GAPESA, the Mexican group that includes some of the country’s largest poultry companies, is building a new joint venture grandparent stock (GPS) hatchery to support the distribution of up to 2.3 million breeders. The Group has chosen to work with Pas Reform as a single source of supply for the new project, which will incorporate the Dutch company’s advanced, single-stage SmartPro™ incubation technologies.

Sited in the coastal region of Champotón, in the State of Campeche, the new hatchery will comprise three SmartSetPro™ 2 setters, three SmartSetPro™ 6 setters and eight SmartHatchPro™ hatchers. The large setters will be uniquely used to incubate CD line female eggs, while the smaller setters will be dedicated to incubating AB line male eggs.

With eight hatchers, GAPESA is targeting one hatch per week, to enable the single delivery of 45,000 female breeders plus corresponding males, creating a start-up capacity of up to 2.3 million breeders per year.

However with an optimised layout, the potential for expansion is being built-in to the new facility, to increase capacity to two or even four hatch days per week with minimal disruption. GAPESA will collaborate with Aviagen from Alabama in the USA for the supply of its day old grandparent stock.

The company’s CEO, Mr. Mario Gabilondo, has commented on the Group’s latest investment, saying: “We are excited about starting our new grandparent venture, which represents a great opportunity to create a new, state-of-the-art facility for an assurance of quality and reliability...