Selling Live Birds: Market, Farm-Gate or Contract

The same bird can fetch three different prices

We hear versions of the same story often. Two farmers sell birds of nearly the same weight on the same Saturday. One is paid for every kilogram at his own gate and is back in the house by ten. The other loads crates onto a vehicle, waits in a market for a buyer who never comes back, and sells the rest before dusk for less. The bird was not the difference. The channel was.

Live birds in Ghana move through three main channels: you take them to a market, buyers come to your farm gate, or you agree a forward contract with a buyer for a set date, weight and price. Each one decides who carries the transport, who carries the risk of unsold birds, and how much control you keep over the price. Pick the channel by what you can carry and what you can afford to leave unsold, not by the figure a neighbour mentioned last week.

What each channel really asks of you

Market sales are the most open channel. You carry the birds to a livestock or poultry market, find buyers on the day, and sell to whoever pays the price you can accept. You get the widest choice of buyers and the least control over the outcome. The cost is the trip itself, the crates, the labour, the hours in the heat, and whatever dues the market charges.

Farm-gate sales turn the process round. Buyers come to you, usually traders, caterers, chop bar operators or people who buy for a festival, and they arrange their own transport. You choose the time, the weighing place and the terms. The price is often lower per kilogram than a good market day, because the buyer is taking the transport and the risk, but you do not pay for the trip either.

A forward contract is an agreement made before the birds are ready. A buyer commits to a number of birds, a date window, a weight band and a price basis, and you commit to deliver. Contracts give certainty and usually a lower price per kilogram than a buyer would pay on the day. They also come with clauses that can hurt if you do not read them. Our article on contract farming and outgrower schemes covers the different arrangement where a company supplies the chicks and feed, which is not the same thing.

Market sales: the most exposure and the most effort

The market suits a farmer with a steady flow of birds, a few trusted traders, and the time to be present on the day. It also suits the farmer who wants to know what the birds are worth, because you see the price being paid for other birds in real time. That information is valuable, and it is the reason many farms keep one market channel open even when they have contracts.

Before you go, find out what the market charges for a load and for each crate, and who collects it. Dues vary from market to market and change over time, so ask the market management for the current figure rather than relying on what someone told you last season. Plan the arrival time so the birds are not waiting in a hot vehicle while the trader arrives late. Carry water and a shade cloth for the crates, and a notebook with the weights you have recorded and the price each one fetched.

The weak point of a market sale is the last hour. Birds that have not sold by then are either sold cheaply, carried home, or left with a trader on credit. Agree a credit limit with each trader before you release any birds, and never let a single buyer take a load on credit that is larger than you can afford to lose.

Farm-gate sales: the buyer does the driving

Farm-gate sales suit a farm with regular buyers, a clear weighing point and a sensible location. The buyer's vehicle comes to you, which removes the cost of the trip, the crate hire on the road and most of the labour. You decide the day and the time, which helps you hold birds for a festival date and release them when the buyer is ready.

The price per kilogram is usually lower than on a strong market day, but that is the trade. The buyer carries the transport and the risk of holding birds. You are negotiating with fewer people, so the terms have to be clear before the vehicle arrives. Agree the price basis, whether it is live weight or dressed weight, the weight bands, the rejection rules and the payment method in writing, even if the agreement is a single text message.

Weigh the birds where both of you can see the scale. Tare the crate, weigh the birds crate by crate, and write each crate weight beside the buyer's name. Do not let the buyer's scale be the only scale. If the scale is yours, check it before the sale with a known weight, and keep the check on the sheet. Pay the money into your own account or wallet and see it there before the vehicle drives off. A farm-gate sale that ends in a promise to pay next week is a loan you did not mean to make.

Some farmers meet buyers at a bus station in town. That can work in daylight with a known buyer, but agree the place in writing and bring the weighing equipment and the receipt book with you. The meeting point should be somewhere that suits both of you, not somewhere that suits only the buyer.

Contracts: certainty for a lower price per kilo

A forward contract trades some of the price upside for certainty. Once it is signed, you know the buyer, the number of birds, the date window and the price basis, and you can plan the placement date backward from the delivery day. For a festive sale that is the difference between a comfortable Christmas and a rushed one.

A workable contract for live birds covers at least these points:

1. The number of birds, and the date window for delivery, such as a set day with a few days either side.
2. The weight band the buyer accepts, and how the weight is measured, including who weighs and on what scale.
3. The price basis, usually a price per kilogram of live weight, plus any adjustment for each weight band above or below the agreed range.
4. Who pays transport and who arranges it.
5. The deposit, the balance, and the number of days after delivery when the balance is due.
6. What happens if the buyer cancels, if the buyer rejects birds that meet the terms, and if you miss the delivery window.

Price the contract on a formula rather than a single figure, so that a change in the birds' weight is paid fairly. A base price agreed at signing can be adjusted up or down by weight band. Write the formula out with an example in the contract, so both parties can calculate the money without an argument on the day. For a large sum, have a lawyer or your district agricultural office check the wording before you sign. We are farmers and hatchery people, not lawyers, and this is not legal advice.

