Willmar Poultry Innovations becomes exclusive distributor of HatchCare for turkeys in U.S. and Canada.

September 3, 2020

2 Min Read
Willmar and HatchTech.jpg
From left to right: Jonathan Huisinga, research and development director, and Rick Huisinga, CEO of Willmar Poultry Innovations; Joost ter Heerdt, commercial director, and Tjitze Meter, founder and CEO of HatchTech.

HatchTech, a leading manufacturer of incubation equipment, and Willmar Poultry Innovations (WPI), a leading global innovator of turkey-related products and operations, are collaborating on substantial research and development efforts to apply chicken HatchCare products to hatching day-old turkeys.

HatchCare is a unique and widely adopted hatchery system in which day-old birds hatch under optimal and uniform temperature conditions and are provided with fresh water, feed and light as soon as they hatch, according to the announcement.

Years of investments and thorough testing of early feeding potential for turkeys has revealed positive results, the companies said. WPI is now in the process of extending its research and development facilities, adding HatchCare systems to its process, to increase testing capacity and enable large-scale field trials.

WPI and HatchTech will work in close partnership to monitor outcomes, gather data and measure the bird performance and health impact of these systems.

Due to the expectation for a positive outcome of these efforts, WPI has become the exclusive distributor for the sales of HatchCare for turkeys in the U.S. and Canada.

Joost ter Heerdt, commercial director of HatchTech, sees this partnership as a positive move for both companies: “We’re excited at the prospect of HatchCare entering the turkey market through this agreement with Willmar. Their turkey knowhow and our expertise with fresh water and feed for early birds will make this a great partnership. We believe all parties involved will benefit from this, especially our future customers.”

WPI chief executive officer Rick Huisinga added, “Our small-scale tests with early feeding on turkeys have been extremely positive. Now, it’s time for the next big step in our product development cycle: gathering full-scale data.”

Both companies said they are aware of the potential that fresh water and early feeding will deliver for day-old turkeys but also of the fact that the genetics and behaviors of a day-old chicken and a day-old turkey are significantly different. It will be critical that they develop a close collaboration between their respective teams, including sales support, coaching, product modifications, updates and training, the announcement said.

“There is a lot of similarity between our companies. Innovation based on scientific research is one of our key pillars and it’s great to work with a company such as HatchTech that has a similar drive. Their attention to quality and detail is key to our partnership,” WPI research and development director Jonathan Huisinga said.

WPI is the research arm of a family-owned organization with multiple affiliated companies that have developed expertise and delivered innovation to the turkey industry for 75 years. WPI focuses on creating innovative products and service solutions to operations always striving to improve.

As a leading food technology company, HatchTech Incubation Technology enables poultry companies worldwide to maximize the genetic potential of their birds. Headquartered in the Netherlands and with offices in China, Ukraine and representing agents in more than 20 countries, HatchTech supports customers in more than 40 countries.

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