Headquartered in Lexington, Georgia, Centurion Poultry’s Commercial Layer Division holds about 25% of replacement chicks for the egg layer market in the USA, mainly with BOVANS and DEKALB brands. Since its inception in 1991, the company has grown steadily, to incorporate satellite operations in Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Plans to invest in a new hatchery are in response to increased market demand for the Company’s day old layer pullets in the Mid-West.
With completion planned next year, the new Iowa hatchery, will comprise 28 SmartSetPro™ setters and 24 SmartHatchPro™ hatchers, which with an annual production capacity of 18 million day old pullets, will make this one of the largest layer hatcheries in the USA. Floor plan layout has been designed to accommodate a doubling of capacity, with a further 28 setters and 24 hatchers incorporated into the setup.
Pas Reform’s HVAC system will deliver bacterial and fungal filtration, pressure control in all hatchery production rooms and planning for optimised hygiene in the flow of eggs and chicks throughout the new facility. Microban® hatcher baskets add a further layer of protection against contaminants. The HVAC system also includes a Total Heat Recovery system (THR™) - a first in the USA – to recover and re-use the heat produced in some of the incubation processes for other hatchery requirements.
According to Gijs Schimmel, Pas Reform’s SmartPro™ was selected after rigid screening and field visits to many, different Smart-enabled hatcheries worldwide. He comments: “Advances in layer genetics produce eggs that are increasingly difficult to hatch. In looking for a single stage solution that could produce superior chick quality, we believe that SmartPro™’s unique combination of modular design, Vortex™-based airflow and Adaptive Metabolic Feedback™, has a significant effect on day old chick quality.”
Steve Hilleson, Centurion’s project manager for the new hatchery, adds: “After touring hatcheries that are using Pas Reform incubation equipment, seeing their production facilities in The Netherlands and interacting with their technical Staff, I was very impressed with the quality of the product and with the professionalism of Pas Reform’s people.”
Bouke Hamminga, Pas Reform’s Director of International Sales & Business Development, Pas Reform, concludes: “With the introduction of the new SmartPro™ series, we have taken an exciting step forward in the USA, to meet a forward-looking market, receptive to new advances such as Adaptive Metabolic Feedback™ (AMF™), Energy Saving Module (ESM™) and the incorporation of Microban® into our products.
“The Centurion project places us solidly in the USA’s hatchery industry, with many opportunities for development and growth and the formation of new partnerships in this dynamic and important market.”