Unplucked

What does leadership look like when you sit at the crossroads of farms, consumers, media, and policymakers? In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Jim Chakeres, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association, about telling agriculture’s story with honesty and heart while steering producers through disease outbreaks, policy shifts, and fast-changing public expectations. Jim explains why Ohio’s diverse pou...

Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis is one of the toughest puzzles in modern broiler production. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance sits down with Dr. Adnan Alrubaye of the University of Arkansas to explain why BCO lameness resists simple fixes and what the latest science says about preventing it. Dr. Alrubaye connects the dots between fast growth, microfractures in long bones, and the way a compromised gut can ...

Waterfowl do not read our biosecurity plans. They follow weather, water, and habitat, and they carry powerful lessons for disease prediction and prevention. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with UC Davis poultry epidemiologist Dr. Maurice Pitesky about the Waterfowl Alert Network, a platform that treats ducks and geese like a moving weather system. Dr. Pitesky explains how repurposed weather radar, telemetry, and...

Soybean meal is the backbone of modern poultry nutrition, yet most formulations treat it like a constant when it is anything but. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Novus International’s Anne Fe Parino about the hidden variability inside the world’s most trusted plant protein and why nutritionists should be paying closer attention to trypsin inhibitors. Anne Fe explains how differences in genetics, climate, an...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Rocio Crespo of North Carolina State University about what it really means to manage poultry health through a One Health lens. Dr. Crespo explains why many flock problems that appear to be infectious diseases often begin with nutrition and metabolism, and how delayed diagnosis keeps veterinarians chasing symptoms rather than causes. The conversation reframes production da...

Trust is not something you buy. It is something you earn every day. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Kim McConnell, founder of AdFarm and a lifelong advocate for agriculture, about how the animal agriculture community can close the widening distance between producers and consumers. The conversation starts with first principles. Be transparent about how food is raised, show the benefits in plain language, and...

Newcastle disease is largely under control in the United States, yet vaccination choices still shape flock health and performance. In this episode, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Brian Jordan of Zoetis about why not all Newcastle vaccines behave the same inside the bird and how a data-first approach can reveal hidden gaps in protection.

Dr. Jordan explains the concept of vaccine take, how routine PCR monitoring shows whether bird...

Campylobacter is not your typical poultry pathogen. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Issmat Kassem of the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety about why this bug survives where others do not, and what that means for food safety from farm to processing plant. Dr. Kassem explains how Campylobacter thrives in the chicken gut, why its biology and genetics break some of the rules we apply to Salmonell...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance sits down with Dr. Randy Mitchell, VP of Nutrition at Perdue Farms and a newly named Fellow of the Poultry Science Association, to examine how one of America’s most recognized poultry brands turns values into daily practice. Dr. Mitchell traces his path from a North Georgia farm to corporate leadership and explains how Perdue’s family-owned culture shapes decisions that reach from feed ...

Artificial intelligence and robotics are not the same tool, and understanding the difference changes how you plan, budget, and deploy technology in poultry science. In this episode, host Andy Vance talks with Georgia Tech’s Walker Bynes about where fixed automation ends and flexible robotics begins, and how AI fits in as the decision layer rather than the machine itself. Walker explains why most plants still rely on purpose-built m...

Moisture control sits at the center of good broiler management. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Brian Fairchild of the University of Georgia about the house as a living system and how small environmental choices cascade into flock health, welfare, and costs. Dr. Fairchild explains why design and day-to-day execution both matter, how ventilation strategies should change with the season, and why chasing a...

Hatchability has quietly slipped in the United States over the last decade, and the cost shows up everywhere from breeder houses to the balance sheet. In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with industry veteran Doug Ward about why there is no single fix and why the biggest wins often come from getting the basics right. The discussion explores how older hatchery infrastructure, changing genetics, and uneven incubation ...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Kayla Price of Alltech Canada about what it really takes to make progress against coccidiosis, one of poultry’s most persistent and costly challenges. The conversation cuts through the assumption that a tidy parasite life cycle leads to tidy control. In the barn, multiple pressures collide, from bird behavior to management realities, and the simple model gives way t...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance sits down with Dr. Doug Korver to unpack what decades of genetics and nutrition have really done to modern broilers, and what it means for the next decade of poultry production. Dr. Korver explains why visual storytelling matters just as much as data, reflects on the iconic side-by-side comparisons of broilers across eras, and lays out the simple truth that biology has limits. The conve...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance talks with Dr. Lisa Bielke of NC State about what gut health really means in poultry and why bacteria in the gut are not just along for the ride. Dr. Bielke traces her path from early probiotic work to today’s omics era, explains how data is reshaping what we know about the microbiome, and shares why selecting probiotics for specific functions can deliver benefits that go well beyond fo...

On this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance sits down with Dr. Scott Kenney of The Ohio State University to unpack how highly pathogenic avian influenza appeared in dairy cattle and what that means for poultry producers. Dr. Kenney explains the virology in plain language, from receptor binding and reassortment to why certain tissues act like virus factories. He shares results from high-containment studies showing that intranasal ...

In this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance explores the cutting edge of poultry nutrition and feed innovation, live from the Poultry Science Association’s annual meeting. Andy talks with Dr. Emma Song, Global Technical Director at Sunhy Biology, about her latest research into phytase and its potential to completely replace inorganic phosphorus in poultry diets. Dr. Song shares insights from her presentations at the conference, d...

On this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance speaks with Dr. Mercedes Vazquez-Añon, Novus Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Accounts, to explore a challenge facing poultry producers worldwide: declining broiler hatchability rates. Recorded at the Poultry Science Association’s annual meeting, this conversation dives into how nutrition, especially micronutrients and trace minerals, plays a critical role in breeder fertili...

On this episode of Unplucked, host Andy Vance sits down with Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, for an in-depth conversation about the future of food, the realities of animal agriculture, and the importance of connecting scientific progress with compelling storytelling. Recorded live at the Poultry Science Association’s annual meeting, their discussion takes listeners beyond the world of poultry to examine how cattle, cu...