Coccidiosis in broiler flocks can be tackled by administering anti-coccidials. However, resistant coccidiosis can render coccidiostats almost useless. That was the case at Tom Serraerens broiler farm in Belgium. Using a vaccine was his last resort.From the time that poultry farmer Tom Serraerens bought his broiler farm in 2007 in Nevele, near the Belgian city of Ghent he knew that the situation in his three barns wasn't perfect. The situation he encountered was far different from that on two otherfarms where he was raising broilers. "Intestinal health has been a problem from the start. Every round, I saw the same issues return. Mortality was higher than normal, birds weren't growing as they should and litter quality was poor and too wet." It didn't take theveteran poultry farmer long to figure out that a coccidiosis infection was at the core of his problems. However the solution wasn't as simple as he thought. Serraerens: "The coccidiosis infection in all three barns in Nevele was pretty severe. We did a chemical clean up and started administering anti-coccidials of different types in rotation programs in the hope that we could tackle the problem."
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