With the uncertainty during 2020, when the time to invest is right, ensuring quality and long-lasting equipment has never been more crucial. This New Year, Prinzen are launching their latest product line, the Meggsius family which alongside their already well- established systems, aims to offer just that: reliability, efficiency and a future-proof collection of egg packing equipment.
One farmer, Matt Donald, 29, has already found the benefits of upgrading his systems and with his 73,000 birds, it is vital he has an effective and efficient set-up to cater for his demand.
Matt Donald’s story:
Matt has officially been in the poultry industry for ten years but has had an interest since he could walk. He grew up with broiler breeders on the family farm and enjoyed “that breeders were something a little more unique and specialist”. Further to this, during his involvement with the NFU Poultry Industry Programme (PIP), he got to enhance his knowledge and learn about the wider industry.
In 2017/18, Matt worked closely with Vencomatic UK at his farm, Cleveland View where his decision to install their Prinzen packer was driven by quality and proven data.
“We were influenced mostly by the egg itself, chick quality is driven by hygiene and handling of the egg from the nest and we want a high hatchability which means gentle transfers through the system. The Prinzen packer meant a reduced demand for labour for egg handling and time can be spent looking after the birds”.
With an efficient design, using the Ovograder 20, PSPC 7 and the Roller Inspection Table, not only could he rely upon 99.7% point down set accuracy, but improved egg transfer and speed.
He admits, “Initially, we had concerns regarding the accuracy of ‘point down’ but even with the best will in the world, we couldn’t obtain the same result this packer can when packing by hand”
Matt continues, “The roller inspection means the whole egg can be viewed and checked for cracks or dirty marks without the need to handle every egg. The grader has taken away the hand weighing, as the birds come into lay, we remove small eggs, this was a demanding task and now we can complete packing faster”
From his experience and exceptional performance at Cleveland View, his attention was turned to upgrading to automation at his other farm, Mount Pleasant, in 2019.
He states, “once we had seen the ability of the machine to place eggs without damage and see a high hatch throughout the flock, it was a no brainer to install a new packer on the older unit”.
In addition to the reliability of the machinery, it was also vital that Matt could trust his supplier for support when needed.
He states, “Service and support are crucial, especially now we run a reduced team due to the automation”.
As a result, with Vencomatic UK priding themselves on their Prinzen promise and unrivalled reputation for support (in 2018 and 2019, they had 100% 24-hour service response rate), it is reassuring to know that both Matt and other customers can be sure on two things in 2021: their equipment and their supplier.
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