Throughout Europe, the X-Treck, by the Vencomatic Group has been a popular choice for broiler growers, helping to improve bird welfare and performance by ensuring a good chick start. The NFU Poultry team have been to see the first UK poultry farm to install this new system.
Cranswick, who acquired Crown Chicken in 2016, recently installed the X-Treck into one of their new conventional sheds built in 2016. Matthew Ward, Director at Crown Chicken has found that the X-Treck has improved his broiler birds: ‘The initial crop has shown that the system has helped to achieve a very good hatch rate and good broiler start’. After a successful first crop, hatching of the second crop has just taken place. NFU Chief Poultry Advisor Gary Ford said: ‘Visiting Cranswick’s site and seeing in-person the first UK installed X-Treck really helped to showcase how this new innovation could benefit the broiler industry.’