Unplucked

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...

In this special episode, Unplucked takes you inside the 2025 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, held in Raleigh, North Carolina. Host Andy Vance sets up the podcast booth right at the heart of the event to bring you exclusive interviews with researchers, educators, and graduate students shaping the future of poultry science.

Join nearly 1,200 members and guests from 39 countries as they share groundbreaking research and ...

Nutrition is becoming a lever for both performance and footprint, and the strategy differs by region. Andy speaks with Dr. Behnam Saremi of CJ Bio about the outlook across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where climate, feed availability, and policy targets push nutritionists toward new formulations. The discussion explains how single amino acids enable lower crude protein without sacrificing growth, how precision diets can red...

You can be right on facts and still lose on trust. Communications strategist Hinda Mitchell joins Andy to talk about how poultry and livestock leaders can connect with people who do not live near a barn. They discuss the power of simple explanations and real images, how to respond when a crisis hits, and why answers land better when they come from people who do the work. Hinda lays out a proactive approach. Explain how food is rais...

When eggs get expensive, everyone notices. To separate signal from noise, Andy welcomes Brian Earnest, lead protein industry analyst at CoBank, for a clear walk through supply, demand, and the structural changes that shape the retail shelf. They explain how highly pathogenic avian influenza cut laying capacity, why recovery is uneven, and how cage-free conversions changed the cost structure and the product mix. The episode puts hea...

Good science is only useful when it reaches the people doing the work. Andy sits down with Dr. Tony Pescatore to explore how the land-grant system turns research into practical help for farmers, integrators, and educators. They revisit a career that spans printed bulletins, county meetings, and the early internet, and look at how today’s mix of short videos, podcasts, and searchable factsheets meets people where they are. The conve...

Career paths in poultry science rarely run straight. Andy talks with Dr. Marc de Beer, president of Aviagen North America, about how a grounding in nutrition became preparation for leading a global genetics business. They discuss curiosity as a career tool, the difference between lab certainty and field ambiguity, and how to make decisions when data are good but incomplete. Dr. de Beer shares the practices he uses to evaluate risk,...

Precision nutrition is a mindset as much as it is a set of tools. PSA President Dr. Martin Zuidhof joins Andy to map how data, modeling, and feeder technology can reshape breeder and broiler programs. They explain how individual bird data unlocks new ways to control body weight, improve uniformity, and match nutrients to biological need rather than to averages. The conversation clarifies what precision feeding can already do, where...

Housing is not just a building choice. It is a biology choice, a management choice, and a market choice. Andy welcomes Dr. Inga Tiemann for a grounded comparison of European and North American approaches to welfare and production. They look closely at cages, aviaries, enriched systems, and mobile housing, and explain how genetics, behavior, and daily labor shape outcomes inside each environment. The episode avoids ideology and stay...

How did a patchwork of backyard flocks become one of the most sophisticated protein systems on the planet. In this episode, Unplucked looks backward to see forward as host Andy Vance sits down with historian Dr. Margaret Derry to trace the arc of modern poultry. They unpack the early days of organized breeding, the rise of performance testing and record keeping, and the split between egg and meat lines that redefined both genetics ...

The value of science depends on trust in the record. Andy interviews Olivia Nippe, a senior publishing ethics expert at Elsevier, about how journals and researchers are responding to image manipulation, paper mills, and the growing complexity of data. They examine authorship standards, peer review quality, and the detective work that editors and integrity teams do to protect readers and the public.

Listeners get plain-spoken guidan...

Hormones connect the brain to the barn. In this episode, Andy Vance and Dr. Tom Porter explore how endocrine signals shape growth, stress response, and reproduction, and why new single-cell tools are rewriting parts of the playbook. They discuss how the pituitary orchestrates development, how heat stress and management choices alter hormonal balance, and how better endocrine understanding can sharpen nutrition and welfare decisions...