SINGLE-STAGE STORIES

S E R I E S

PHILIPPINES

HatcheryRayanton

Rayanton Farms andLivestock Corporation

Philippines

Rayanton Farm's owner and President, Jos Antonio

Raya back in Manila.

Jos was hosting a local poultry association meeting.

He is the guiding

force behind the entire Rayanton Farms integrated

operation, officially established in 1985 but originally

started in 1979 with his brother and just 2,000 birds .

“We are excited by new technology; it keeps us ahead of

the competition,” he began, “myself and my son, Jelo,

are always looking to see how we can improve the

operation. Only a few years ago all broiler operations

here used multistage equipment. We were one of the

first to see the potential for single stage even in smaller

broiler operations such as Rayanton. Now almost all new

broiler hatcheries go with single stage.” I asked him

about the decision to purchase a CC3. “We are the first

company in the Philippines to buy a CC3. I am proud of

é

é

Despite that, he still found time to meet with us and

share a broad smile that made it clear to me why he was

such a popular leader with his staff.

that. I am also pleased that people from KFC and many

others want to see my hatchery because of the CC3 and

our Avidas. That's OK with me,” he said with passion.

“My hatchery is a good advert for us and for Chick

Master. We supply KFC, hospitals and big restaurants

and many other top customers. They will only accept

high standards.”

Certainly innovation coupled with good management is

the key to the success of his fine integrated operation and

made this hatchery one of the most advanced in Asia.

Many have followed Jose's lead with three more CC3s

being installed in the Philippines this year and many

others in other parts of Southeast Asia.

I thanked Jos for the pleasure of his company. He is an

inspiration not just to me but to the entire industry here

in the Philippines.

I was on a tight schedule and headed back to the

airport tired but elated. It had been a great trip. The

customs official stamped my passport wearily, “a

long day,” I enquired? “Four hours without a break,”

she said. “It's a hard life,” I replied flippantly. She

flashed her beautiful eyes and said with a winning

smile, “It's more fun in the Philippines. Next!”

“What is?” I asked. But it was too late she was

already pouring over yet another passport. Well,

that's it, I decided there and then, I just have to come

back again to this wonderful country and find out.

é

Front cover: Jos Antonio Raya, President of Rayanton Farms and Livestock Corporation outside the hatcheryé

Greg Aljas Jr. operating the CC3 remote ventilation interface in the setter room

“Avidas are easy to work

with, easy to operate, easy

to understand and parts

are easy to replace. What

more do you need?Greg Aljas Jr.

Rayanton Farms Leads the Way with Avida Single Stage and the CC3

for Modern Broiler Production in the Philippines

SINGLE-STAGE STORIESS E R I E S

The Rayanton Farms broiler hatchery is an important

element of one of the most modern and forward

thinking integrated poultry operations in the

Philippines. They were the first in Southeast Asia to

install a CC3, the compact solution

for optimal hatchery ventilation

and energy efficiency. They were

shrewd enough to see the potential

for smaller broiler operations to

b ene f i t f r om s i ng l e s t age

incubation. Until recently, this was

an area reserved to the breeder companies in this

marketplace.

A large

picture window overlooked the tops

of the six Avida A8 setters and two

Zephyr C128 hatchers. “Very

useful to keep an eye on the

machines and to carry out

m a i n t e n a n c e p r o c e d u r e s , ”

explained Greg with pride as he

explained the view.

Greg Aljas Jr. Rayanton's Hatchery Maintenance

Supervisor, greeted us with a friendly smile and

showed us into his office.

We showered and donned our

hatchery attire to make a tour of the

hatchery. Greg had worked in

several hatcheries over the last 12

years – most ly with older

multistage machines that often

required a lot of maintenance. As we

entered the setter room I asked him

what it was like to work with brand

new Avida state-of-the-art single-

stage machines. “It is great,” he

enthused, “like driving a brand new

car. Some of the other machines I worked with were like

riding a clapped-out motorcycle.” We laughed as he

continued with genuine enthusiasm, “Avidas are easy

to work with, easy to operate, easy to understand and

parts are easy to replace. What more do you need?”

