| Pig & Poultry
parks being installed.”
Equipment and nutrition
Last year Interhatch was very
busy across both the broiler and
egg sectors, says sales manager
Warwick Grinnell. “A lot of our
growth was from equipment sales
such as washers, and on the
nutritional side. New equipment is
really all about focusing on
automation.”
Vitamins, acids and water
hygiene are all helping to reduce
antibiotic usage, says Mr Grinnell.
“Producers are always investing in
the future in order to get better
results from birds.”
Easy application of vitamins to
feed is one of the latest
innovations to come from
Interhatch. The Easy At system
automatically applies liquid
vitamins to the feed track, and
other products for water hygiene
and new organic acids are also
taking off. “Innovation is constantly
improving and farmers are having
to invest.”
With the increase in rented sites
there is now a market for long-term
contract renting of equipment,
from climate control to flock
management systems, according
to Mr Draper. “We are looking at
supplying equipment on a long-
term contract including training
and maintenance. This will mean
sharing the risk over a longer
period but is something that is
normal practice in other industries.
Rolled up with the energy costs, it
means there is a fixed price to an
operation, rather than the
changing costs of repairing
equipment.”
Ventilation
Installation of ventilation
systems is just starting to warm