Assistant Farmer - Laying - Rainbow Chicken

Trending Talent Solutions; Worcester; On-site; ZAR 180,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Trending Talent Solutions is seeking a Poultry Supervisor in Worcester. The role supports the Site Supervisor in managing operations, resources and manpower to ensure the right quality birds at the right time and cost. Opportunity to take full responsibility when the Site Supervisor is off-site.

Required: at least 3 years in a poultry environment with exposure to laying supervision, Grade 12 and a fitness to handle bird feathers and dust. Driving license is advantageous.

Qualifications

• Minimum Grade 12; tertiary qualification will be an advantage.
• Physically fit with no allergies to bird feathers and dust.
• Driving license will be an advantage.

Responsibilities

• House Preparation: create ideal conditions for bird production before placement.
• Chick Placement: coordinate and monitor staff, liaise with hatchery and foremen.
• Post placement of chicks (Brooding conditions): evaluate chick quality and record vent temperatures.
• Growing conditions: daily monitoring of bird performance including feed intake, water, temperature, humidity and mortality.
• Ventilation management: adjust static pressure to meet bird requirements.
• Water management: water sampling, flushing lines, sanitation of water reticulation, daily pressure settings.
• Feed management: record deliveries, manage stock, adjust feeder levels and sample feed.
• Outsource activities: prepare house environment; ensure catching documents are accurate; coordinate with catching team and logistics.
• Hygiene and Biosecurity: adhere to SOPs; training staff on animal welfare and bio-security; maintain biosecurity program.
• Bird Health: daily monitoring and post mortems as required.
• Record Keeping: maintain updated documentation files (health and safety, feed, house charts).
• Staff management: keep daily registers and records; conduct reviews.
• Maintenance: test equipment and alarms; maintain farm grounds.
• General Production: submit samples to labs; monitor environment; manage vaccination program and rodent control.

Skills

Poultry operations

Staff coordination

Biosecurity compliance

Ventilation management

Education

Grade 12 or equivalent

Tertiary qualification advantageous

Job description

• To assist the Site Supervisor in managing the operations, resources and manpower of the site thereby ensuring the optimal number of the right quality birds at the right time and at the lowest cost. To take full responsibility when the Site Supervisor is not on site.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum Grade 12; Tertiary qualification will be an advantage.
• Physically fit with no allergies to bird feathers and dust.
• Driving License will be an advantage.

Required Experience:

• 3 years’ experience in the Poultry environment with experience/exposure in a Laying supervisory capacity .

Key Responsibilities:

House Preparation

• Prior to placement in order to create ideal conditions for bird production.

Chick Placement

• Co –ordinate and monitor staff, liaises with the hatchery, chick placing foremen.

Post placement of chicks (Brooding conditions)

• Evaluation of chick quality, recording of vent temperatures and temperature settings.

Growing conditions

• Daily monitoring of the bird performance which entails feed intake, water recordings, temp and humidity recordings and mortality recordings.

Ventilation management

• Adjust ventilation static pressure to achieve minimum and maximum bird requirement.

Water management

• Water sampling prior to placement, flushing of the water lines three times in a week, sanitation of house water reticulation, daily water pressure setting and nipple heights.

Feed management

• Receiving and Recording of feed deliveries relative to feed programme; daily bin stock counts; management of feed heights; adjustment of feeder levels according to bird’s size; monitoring of feed quality (% of fine feed); sampling of feed when the truck arrives.

Outsource activities

• Preparation of the house environment prior to catching commencing; all documentation relative to catching need to check accuracy with the broiler planner; good communication and planning with the catching team and logistics to minimize any holding time.

Hygiene and Biosecurity

• Adhere to the VCM and BOP procedures
• Ensure compliance to SHEQ and Risk Management
• Training of staff with regards to animal welfare, food safety, equipment within the operation and Bio-security procedures.
• Maintaining an effective biosecurity programme by practicing good hygiene, vaccination and disease prevention.

Bird Health

• Daily monitoring and activity of birds, and sending of post mortems to the laboratory as per VCD;

Record Keeping

• Keep the documentation files updated that is KFC, health and safety files; feed recording; house chart records; rodent control and mortality records.

Staff management

• Keep and update daily registers, mdwt’s, disciplinary records, training records and review meetings.

Maintenance

• Test equipment and the standby generator on a weekly basis to ensure reliability and good working order.
• Test the alarms in the morning and afternoon, on a daily basis to ensure good working order.
• Maintain the farm grounds.

General Production

• Ensure the submission of samples to the laboratory (blood, water, dust, mortality and feed) as required.
• Monitor and record environmental conditions of poultry houses practices to enable proactive management of potential animal health issues.
• Manage the vaccination process to ensure immunizations and vaccinations are done in time and according to the vaccination program, BOP and veterinary specifications.
• Ensure that effective rodent control measures are in place.