Articles

The Impact of Loadshedding on Chicken Producers and Abattoirs

Feb 2023

2023-02-07 The past several months have been especially difficult for all poultry farmers and chicken abattoirs who have been struggling with severe loadshedding and the increasing input costs such as chicken feed and diesel due mainly to global events including the war in Ukraine. The severe loadshedding has a major impact on the larger chicken producers and abattoirs as they have no choice but to run large generators to keep their modern chicken houses running because these houses are environmentally controlled and fresh air can only be supplied by large industrial fans which require continuous power.

Garbage in garbage out

Feb 2021

by Marcos Grassini, manager at Alfa Chicks The term garbage in garbage out is a computer science concept that says if you feed garbage into the computer you can expect it to return garbage. A chicken works very much the same. The quality of the inputs determines the quality of the output, namely a grown, ready to market broiler chicken. As the farmer and business manager you are tasked with ensuring that the chicken you produce is marketable in terms of:

COVID-19 Communication

Mar 2020

Covid 19 Communication Dear small and medium poultry farmers, As you are aware the South African Government has placed the country on lockdown as from midnight 26 march 2020. This is in an effort to contain the spread of Covid 19. Essential services As a poultry producer, processor and marketer of poultry and related products you are exempted from this lockdown because of specific exemptions. “In order to ensure that people remain well-nourished…, the following operations will continue:

Feeding your broiler chickens – How much feed is enough?

Feb 2020

Feeding your broiler chickens – How much feed is enough? By Marcos Grassini Manager at Alfa Chicks These words are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or advice of the owners of Alfa Chicks. Theseare based on my own observations, experience and customer feedback. Many new poultry farmers often ask how much feed they need to give to their chicks during the production cycle. The broiler objectives from the various brands, namely, Cobb, Ross and Arbor Acres all specify the expected feed consumption of their birds.

Alfa Chicks farmers day held in Pretoria May 2019

May 2019

On the 18th of May 2019, Alfa Chicks held a farmers day at Bush Loerie Function Venue in Pretoria. The training was attended by about 80 farmers and was presented by our sponsors. A special thank you to every single farmer who made the effort to attend. Thank you to every sponsor Immuno-vet Services Super Agri Science Mapa cleaning technologies Feed Master Mahindra Pretoria North Thank you to Tau Phiri from Cobb Sa, Dr Smith from Onderstepoort, Leon from Immuno-Vet Services, Jenna from Super Agri Science, Nathi from Feed Master and Jean from Mapa Cleaning Technologies for sharing their knowledge.

Price increase 2019

Feb 2019

Dear valued Alfa Chicks customer. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued and loyal support. I also congratulate the many small and developing farmers who despite economic and political challenges continue to thrive in their respective markets. As you are aware our economy continues to be bombarded by events that are beyond our control and which put pressure on our costs. Continued drought in feed producing regions, escalating diesel and electricity costs coupled with load shedding and irregular and insufficient electricity supply, the increase in the minimum wage and ongoing Union action amongst other factors leaves us with no alternative other than to increase our prices.

Giyani Farmers Day February 2018

Mar 2018

On the 13th of February 2018, Alfa Chicks in conjunction with Cobb South Africa and Giyani Feeds held a farmers day in Giyani at the Department of Agriculture. The training was attended by about 30 farmers and was presented by Mr Phiri Tau of Cobb South Africa who focused on the management aspects of raising broiler chicks. Thank you to Cobb SA for your involvement.

Malamulele Farmers Day March 2018

Mar 2018

On the 15th of March 2018, Alfa Chicks in conjunction with Cobb South Africa and a local cooperative in the area held a farmers day in Malamulele at a poultry farm. The training was attended by about 15 farmers and was presented by Mr Brendan Graaf of Cobb South Africa who focused on the management aspects of raising broiler chicks among other topics. Thank you to Cobb SA for your involvement.

Price increase 2017

Aug 2017

Dear customers. Market forces beyond our control have forced us to increase our Day Old Chick prices by 25 cents with effect from 18 September 2017. We would by that time have successfully managed to avoid a price increase for 19 months which has been very difficult for us to do considering the tough economic and other conditions that we were trading in. Our transport prices remain unchanged. We thank you for your continued loyal support and assure you that we will continue to strive to providing you with the best quality and service that you have become accustomed to receiving from us.

Alfa Chicks Farmers Day held in Pretoria June 2017

Jun 2017

A Farmers Day was held at Alfa Chicks on the 10th of June 2017. 100 farmers attended the Farmers Day with farmers coming from as far afield as Seleka, Virginia and Thoyandou. The main topic for discussion centered around small & emerging farmers getting involved with our country’s food security, agricultural principles & production management aspects and challenges to consider when farming in the winter. Guest speakers included Dr Tracy Ledger, (FB Page: Tracy Ledger Food and Social Justice ) and Brendan Graaf (from Cobb) who focused on winter management aspects and Dr Hope who discussed various other aspects surrounding poultry production.

Price increase delayed

Mar 2017

Due to successful last minute negotiations Alfa Chicks are happy to announce that there will not be a price increase in April and that we only expect a further price increase nearer to August of 2017. We apologise for any confusion that may have been caused by this. Thank you for your continued loyal support.

Lesotho Farmers Day

Mar 2017

On the of 9th of February 2017 Alfa Chicks in conjunction with BEE Hive Enterprises held a farmers day in Maseru for approximately 60 small and developing farmers. Considering the logistical challenges that farmers in that region face they still managed to attend the event. A big thank you to Brendan from Cobb South Africa and Karel from Bitek Biosecurity who gave presentations on management and biosecurity aspects respectively. Also, a special thank you to Mr Notsi and his team for arranging the venue and advertising the event in Lesotho.

Giyani Farmers Day

Jun 2016

A farmers day was held at Giyani Department of Agriculture’s depot on Tuesday the 16th of June 2016. The day was attended by approximately 30 poultry farmers from the Giyani region. The day was arranged by Gerrie Van Der Merwe of Giyani Feeds. The focus of the day was cage preparation, the importance of brooding presented by Marcos Grassini of Alfa Chicks and also a presentation regarding feed by Petrus of Feed Master.

Alfa Chicks Farmers Day held at Alfa Chicks

Jun 2016

A farmers day was held at Alfa Chicks on the 25th of June 2016. 50 farmers attended the farmers day with farmers coming from as far afield as Seleka, Delareyville, Maseru and Thoyandou. The main topic for discussion centred around farming in the winter and related challenges. Guest speakers from Cobb, Ross and Immunovet kept the farmers on the edge of their seats. The farmers were extremely involved in the sessions and many questions were asked and answered by the panel of experts.