Greg continued enthusiastically, “people don't realise

that they can save a lot of money with the Avida's VFD

fans, Hot Water Heating

of money

to save.” he concluded.

The hatchery sets 42,240 eggs twice per week. It is well

organized and the eight full time staff were friendly and

industrious. Bio-security is the watchword here and is

strictly adhered to. The chicks looked good so I asked

Greg about performance. “They are good today and

always hatch over a short period.”

and other energy saving

devices. Due to high energy costs in the Philippines

energy is an important element of total hatchery costs.

We are now averaging around 40 to 45 cents per egg

while some of the other hatcheries can incur energy

costs as high as 60 cents per egg. That is a lot

Greg recognizes that

is it hard to maintain consistent high quality results

from hatching eggs purchased from different sources.

He expects to see a change once they are self-sufficient

in egg production around the middle of 2012. He can

then plan on getting the chick quality and tight hatch

window on all flocks and eggs set.

around

60% of the time on average.” I was impressed.

We arrived at the CC3, housed adjacent to the hatchery

with impressive ducting rising up into the hatchery air

inlet aperture. It contains a chiller, heat recovery coils

and de-humidification in one self contained and easily

controlled unit. I asked Greg how the Avida and the CC3

installation went. “Your Hatchery Specialist, Davide

Assirelli, helped us a lot at the beginning and gave us

very good training. He spent a few days here and helped

with the start up of the CC3. This was the first CC3 in the

Philippines and everybody was very interested to see

that it worked as expected. It was an important

moment.” Greg continued, “You will see that in many of

the hatcheries in this tropical region the chiller seldom

stops but you will see here that it is working

“What

I like is that the CC3 uses 100% fresh air, no air re-

circulation, which is great for bio-security. Also because

it is delivered fully assembled and commissioned it

PHILIPPINES

was filled with excitement and anticipation. This was

my first visit to the Philippines, a haven of 7,107

islands and 22,500 miles of coastline with a tropical

climate and one of the richest areas of bio-diversity in

the world. Intriguingly on arrival at

Manila airport a huge tourist

billboard proclaimed their latest tag

l ine: ' I t 's More Fun in the

Philippines'. What is I wondered?

Everything? Perhaps on my short

stay I would discover the answer…

Roy Santos from Royal Vet, Chick

Master's excellent representative for

the Philippines, met me early the

next morning for breakfast. Roy had

kindly agreed to take me on a tour of

the hatcheries where Chick Master

had recently supplied equipment in

the Southern Luzon area of the

country. Today we were visiting the

progressive Rayanton Farms and

Livestock Corporation's hatchery in

Tanay, Rizal, about a three hour

drive southeast of Manila.

It was sappingly hot and humid and

the roads were often congested and

chaotic but I was fascinated by the

myriad of new things to see.

Jeepneys were everywhere - the

most popular form of inexpensive

public transportation. Elongated

and often flamboyantly decorated,

they are oddly fashioned on

American WWII military jeeps. Out of the towns we

passed mountains, paddy fields, volcanoes, beautiful

lakes and remnants of jungle where I was lucky

enough to come across a colony of fruit bats, one of my

childhood favourite creatures. Roy obligingly stopped

for me to photograph them as they hung suspended in

the trees above the road shrouded in their huge wings.

reduces the number of contractors required.”I thanked

Greg for his kind hospitality and how much I had

enjoyed the experience and the friendly atmosphere, “it

is like an extension to my family,” he said, “I love it

here,” he beamed as he waved us on our way to meet

I

“We are excited by new

technology, it keeps us ahead

of the competition, Rayanton

Farms was the first company

in the Philippines to buy a

CC3. I am proud of that.”José Antonio Raya

Roy Santos, Royal Vet (left) and Greg Aljas Jr. in the Rayanton Hatchery setter room

Roy Santos, Royal Vet (left) and Greg Aljas Jr. with the CC3The Fruit Bat colony, suspended high above the highway, that Roy

spotted as we made our way to the Rayanton Farms hatchery

Greg Aljas Jr. with the Avida A8-165