Smart growth for Dutch Schotman Hatcheries
After working with 3 generations of Pas Reform incubators, the Netherlands’ Schotman Hatcheries is expanding in Europe with Smart modular single-stage incubation technologies.
The hatchery, owned by father and son Aloys and Erik Wolterinck, produces 1 mln birds a week. The Wolterincks also selected Smart incubation technology for the benefits of modular single-stage incubation in reducing the hatch window.
A small hatch window improves day-old chick uniformity, which forms the basis for optimising broiler management and achieving the lowest possible feed conversion, says Pas Reform.
“We balanced the benefits when making our choice for the latest installation,” explains Aloys. “While the older systems demand more attention and skill from the hatchery manager, the new Smart systems run independently and provide much more information to support optimised development for the broiler chicks.”
With 100,000 PS females and its own males, the Schotman operation also incorporates a rearing farm for 100,000 birds, with a further 300,000 PS under contract at farms located strategically in different disease defence compartments of the Netherlands and Germany. This measure secures production in the event of a serious infectious disease breakout, with its inevitable restrictions on the movement of flocks.
Appreciation for the quality of Schotman broilers has, says Aloys, been demonstrated not only by a constantly growing customer-base in the Netherlands and Germany, but also by an increasing number of hatcheries further afield, who have contracted the family-run business to hatch eggs for them, or to deliver broiler chicks to fulfil their own customer’s order requirements.
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