and cheap sieve cleaning of rawmaterials. For further detailed recommendations and support contact LOHMANN specialists.