FARM VISIT ▶▶▶ The old manual laying nests were scrapped five years ago.


new engine. With the Vencomatic automatic laying nests and a Vencobelt connecting both houses to the egg collection room we dramatically reduced the number of cracked eggs and eggs with hair cracks. With the systems in place and run by my exceptional farm manager Gilson, we were able to im- prove on total number of eggs and hatchability too. We get 5% more good eggs and 3% higher hatchability.” Zegeren de- livers 205 first-class eggs to the hatchery, of which 199 are in- cubated and 171 hatch (86% hatchability). “With that we easi- ly exceed the average coop member production, landing us a 10% bonus on the average hatching egg price of 2.8 cents. Also we were able to reduce our staff from 12 to six, with three workers looking after the birds and three in the egg collection room.”


The entrance of Holambra in typical Dutch style.


plan to convert the houses was easier said than done: “Our birds are actually owned by the cooperative, and feed and veterinary services are also in their hands. At first, the cooper- ation didn’t allow me to have their birds in houses with auto- matic laying nests. It took many lengthy conversations to convince them, and in the end they made an exception for me in the form of a test facility.” Looking back at this process, Zegeren is glad to have pushed his plans forward. “Our 33-year-old cars (houses) got a whole


Vencomatic in Brazil


When Dutch company Vencomatic ventured out to Brazil in 1999 the main focus was on broiler breeders. At that time most farmers were still working with manual nests, relying on an abundant workforce. Vencomatic director Etore Schirato has seen the industry change fast in the past dec- ade: “Workers are harder to come by and with equipment improving constantly, many chose to invest in automatic nests.” That said, Brazil is not the fastest country to em- brace automation. Currently about 48% of all broiler


12 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 2, 2020


breeder farms still use manual nests, even though produc- tion is growing and margins are not bad. Schirato says, “I am sure the manual nests will be scrapped as part of the faster pace. With our economy growing, workers choose not to work on farms anymore. In contrast, we see experi- enced workers, 45+ in age, returning to farms that have automated. Physical workload has decreased and their ex- perience in getting the optimal results out of the flocks is well paid.”


Happy with the flock The flock that is currently in production is 33 weeks old. “This flock looks extremely good. The birds came into production about two weeks earlier than standard, at 24 weeks. Their peak production was at week 28, with 86% eggs a day. At 33 weeks I am confident to say that this will be a successful flock right up to end of lay at week 72.” The birds are of the Cobb slow breed, a choice of the coop. “These birds do fine, but as a breeder farmer I tend to favour the Ross breed. However, from a broiler farmer’s perspective, the Cobb bird seems to be favourable. In the end it doesn’t matter too much to me, as long as I am able to get above average results.” Zegeren expects 2020 to be a good year for his poultry opera- tion. “The flock is producing, the market demand is picking up both nationally and internationally and under our new government the subsidies to the large industry players have stopped. This gives smaller companies and coops like us a level playing field. Technical results on farm will make all the difference now, as will the cost of investments. With our in- vestments coming from profits, those costs are essentially nil.” The next investment opportunity is already on Zegeren’s ra- dar: “In our greenhouses we have the potential to make high margins, but potted plants are labour intensive. Automation there is the way to go, as it was in the poultry farm.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36