Namib Poultry introduces automated bird sorting to improve production efficiency
The company adopts German precision technology to enhance flock uniformity and streamline breeder management.
NAMIBIA – Namib Poultry Industries has rolled out a fully automated sorting system for its broiler breeders as part of efforts to modernize poultry management and improve operational efficiency.
The system, known as GRADY, was developed by Agri Advanced Technologies GmbH (AAT) of Germany and is designed to sort birds by weight automatically, reducing manual labor and ensuring consistent flock uniformity.
Located near Windhoek, the company operates a vertically integrated poultry chain that includes breeder and rearing farms, a hatchery, feed mill, and processing plant.
Its production setup consists of nine rearing houses with around 10,000 Ross 308FF breeder birds each, a broiler capacity of about 2.4 million, and a weekly slaughter rate of roughly 350,000 birds.
The adoption of the GRADY system is expected to improve management across this entire production cycle, particularly in breeding and feed optimization.
Transition from manual to automated grading
Previously, sorting birds by weight required workers to manually weigh and group them, a task that was slow, inconsistent, and stressful for the animals.
The new system now performs the task automatically, grouping birds of similar size with greater accuracy and consistency.
By minimizing human contact, the process reduces stress among birds and limits handling-related injuries while improving data accuracy for production monitoring.
At Namib Poultry, birds are graded at three and eight weeks, with additional checks for males at around twelve weeks.
Vaccination schedules begin at nine weeks, using wing, eye-drop, or breast injections, which are now coordinated within the automated process.
This integration has improved both employee safety and animal welfare by cutting down repetitive manual handling.
Performance and future innovation
According to the company, the GRADY system can sort more than 3,500 birds per hour and achieve flock uniformity levels with a coefficient of variation between 4.5% and 6.5%, figures regarded as highly consistent in the poultry sector.
Production results have improved, with some breeder flocks producing over 200 eggs per hen house and hatcheries averaging 161 chicks per hen house.
Breeder Production Manager Johan Boonzaaier said the technology has provided more reliable flock data and improved bird uniformity, leading to higher productivity rates.
Agri Advanced Technologies Managing Director Jörg Hurlin said Namib Poultry’s use of GRADY demonstrates how advanced systems can be successfully implemented in regional production environments.
The company plans to integrate another innovation, the Vaccybot, once it becomes commercially available, as part of its long-term goal to enhance automation and sustainability in poultry production.
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