Every integrator settlement sheet is a set of claims about your flock: how many birds went to the plant, at what average weight, at what feed conversion relative to the complex, with what mortality. Growers working with major US integrators — Tyson, Perdue, Pilgrim's, Mountaire, Fieldale, Wayne Farms, Koch Foods — receive these numbers on the integrator's systems and rarely see the arithmetic behind them. The comparison in this page is how you check those claims against your own records, line by line, with the documentation that turns a disagreement into a conversation instead of an argument. PoultryLog exists to keep the grower's side of that comparison.
What a Settlement Sheet Typically Contains
Exact line items differ by integrator and contract, but US broiler settlement sheets generally reconcile these categories:
| Settlement Line | What It Claims | Your Record That Checks It |
|---|---|---|
| Birds placed / grown | Starting population for the flock | Chick placement records, house entry counts |
| Birds delivered | Count sent to the plant | Catch records, exit counts by house and date |
| Average live weight | Mean weight of delivered birds | Weekly sample weights, catch-weight records |
| Total live pounds | Birds × average weight | Exit counts × your recorded averages |
| Mortality and culls | Losses during the grow-out | Daily mortality logs with dates and causes |
| Feed conversion ratio | FCR relative to the complex average | Feed delivered tickets vs weight gained (FCR method) |
| Feed conversion premium/discount | Pay adjustment for FCR position | Your FCR vs the stated complex average |
| Quality or grade adjustments | Condemnations, grades, defects | Plant receiving records you were given |
| Fuel or environmental adjustments | Contract-specific additions | Contract terms, your energy logs where applicable |
| Total settlement pay | What the flock earned | Sum of the above against your break-even price |
The Comparison Method, Step by Step
- Pull your records for the same window as the settlement. Exit counts by house and date, weekly sample weights with dates, mortality logs, and feed delivery tickets for the flock period. If a record does not exist, note that as a gap — an unrecorded line cannot be reconciled, and knowing which lines you cannot check is part of the audit.
- Normalize units and dates before comparing anything. Pounds vs kilograms, live vs dressed weight, bird-day counting differences, and which week the settlement assigns a mortality to — most "discrepancies" dissolve at this step. Confirm which average weight basis the sheet uses (delivered birds only, or placed birds).
- Compare the population chain first. Placed → alive at catch → delivered. If placed matches and delivered does not, the variance is in mortality or catch handling, not in pricing. If delivered matches but average weight does not, the variance is in the weight record — your samples vs the plant scale.
- Recheck FCR arithmetic yourself. Feed consumed (delivered minus feed remaining in bins) ÷ weight gained (delivered birds × average weight − placement weight). Compare your number to the sheet's, then compare both to the complex average the premium is calculated against. The feed consumption chart gives the expected intake curve for your strain and age.
- Quantify each variance in dollars before raising it. A 0.02 FCR difference on a 30,000-bird flock to 6.4 lb is roughly 3,800 lb of feed — at $0.50/lb, about $1,900. A 0.1 lb average-weight difference is 2,910 lb of live weight. Write the dollar figure next to the line: it decides which variances are worth escalating and which are rounding.
- Escalate with records attached, not with memory. Send the specific line, your computed figure, and the dated source records behind it — exit counts, weight logs, feed tickets. The growers who win these conversations bring documents, not frustration.
Common Variances and What They Usually Mean
| Variance | Usual Cause | Your Move |
|---|---|---|
| Delivered count differs by a few birds | Catch crew counting, transfer between houses | Reconcile against exit counts per house; small, documented gaps are normal |
| Average weight differs by 0.1–0.3 lb | Sample timing, plant scale vs hand scale, partial-day catch | Compare your sample protocol to the catch time; weigh a follow-up sample the same day |
| Mortality dated differently | Week-boundary assignment, culls counted separately | Rebuild the mortality curve by date from your logs and show the timing |
| FCR differs from your calculation | Feed remaining in bins uncounted, delivered weight vs consumed weight | Weigh bin contents at catch; recalculate with consumed feed, not delivered feed |
| Premium/discount does not match expected position | Complex average used may differ from the published figure you assumed | Ask the integrator for the complex average and period used in the calculation |
| A whole category is missing from the sheet | Contract terms, regional practice | Check your contract; request the basis in writing |
Why the Independent Record Wins
An integrator's sheet is computed on integrator systems from integrator data — weight scales, catch records, plant receiving. Your records are the only independent measurement of the same flock. When the two agree, the settlement is verified, not just received. When they disagree, the grower with dated, house-level records has something the other side does not: a second measurement of the same events. That is the entire value of the comparison — not suspicion of the integrator, but verification of the flock.
The habit that makes this possible is unglamorous: daily mortality with timestamps, weekly sample weights with dates, feed tickets entered the day they arrive. See the audit-ready records guide for the same discipline applied to compliance, and the tournament guide for how independent records change competitive conversations.
Running the Comparison in Poultry Log
Poultry Log keeps exit counts, weekly sample weights, mortality with dates, and feed deliveries against each flock — which means the population chain, the weight record, and the FCR inputs exist in one place before the settlement arrives rather than being reconstructed from memory afterward. The settlement calculator runs your numbers against the sheet's claims; the break-even price supplies the line below which the flock lost money regardless of what the comparison finds. Together they turn settlement day from a moment of faith into a five-minute check.
- 2026-10-05: Initial version. Line-item reconciliation table, six-step comparison method, common-variance table, and independent-record rationale.