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Egg production on two levels with modern poultry systems
The company Loher Landei GmbH, which is managed by Alfons Diekmann from Damme in Lower Saxony, Northern Germany, and his sons Thorsten and Arndt, recently inaugurated a new site for barn egg production in aviary systems: where there used to be a poultry growing facility now stand two modern poultry sheds with a total of 60,000 bird places. The most remarkable feature of the new buildings is that in both buildings the laying hens are housed on two levels. The poultry housing systems are both products of the German company Big Dutchman. On the occasion of an Open Day, the Diekmann family recently opened one of their houses for the interested public. Several hundred people used this opportunity to examine the new poultry house with its impressive housing equipment.
Poultry house with barn egg production on two levels
The new houses are completely identical and both equipped with the most modern poultry systems for aviary management. With a size of 71 x 14.5 meters each and an eaves height of 6.8 meters, each poultry house has two levels. They are completely separate from each other, which is a great advantage from the hygienic point of view.
Big seller NATURA60 for effective layer management
The layers are housed in a NATURA 60 aviary, a member of the popular NATURA product range for barn egg production and free range egg production. The characteristic feature of NATURA60 is its perfect accessibility: Every second (inspection) aisle of the poultry system remains free of litter, hens and manure. This unique concept in aviary management simplifies and decisively reduces the time involved in layer management, whilst increasing egg production safety at the same time. The litter area can easily be locked for the familiarisation phase. This ensures a good start into the laying phase and minimises the number of slat and floor eggs.
Everything but ordinary: Barn egg production with 60,000 laying hens on two levels
The flexible NATURA modular system is the right choice when opting for aviary management with optimum use of the available space and, above all, for tailor-made solutions. Big Dutchman submitted evidence for this in the Diekmann poultry houses. In this special case, only approx. 8,000 square meters were available for the egg production unit. This required a lot of creative thinking as it was necessary to optimally use every centimetre of space. The successful and extraordinary results are two double-storey buildings with four units which have four rows each, in which the three level NATURA 60 poultry system is installed. This way 60,000 bird places were created.
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Big Dutchman is the world’s largest poultry equipment supplier for modern poultry production. A new field of business is residue treatment. The complete product portfolio of the German family enterprise from Vechta-Calveslage includes all kinds of poultry feeding systems and poultry housing systems. Be it barn, free range and organic egg production or egg production in enriched colony systems and poultry cages, be it systems for optimal poultry climate control or poultry growing, turkey production and breeder management: Big Dutchman offers the best poultry systems imaginable for every type of farm imaginable.
Leaflet download:
"Exellent source of high quality protein"
Eggs are large vitamin pills (that happen to taste good)
Nutrient density is the new buzz phrase for nutritionists: during the IEC's (International Egg Comission) conference in Prague Professor Windisch from the University of Vienna in Austria, and Dr Layman from the Egg Nutrition Center, USA, both referred to this latest phrase, and explained that the Nutrient Density of eggs is excellent.
Professor Windisch explained that most nutrients are found in the egg yolk, and that per 100 grams, as a source of nutrients, eggs are comparabled to meat. (...)
For further reading please download the article "Eggs are large vitamin pills", published in IEC Journal February 2011, pages 6/7.
Successful start in the poultry growing business
New house with modern poultry systems
Ulrich Löhr from Denkte in Lower Saxony, Germany, entered into the poultry production business and built a modern poultry shed for 39,900 broilers. The committed farmer from the Wolfenbüttel area wants to make his farm fit for the future. In terms of furnishings, Ulrich Löhr opted for housing equipment from Big Dutchman. The well-designed building was recently presented to the public on the occasion of an open day.
A well-designed poultry house for meat production
Approximately 300 guests accepted the invitation to take a closer look at the new shed and the equipment. The Löhr family were great hosts: all guests were able to participate in guided tours through the new poultry house, with no question remaining unanswered.
Innovative management of poultry climate control and poultry feeding systems
The computer-controlled management and control system AMACS generated great interest among the visitors. And for a good reason: thanks to AMACS Ulrich Löhr is able to control all important functional areas in his new shed such as the poultry feeding system or the poultry house climate simply by mouseclick.
AMACS operates on the basis of network technology in combination with modern communication technologies. These permit permanent data recording, monitoring and real-time control of the new barn. At the same time, the shed can be controlled from the farm office or via remote access, meaning entries can be made from any location around the world from a Windows PC or mobile via iPhone.
Professional poultry shed technology
Other eye-catchers on display at the open day were the warm-water convection heater HEAT MASTER, the powerful Augermatic poultry feeding system, as well as one of Big Dutchman’s worldwide bestsellers, the FluxX feed pan.
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Poultry systems for poultry growing and turkey production: leaflet download - Augermatic, the effective feeding system for modern broiler growing
Poultry systems for poultry growing and turkey production: leaflet download - amacs broiler for modern poultry growing and breeder management
Big Dutchman is the world’s largest poultry equipment supplier for modern poultry production. A new field of business is residue treatment. The complete product portfolio of the German family enterprise from Vechta-Calveslage includes all kinds of poultry feeding systems and poultry housing systems. Be it barn, free range and organic egg production or egg production in enriched colony systems and poultry cages, be it systems for optimal poultry climate control or poultry growing, turkey production and breeder management: Big Dutchman offers the best poultry systems imaginable for every type of farm imaginable.
