Perfect customer service and feed and drink systems that can withstand rough treatment
Eric Van Meervenne started his poultry farm in Merchtem, Flemish Brabant (Belgium), in 1981. The poultry sector was not new to him as his parents had been active for several decades in the commercial layer sector. Eric's poultry farm was made up of 6 houses for 84,000 broilers. Almost 7 years later, 3 new houses were added for another 75,000 broilers. The houses measure 18m by 65m and were installed by Roxell distributor VSI.
When HaiKoo® was launched, the feeding lines in the houses were retrofitted with the new oval HaiKoo pan. The results were spectacular. No wonder, then, that Roxell's innovation team immediately thought of Eric's farm for testing the new broiler pan CoMeo®. The design of the pan facilitates cleaning. The handy 'click' system allows quick and easy cleaning: from the inside of the cone up to the pan. In addition, the open structure of the feeding system provides easy access to the feed, resulting in minimal feed waste and optimal feed intake.
Poultry farmer is more than a chicken grower
As president of the poultry department of the Farmers' Union, Eric Van Meervenne represents the entire sector in Belgium. The sector as a whole is doing well, but there's still room for optimizations.
"The start-up of a poultry farm involves heavy investments. Good preparation is crucial. It would be useful for many young colleagues to do an internship with an experienced poultry farmer," says Eric Van Meervenne. Moreover, the tasks of a poultry farmer are not confined to just the house. A poultry farmer first of all has to be a good accountant and manager.
Negotiating, managing, calculating and monitoring - these are all essential competencies for today's successful poultry farmer. Finally, the poultry industry is facing a great deal of environmental challenges. Compliance with the legislation on reducing emissions of odour, ammonia and fine dust must be closely monitored.
