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VERBEEK has opened her new layer hatchery on January 17th.
bron: Ophetland.tv / boerderij.nl, Bouke Poelsma
CLICK HERE for photos of the opening
In Zeewolde, in one of Holland's new polders, on an industrial site, in less than 9 months Europe's largest layer hatchery was built. But the new VERBEEK hatchery is so much more than just the biggest. It is the best too! Read more about it in this article.
January 2011 - Dutch Minister of Agriculture Henk Bleker opened the hatchery by unveiling the new VERBEEK logo. In his openings speech he referred to the dioxin crisis in Germany, and stressed the importance of Good Manufacturing Practice. He insisted on the Layer Cage Ban being implemented fully in all European Member States, in order to maintain a level playing field.
Prof. Anton Pijpers of the University of Utrecht, Veterinary Faculty, and Ron Eek of Lohmann Tierzucht were two of the valued guest speakers at the openings ceremony. Sustainability in the layer industry was the main theme of all the lectures. Ron Eek emphasized that LTZ is aiming at sustainable production for some years already now. High production, low feed conversion, good eggshell quality and low mortality all contribute to a very efficient production. On top of that, LTZ is performing selection in alternative housing systems. And not only for production traits, but monitoring factors like feather cover, cannibalism and consistency of droppings too. Thus LTZ is carefully balancing an equilibrium between Profit, People and Planet, according to Ron Eek.
Hatchery: next step in Layer Industry
Pieter Kruit, managing Director of VERBEEK summarised the steps that VERBEEK has taken to safeguard the supply of first quality day old chicks and 18-week old pullets of Lohmann origin for the Dutch egg producers in the last 10 years. The construction of this new hatchery seems only a logical next step in what seems to be an everlasting effort to improve the quality of the commercial layers. He presented the new VERBEEK edition of the book Poultry Signals, a practical guide for bird focused poultry farming. Every visitor of the opening was presented a copy of this book. Plus information on the new hatchery, and a box of 6 boiled H&N Coral eggs!
On the openings morning 400 invited guests attended this openings symposium, and a further 500 visited the open day in the afternoon. On the 18th approximately 2000 guests visited the open day. Lohmann and H&N were well represented on both days with a booth in the new hatchery, which attracted attention of many poultry farmers. In this way, the celebration of the opening was used well to further promote the LTZ products in Holland.
New location
Main reason for VERBEEK to move to the new location was bio security. In the new polder, it is mostly arable farming, and not many poultry farms. The old hatchery in Lunteren was in a very densely populated poultry area. The new hatchery was designed and constructed with VERBEEK's responsibility towards its customers in mind. More than 50 % of the Dutch poultry farmers have Lohmann or H&N hens from VERBEEK. It is in the interest of the layer industry therefore, that VERBEEK has invested in a sustainable, animal friendly, energy saving hatchery. A lot of attention has been paid to quality of eggstorage, air treatment and chick handling. In the end, a good day old chick is the best start of profitable egg production.
We hope to supply our customers even better with hatching eggs and day old layer chicks!
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