Jack DeWitt’s company philosophy still influences the company
Founder of Big Dutchman Turns 100 Years Old
Jack DeWitt, the original “Big Dutchman”, turned 100 years old on January 30th, 2011. In 1938 Jack and his brother Dick DeWitt founded Big Dutchman and together they would design, develop, and sell the first automatic poultry feeding system. In addition to the revolutionary design featuring the flat chain concept, which remains the most popular poultry feeding technology in the world, they would develop many other products to modernize poultry production.
Today Josef Meerpohl and his family are the sole owners of Big Dutchman which is headed by Josef’s son, Bernd Meerpohl. Bernd, and Clovis Rayzel, the president of Big Dutchman USA, visited Jack at his home to wish him a happy birthday. At this time Jack was presented with a photo book in which Josef signed, “I will never forget that you brought the wonderful Big Dutchman idea into my life.”
In late January Big Dutchman celebrated its founders with a special historical display at the International Poultry Exposition, Atlanta (USA). Photographs and original equipment were featured at the show, emphasizing the solid foundation of the company.
“Even today, the company is influenced daily by Jack’s simple, ageless way of doing business”, agreed Bernd and Clovis. Bernd went on to say, “Jack DeWitt had a very simple philosophy, but it’s one that is time-tested in every way. He was very customer-focused and market-oriented, and this is a philosophy we hammer on every day.”
Jack and Dick DeWitt shaped the company early on to become the worldwide leading supplier for pig and poultry production. „We had a pretty good idea that sure beat shoveling out bird feed by hand. We just had to take it out to the rest of the world“, recollects Jack.
Jack sold his interest in the company in 1968, but stayed on as an advisor until 1971. In 1958, Josef Meerpohl from Vechta-Calveslage took over as sales agent for Northern Germany. In 1985 he acquired the whole company through a management buyout (at that time this did not include the sales rights for North and South America).
Today, the headquarters of the family enterprise are located in Vechta-Calveslage, Germany. Under the roof of the holding Big Dutchman AG managed by CEO Bernd Meerpohl, the innovative company group has been successful on the worldwide markets for years. In regard to development and distribution of housing and feeding systems for modern pig and poultry production, Big Dutchman is regarded as international market leader. The name Big Dutchman is a trade mark for reliable quality, fast service and unsurpassed know-how.
Planning and construction of biogas plants for agriculture and industry, indoor fish farms and, just recently, also systems for the generation of energy from biomass complete today’s product portfolio.
Poultry house for 47,000 laying hens
Two-level barn egg production with modern poultry system
In the 1990‘s Alfons Lürwer from Billerbeck, Germany, started his production of barn eggs with 2,000 laying hens. Today, the farm houses more than 90,000 laying hens thanks to his son Benedikt who added a substantial amount to the production capacity when he joined the family enterprise.
Barn egg production in a well-designed poultry shed
The result is a poultry house with a rather non-traditional layout: the 47,000 laying hens with which Benedict almost doubled his father’s stock, are housed on two levels. When looking for a poultry system for barn egg production with an optimal utilisation ratio of housing space, Benedikt Lürwer opted for Big Dutchman ’s NATURA70.
Customised poultry system
A view into the aviary shows that the young farmer had a hand not only in designing the poultry shed itself but also in the installed poultry housing system. The customized NATURA70 installation is, for example, equipped with a longitudinal egg belt of 50 cm width instead of the standard 35 cm width. Benedikt Lürwer also requested the installation of an additional egg belt inside the aviary for barn egg production – no problem for the renowned poultry equipment supplier from Vechta-Calveslage. Now, mislaid eggs can be collected easily by the elevator which saves the farm manager valuable working time.
Barn egg production with reduced management requirements
In general, the concept of NATURA70 is based on the idea of reducing management requirements in poultry systems and increasing the production reliability. Pullets have an optimal start into the laying period which is also demonstrated by the low share of mislaid floor eggs. Another advantage is that the birds do not fly at eye level – which allows the farm staff to inspect the laying stock without problems, easily and comfortably. Further amenities of the poultry housing system include the small, well-manageable group sizes which are created by cross partitions that are installed every 2.41 metres.
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Big Dutchman is the world’s largest poultry equipment supplier for modern poultry production. A new field of business is residue treatment. The complete product portfolio of the German family enterprise from Vechta-Calveslage includes all kinds of poultry feeding systems and poultry housing systems. Be it organic, free range and barn egg production or egg production in enriched colony systems and poultry cages, be it systems for optimal poultry climate control or poultry growing, turkey production and breeder management: Big Dutchman offers the best poultry systems imaginable for every type of farm imaginable.
Leaflet download:
Poultry systems for successful egg production: leaflet download - NATURA, the modern aviary system for barn, free-range and organic egg production
Poultry systems for successful egg production: leaflet download - NATURA 60 & 70, the modern aviaries for barn, free range and organic egg production
