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Finding staff

//21 Oct 2010

Author: Wiebe van der Sluis

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to interview the owner of one of the largest poultry operations in Russia. He mentioned the difficulties he had finding qualified people to manage units within his organisation. Large scale projects require managers who understand the specific aspects of growing chickens. The basics are often looked at as being rather simple do’s and don’ts. The reality is much more complicated.

Growing high quality chickens requires an excellent understanding of the all mechanisms that may have an impact on bird performance and ultimate quality.

Large operations have the possibility to look at maximising the final output instead of focusing on bottom line results of every single unit. They can hold back in certain links of the production chain to increase the performance of the next link. Understanding these mechanisms is of utmost importance before becoming a successful unit manager in a large operation.

This tells that these large poultry operations have to invest a lot in training their own staff. Candidate managers may be available within the same country where it is based, but often qualified managers have to come from elsewhere in the world. This creates a multi-cultural environment where future top managers can develop themselves.

Unfortunately the applicable companies are not always aware of their own responsibility to train and keep these youngsters, who may have had to move from a lively student life in a university city to a remotely based poultry farm. Too often we hear about poor living conditions and/or long working hours and little or no possibilities to maintain a social or family life. Compensating this with a high income usually suits these young people well, but it also stimulates them to do the job for a while and leave again. Those companies who are aware of this and compensate their staff members for these inconveniences may find a reward in highly motivated staff members who are prepared to stay and grow with the company.

The before mentioned company owner in Russia is aware of the needs of the people who are working for him and is proud to have staff members from different parts of the world who are with him already for quite some time.

 
 

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Comments (11)

1.
I keep hearing that the facilities in Russia are terrible. Is that true? What about the feed? It takes both management (Husbandry), facilities, and feed to begin to make a broiler grow to the genetic potential.
John R. Blakely at 25-10-2010 14:33
2.
I give courses on broiler production management to farm managers. However in this case I could train trainers at a more intense level and they would then train the company production / site managers.
Ken Marshall at 25-10-2010 15:09
3.
Agree with you completely Wiebe,this is the trend in most countries. Reasons are numerous, including aging population, working in poultry industry is not attractive and the pay is not not always good. I am within my organisation trying to get some people trained but that also has some problems
Aziz Sacranie at 25-10-2010 15:43
4.
Dear Mr. Wiebe van der Sluis
I agree completely that the poultry producers have to invest a lot in training their own staff. Moreover we should advise them to make a fair system for the salaries for their own staff, start from the managers to the labors. The main problem in our poultry field is the routine work. They should consider their workers as a partner. I have a good sample and story for my suggestion. In 1999 I designed and install a broiler farm in Sudan for one my company clients. We make a good training program for all the farm staff. After that, when we follow the results of the farm we noticed that the mortality is high (8.6%) and the conversation rate (CR) of feed is low (1: 2.05). I suggest a new salaries proposal for the workers. The new salaries proposal is depend on production bonus. We put the mortality and CR target % is 5% & 1:1.85 respectively. The bonus with targets values is = 0 and every 1% & 0.01 (Mortality & CR, respectively) = 5% salary more. After 3 rearing cycles the mortality and CR results are 2.3 % and 1: 1.78, respectively. The salaries increased from 0.72 to 0.90 Million U$ (0.18 Million U$ more) but the farm owner gain more than 0.50 Million U$ compare with the last 3 rearing cycle before this bonus proposal. The bonus encourage the workers to consider them self as a partner. I think this is the best way to save a high performance for the poultry farm. Most of the consultants give the poultry producer advices for good feed formula, feed ingredients source, good equipment and good farm design��etc. no one talking about the labors encouragements. In my opinion the labors training and encouragements are the most important factors to get a good performance of the poultry farm.
Best regards.
Dr. Hesham Ibrahim
Ph.D Poultry Managment
G.M.
Poulitec Ltd.
For Poultry & Agricultural Projects
9, El-Kamel Mohamed st.
Zamalek, 11211
Cairo � EGYPT
Tel: +20 2 27357335
Fax: +20 2 27361571
Mobile: +20 123102891
hibrahim@poulitec.com
www.poulitec.com

Dr.Hesham Ibrahim at 25-10-2010 19:40
5.
I am a veterinary surgeon specialized in avian pathology and poultry technology with a big experience in international training.
I can confirm that the training is essential for a complete and correct management, but to be effective must be highly qualifying and with international experiences. Only in this way is possible the creation of a professional team.
Luciano Giovannetti, DVM Spe. Avian Path. at 01-11-2010 16:14
6.
it needs educated people,in general .most comments was edited by specialists.but what about workers (Labour),most of them are not qualified,specially in this field.so applications of any success is and will be not achieved. On the other hand ,our educational environments and tradition behave is a necklace,reflex by it's mirror including vices effect on all activities and production in general. So how to partner them in the process of developments and progress.
magdi mohamed abdou ahmed rayan at 04-11-2010 02:39
7.
It is predicted Australian broiler industry will triple to quadruple in the next four to eight years. I personally work as a specialised agriculture recruiter for the Australian agriculture and agribusiness industry and am constantly looking for people with the skills to be or become management material within the broiler and hatchery industry. Australia does not have a specified university degree that is teaching people best poultry practices. Yes it is a universal problem and yes if people wanted to relocate to Australia I will find them good jobs in free range, organic and general broiler grower companies. Organic and free range is becoming increasingly popular with Australian consumers. The good news is I am starting to see the Australian salaries for this industry is increasing.
Lucy at 23-03-2011 06:03
8.
That is good example Dr. Ibrahim. Sometimes it takes more than skills and talent to perform the job. If workers are committed and motivated to take part on progress,implementation of new technologies, processes or practices will be much easier.
Jhoy at 13-05-2011 11:02
9.
Hi Lucy, Im interested to explore the possibility of working in Australia, what would be the requirement? May I know your email address? Thanks.
Joy at 13-05-2011 11:07
10.
Iam pleased to aknowledge receipt of your reading materials about world poultry.Thank you very much.We have aquired good knowledge about poultry.
Masereka Stephen at 26-06-2011 08:33
11.
the problem of inadequately trained staff lies at the hands of the employer , having worked in poultry farming for nearly 20 years and currently running a decent sized turkey rearing farm my vast experiance is over looked when it comes to decision making , instead decisions on ventillation , bird health , drinker and feed management etc etc are largely undertaken by office based staff with very little or no hands-on experiance , unfortunately most of the larger poultry rearers dont want trained staff who have the ability to make decisions , all they want is labour to carry out the day to day crap .
brian at 17-04-2012 18:01

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