This year was the second year of Ceva’s Hatchery of the Year challenge and once again the competition was tight, with the scores between the top 10 hatcheries being very close.2016 also saw an average improvement of 4,4% of all hatcheries for the year. In second place was Supreme Poultry Belgie hatchery and third place was taken by Eagles Pride Bronkhorstspruit hatchery. Eagles Pride made a clean sweep of the prizes as they boast three hatcheries in the top 5!

WHAT MAKES EAGLES PRIDE KOSTER A WORTHY WINNER?

Eagles Pride Hatchery Koster continuously strives for perfection, and despite it being a brand new hatchery, the personnel accepted the challenge with enthusiasm. Together with the Ceva Vaccination and Services team they took ownership of the Ceva C.H.I.C.K program performing beyond the high standards set by their management.

WHY THIS CHALLENGE?

This challenge, which forms part of the C.H.I.C.K program was implemented to establish some healthy competition within the industry whilst motivating personnel to improve beyond the acceptable industry standards and to demonstrate to customers how a specific hatchery benchmarks itself against the rest of the industry.

SETTING A HIGH STANDARD

A very high standard is kept to achieve Quality Code of Practice accreditation. The whole process is supported, verified and accredited by a third party, Bureau Veritas. Ceva’s C.H.I.C.K program was recently awarded quality recognition from Bureau Veritas.

WHY THE QUALITY STAMP OF APPROVAL?

Quality management is of high importance for the agri-food industry and when it comes to poultry production, the vaccination process in hatcheries plays a crucial part to guarantee the vaccines are well applied to achieve maximum potential for protection in the field.

The integration of the vaccination process in hatcheries as part of a Quality Management system is critical. Ceva’s C.H.I.C.K Program Quality Code of Practice, which was produced together with Bureau Veritas Group, is today the reference for vaccination services and a main contributor towards better productivity.