Assistant Farmer at RCL Foods

Job Description    
RCL Foods Breeding Operation team based in East London Cobb is currently seeking 1 talented Assistant Farmer for Laying, that will serve as trusted support for the Farm Manager. 

Minimum Requirements    

• Minimum Grade 12 is required, relevant qualification will be an advantage.
• Minimum of 3 years’ relevant poultry or animal production experience.
• Staff Supervisory and leadership experience.
• Ability to work shift work/ standby/overtime and in quarantine.
• Must be able to live on site.
• Strong people management skills.
• Attention to detail and Good analytical skills
• Willing to work in a continuous operation.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• House Preparation prior to placement in order to create ideal conditions for bird production.
• Chick Placement – co –ordinate and monitor staff, liaise with the hatchery, chick placing foremen, hick truck driver, logistics company.
• Post placement of chicks (Brooding conditions) – Evaluation of chick quality, recording of vent temperatures, temperature setting.
• Growing conditions – Daily monitoring of the bird performance which entails feed intake, water recordings, temp and humidity recordings, mortality recordings, egg production, weight progression, uniformity management.
• Ensure a minimum of 4 complete egg collections are done per day.
• Check egg grading to ensure hatching eggs comprise first grade eggs only.
• Ensure best practices are enforced to minimize floor eggs and reject eggs to acceptable standards.
• Egg fumigation – ensure each egg collection is fumigated according to the procedure.
• Ventilation management – Adjust ventilation static pressure and air exchange to achieve minimum and maximum bird requirement according to bird growth, age and environmental conditions. Ensure both ventilation and house temperatures are correct for age.
• 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; Calculation of feed requirements for the birds, daily bin stock counts; checks on dummy hoppers for sufficient feed, 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, monitoring of feed finishing times, ensuring feed distribution is uniform and distributed within the acceptable norms.
• Outsource activities – Preparation of the house environment prior to catching/ transfer/ depletion commencing; all documentation relative to these activities - need to check accuracy with the planners; good communication and planning with the catching team, logistics and customer to minimize any holding time. Monitor muck out and washing contractors for quality of service and adherence to deadlines.
• Biosecurity and Farm sanitation – Maintaining an effective biosecurity programme by practicing good hygiene, vaccination and disease prevention. Ensure all procedures pertaining to biosecurity as per the BOP are followed.
• Bird Health – Daily monitoring of bird condition, activity and mortality. 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, mortality records, production graphs, flock sheets, weighing documentation.
• Staff management – Keep and update daily registers, MDWT’s (Mission Directed Work Teams), disciplinary records, training records ; review meetings.

Closing Date: 11th, March 2022