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Fun Facts
New Zealand Consumption
The average New Zealander ate 32.5 kg of poultry meat each in the year ending June 2009 - 35.7% of all meat consumed! Would you like to know more about poultry meat consumption?
Poultry Industry Employment
The New Zealand poultry industry employs over 3,500 people annually! Would you like to know more about training possibilities in the poultry industry?
Mythbusters!
We can not tell you whether the chicken or the egg came first, but we can bust some myths about the poultry industry in New Zealand.
NZ Poultry - Growth Hormone-Free!
No growth hormones are used in the New Zealand poultry industry to accelerate growth. Would you like to know more about this industry issue?
 
   
 

    • Growth Hormones Douments
 
GROWTH HORMONES ARE NOT USED IN NEW ZEALAND'S POULTRY INDUSTRY

There is a strong public perception that growth hormones are widely used in the poultry industry.  However, growth hormones never have been and never will be used in New Zealand's poultry industry.

Growth hormones make animals grow faster by altering the metabolic processes at a cellular level in the animal. Any growth rate changes in animals that are given hormones are the direct result of the hormone. A growth hormone is a chemical messenger within an animal that stimulates or inhibits specific metabolic activities in tissues or organs. A synthetic growth hormone is a man-made chemical that is similar enough in amino acid sequence and structure to allow it to mimic the effect of the natural hormone it is copying.  Neither synthetic nor natural growth hormones are used in the poultry industry.

To find out more about why we don't use growth hormones, you can read Rick Kleyn of Spesfeed's easily-digested article entitled Why We Don't Use Hormones In Poultry Feed.

 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GROWTH HORMONE AND AN ANTIBIOTIC?

Antibiotics do not mimic the effect of natural hormones, nor do they alter any metabolic process of the animal (like growth hormones do). They only work on bacteria, which can affect the health and welfare of the bird. Growth hormones have no antibacterial effect.
 
WHY ARE ANTIBIOTICS AND GROWTH HORMONES CONFUSED?

When poultry are given antibiotics in the presence of disease causing organisms, they will grow faster because they are able to grow at their potential and make full use of available nutrition. The purpose of growth hormones is to affect the metabolism of the animal to increase growth rates. The outcome with both substances is an improvement in growth rates but for entirely different reasons.
 

    • Growth Hormones Documents
 
For further Information on the use of Antibiotics in the New Zealand Poultry Industry see the following papers.

 (PDF) 337kb
Questions and Answers
 (PDF) 195kb
20 December
 
 
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