The sums: what one cedi per kilo is worth

Take a flock of 300 broilers averaging 2.3 kilograms at sale. That is 690 kilograms of live weight. On this flock, every one cedi difference in the price per kilogram is worth GH₵690. That single number is the best way to compare channels, because it lets you see what each channel's terms are worth without guessing what the market will do.

For a reference point only, our own price list shows a live broiler of about 2.5 kilograms at GH₵110, which works out at GH₵44 a kilogram. That is our list, not the market, and the price on the day in your area may be higher or lower. Check today's market before you set any figure, because prices move with feed costs, season and demand.

Now add the costs that do not show on a receipt. A market trip costs fuel, crate hire, labour, time and the dues on the day. If a market trip costs you the same as a farm-gate sale plus a day of your own labour, the market has to earn back that day before it is worth going. A bird lost in transport from 300 is 0.33 per cent of the flock, and that loss is also a cost you carry. The transport article explains how to cut those losses, and it is worth reading before the first trip.

Weighing: the number that decides the money

Every channel comes down to a weight, so the weighing deserves more care than most farmers give it. Birds that have been fed up to the moment of sale weigh more than birds held without feed, and a buyer who knows this will ask about it. Hold feed before the trip as the transport article describes, and agree the holding time with the buyer in advance, so nobody can accuse you of feeding the birds to add weight on the day.

1. Check the scale before the first sale of each season, using a known weight such as a bag of feed weighed on a scale you trust.
2. Weigh the empty crate first and record its weight.
3. Weigh the crate with the birds in it, and subtract the crate weight to get the bird weight.
4. Record each crate weight with the crate number, and keep a copy for the buyer.
5. Agree who holds the sheet, and make sure both of you sign it before the birds leave.

Expect some birds to fall outside the agreed weight band. Agree in advance what happens to them: whether they are rejected, taken at a lower price, or sold on another day. A rule agreed before the sale is simple to apply. A rule invented at the gate is a dispute.

Timing the sale against the festive calendar

Christmas, Easter and Sallah push demand up for a few weeks, and buyers who plan ahead for these dates often pay for certainty. That is where forward contracts earn their place. A buyer who wants forty birds for a Christmas gathering will usually agree a date and a weight band well before the rush, and will pay more for the reliability than a buyer who arrives in the last week.

Work backwards: fix the sale week first, then count back to the day the chicks go in. The weight at the sale date decides the price, and the feed needed to reach that weight decides the cost. Our guide to when to sell broilers explains how to find the sale age for each buyer, and the broiler day-old chick page lists the breeds we hatch for birds that are meant for this kind of sale.

Do not sell the whole flock into the festive peak if you have no contract. The last days before a festival are the most crowded and the most price-sensitive, and a rushed sale in a crowded market is where good birds get underpriced. Split the flock between two channels if you can, so that a slow day in one does not force the whole crop into the other.

Checking the buyer before the birds leave

Most channel problems are buyer problems. A farm-gate buyer who disappears after loading, a trader whose cheque bounces, or a contract buyer who asks for a delay the day before the birds are ready all cost the same thing: birds you have fed for weeks and cannot now sell at the price you planned.

Before any birds are committed, get the buyer's full name, business name if they have one, location and a working phone number. Ask other farmers who have sold to them, and check that the name and the phone number match. For a new buyer, sell a small first load and watch how the payment arrives. For a large buyer, take a deposit that makes the cancellation painful for them, and agree in writing what the deposit covers if the deal falls through. Keep the buyer's details on the order sheet, next to the weight records and the payment reference.

What changes when bird flu is near you

Disease changes everything about moving live birds. Movement restrictions can apply during an outbreak, and buyers may stop taking birds from an affected area altogether. Before you move birds in a period of disease news, check with your district veterinary office what applies that week, and do not assume that the rules from last season still hold.

Report any sudden or unusual deaths to the Veterinary Services Directorate or your district vet at once. Do not hold birds back in a hope that the problem will go away. Compensation schemes have existed in Ghana at different times, but the availability and the amounts vary, so do not plan a sale or a loss around one. Our avian influenza guide explains the signs to watch and the steps to take, and it is worth reading before you sign any contract that runs through a disease season.

The channel mix we would run

We would not put every bird into one channel. A farm with a steady flow of birds does well with three things at once: a forward contract for part of the flock, a farm-gate buyer or two for the middle of the cycle, and an open market for the last few birds and any overflow. The contract gives you the base. The farm gate keeps the costs down. The market keeps your price honest.

Keep a second buyer warm at all times, even when the first one is reliable. If your only buyer is taken ill, travels or stops paying, a second buyer who knows your birds saves the batch. Do the same with your chick supply. Our starting prices page shows what a box of chicks costs right now, and our team can talk through the sale timing when you order. Message us on +233 24 915 1503 or place your order when you are ready to plan the next batch against the buyers you have lined up.

Before you pick a channel, it helps to read our notes on moving live birds to market, when to sell broilers and finding steady buyers. If you are still growing the birds, our broiler day-old chicks are the place to start.

Questions farmers ask