Fotoserie: Broiler Breeder farmer has to know and feel what the market is doing

The quality of hatching eggs determines the income of the broiler breeder poultry farmer. As a hatching egg producer, you do not have any influence on the planning and only little influence on the price of hatching eggs. „The art is to make your client appreciate the quality of the hatching eggs you produce. That is what we have taken into our own hands”, says Twan Engelen.

Twan and Jeroen (left) Engelen set up their own hatching-egg export company in 2012 because they were unsatisfied with their position as a hatching egg producer at that time. Now, Angel Eggs exports more than 100 million hatching eggs a year, 80 percent of which end up outside Europe. The vision of the family business is to build close relationships with their clients by working directly with the client without intermediaries.

The Engelen family bought a bankrupt rose nursery in Someren, Ploegstraat 64, and rebuilt it into a storage and transshipment company for hatching eggs. The hailstorm in June 2016 delayed the construction, which took 3,5 years in total.

At the office, Twan can look at his farms and other company sites in real-time. Twan (46) focuses on selling the hatching eggs and Jeroen (42) acts as a central person who is up to date of everything that happens within the company. The brothers are the owners of three rearing- and breeding locations with parent stock broiler breeders.

Currently, the brothers keep parent stock at nine locations. The owners of the farms on these locations (their partners) are the animal caretakers and Angel Eggs has taken over the preconditions. Besides that, they purchase hatching eggs from a number of qualified producers. A total of 40 employees work at the company, work that includes animal care, collecting eggs, or packing and transporting the eggs.

Angel Eggs is constantly looking for the right client with the lowest possible handling costs to create added value for their partners and itself. „Unlike other hatching egg sellers, we export hatchings eggs from the start to the end of a flock”, says Twan Engelen, who indicates that this is a way to unburden their partners so that they can focus more on the production of high-quality hatching eggs, the trademark of the Netherlands.

The hatching eggs are supplied to the client in boxes or pallets on request. Engelen was able to take over the packaging machines from a bankrupt hatchery dealer. „We have adjusted the folding machines so that the adhesive edge is on top, which works more efficiently. Labour is the largest expense”, says Twan Engelen.

They checked the name Angel Eggs with customers beforehand. Engelen (family name) means angel in English. „Our Russian and Iraqi customers had no problem with it and the name is always at the top with the alphabetical order", laughs Twan Engelen. The data is printed on the egg cartons; this is clear, transparent, and prevents fraud.

Diane Engelen, Twan’s wife, is responsible for the papers at the export parties. It takes around 5 hours per shipment before everything is in order. Usually, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority is present every day to check the export papers. However, due to corona, everything is now working digitally. „Digitalization might offer possibilities for the future, which could save us costs”, suggests Twan Engelen.

The packaging materials. „We have approximately 100.000 euros of packaging materials in our stock. We had not foreseen this in the beginning. We let the trays dry because this is better for the hatching eggs”, explains Twan Engelen.

The hatching egg dealer collects the eggs in the Netherlands with two trucks. Engelen was the first trader who loaded hatching eggs onto pallets at their partners’ farms as this enables them to load more hatching eggs in the truck and reduce handling costs.

The trucks are equipped with a self-developed disinfection installation. Disinfection is carried out both inside and outside the truck before the eggs are loaded at the partner’s farm.

As broiler breederpoultry farmers, Twan and Jeroen know what works easily in practice. For companies without packing machines, they developed a practical tool for manually stacking hatching eggs on pallets.

The hatching eggs are disinfected in the storage place after arrival. Quality and hygiene are paramount and one of the trademarks of hatching egg dealers. Their slogan is not for nothing: “The start of a healthy chick”.

Working in different time zones requires flexibility. „Each country has its own communication preferences; email, WhatsApp or phone calls. The internet business works efficiently.”

The hatching eggs are mainly transported via axle by external transporters. They speak the language of the client. That is important, says Engelen. The export market determines the price of the Dutch hatching egg. Deliver quality and ensure added value together with the client - is the advice of Engelen.

The hatching eggs stay in Someren for a maximum of 3 days and go to the client as soon as possible in order to maximize the quality. Angel Eggs wants to build a relationship with good hatching egg producers. „We are transparent in giving feedback on the breeding results. Like us, a producer needs to know and feel what the market is doing. This makes them aware of the risks and allows us to work together for the best results. We are not a bank for producers”, says Twan Engelen.

Twan and Diane's sons Tim (20), third from the right, and Luc (18) work in the company next to their studies. Daughter Michelle (21) helps with the book keeping. The brothers like duo entrepreneurship. „It brought us a lot. I think that doing business together, whether with your family or with a partner, is the future. As a family you are stronger”, Twan Engelen concludes.

Tekst: Monique van Loon

Monique van Loon – van Duijnhoven is opgegroeid op een pluimveebedrijf met vleeskuikenouderdieren in Brabant. Monique heeft na haar opleiding aan de Hogere Agrarische School in Den Bosch ruim twintig jaar in het pluimveebedrijfsleven gewerkt als bedrijfsadviseur en communicatiespecialist pluimvee. In 2010 startte ze haar bedrijf AgriContent met als specialisme pluimvee. Ze denkt mee met de redactie en schrijft als freelancer voor Pluimveeweb.

Tekst: Michelle Engelen

Beeld: Ellen Meinen

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Fotoserie: Broiler Breeder farmer has to know and feel what the market is doing

Tekst: Monique van Loon

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Fotoserie: Broiler Breeder farmer has to know and feel what the market is doing

Tekst: Monique van Loon

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