Metzer Farms was started in 1972 by Olin Metzer when he began using ducks to control the snails in his sheep pastures.
He later began selling ducklings to local feed stores and duck eggs to the local Asian market. His son, John Metzer, came back to the farm in 1978 to turn his father's hobby into a business that produced and sold ducklings. The farm grew progressively as new products were added: more breeds of ducks and geese, fresh duck eggs, salted duck eggs, blown eggs and day-old guinea fowl. The third generation, Marc Metzer, joined Metzer Farms in 2014 and is president of its brand, Olinday Farms.
In 2018, Marc Metzer started the fresh duck egg brand, Olinday Farms, named after his grandfather Olin. The company is marketing duck eggs as the all-day egg because of its versatility in plated dishes throughout the day, thus the name Olinday Farms.
Due to its position within the industry, the operation estimates that there were 15 million fresh duck eggs eaten nationally at restaurants or purchased at retail grocery stores last year. Also, there were twice as many eaten from people's backyard ducks. They have seen about a 5% year over year growth.
Egg Industry magazine recently had the opportunity to interview Marc Metzer about the farm's breeding duck operation and the use of duck eggs for human consumption.
Production and housing
Metzer Farms has 14,000 breeders producing fertile eggs for the hatchery and 8,000 ducks producing fresh table eggs for Olinday Farms.
"Most of our ducks are kept in production for one laying cycle; some of them we are molting for a second season," he said.
All the ducks are kept in open-sided buildings with natural ventilation and lighting.
"Most our ducks drink from nipple water lines although some are on bell drinkers," he said. "We like the nipple lines because it keeps the bedding drier and pens cleaner."
At its location in the Salinas Valley of California, the farm rarely hits uncomfortably high or low temperatures due to the daily breeze coming off the Monterey Bay Peninsula, allowing the company to stay in production all year.
The ducks are fed very similar to a typical chicken feed. However, the farm recently moved completely off distillers grains after test results showed very high mycotoxin levels, which have known detrimental effects on ducks.
Ducks are not the most reliable nest egg layers. They decide where to lay their egg based on what's most convenient at that moment.
"We get 5 to 15% of eggs laid outside the nest which does make picking up and washing eggs more difficult," Metzer said. "It takes about 10 to 15 people to pick up eggs every day because we want to get them picked up, washed and packed as soon as possible."
The farm uses a biosecurity plan that was developed with its veterinarian to maximize food safety and bird health. It uses a separate Danish-style room to put on coveralls, change shoes, sanitize hands and put on hairnets before entering any barn, creating a line of separation from any outside threats.
However, open-sided barns at the operation present small risks. Metzer said the farm uses chicken wire to keep any wild birds out of the barn but that he realizes there is still a risk of disease being transfer to the ducks through the air or even wild bird feathers entering the house.
However, ducks are resilient and the only vaccination program the company has is against Salmonella. Birds are given live vaccine treatments through the water supply and two subcutaneous injections as a preventative measure before egg production. Metzer said it’s a very rare occasion when a duck gets sick. He attributed part of that to the fact that the ducks are only in production for a year.
After that year, the ducks are sold to a live market where the purchaser processes the ducks.
Distribution and marketing
Metzer Farms is one of the largest U.S. distributors of ducklings, while its brand, Olinday Farms is the largest fresh duck egg producer in the U.S.
Ducklings can be shipped using the postal service and are then used by their new owners for egg production, meat production or as backyard poultry. The fresh duck eggs are targeted to chefs at upscale restaurants who want to add an extra dimension to their dishes or the home chef that simply likes duck eggs more than chicken eggs.
"Most of our egg distribution relies on distributors to get our eggs to restaurants and grocery stores," Metzer said. "Our location has been a benefit because there is a major consumer base locally in the Bay Area that allows for easy delivery to distributors."
It has been more difficult for the company to pick up new distributors outside of this area because duck eggs are a relatively new item and there is not an already established customer base.
"We are having to spend the money to ship a pallet to a distribution center but can only fill it 25% with the product due to low orders," he said. "The math just doesn't add up to pay all that freight for just a small order, but it's something we are having to do to help develop the market. I can't ship a full pallet of duck eggs to a foodservice distributor in Dallas and expect them to be able to sell it all on the first go around."
The company is beginning to sell direct to restaurants and home consumers using FedEx. This has helped bring duck eggs to people that are unable to get them locally and it could build the demand for them to work with a distributor in other areas.
Major metropolitan areas with fine dining establishments have been key sales areas, including large cities outside of California.
Five to 10% of Metzer Farms sales are in specialty eggs, which includes balut, salted duck eggs, and blown duck and goose eggshells. Blown eggs are eggs that are cleaned inside and out are used for artists to decorate. The balut and salted duck egg market is a steady business which helps in an otherwise very seasonal hatchery business.
Packaging of fresh duck eggs is a challenge.
"Our biggest packaging challenge right now is finding retail packaging large enough for our 80-95 g duck eggs. We get calls and emails from consumers asking us to switch out of our plastic six-packs and into pulp for environmental reasons, but I don't have a great solution at this moment," he said.
Metzer has asked multiple suppliers, but there is nothing available in pulp that can handle the size of duck eggs.
Olinday Farms gets calls and emails from consumers asking them to switch out of its plastic six-packs and into pulp for environmental reasons, but despite attempts to work with multiple suppliers they have had no success in meeting this demand. (Courtesy Olinday Farms)
The company has seen a steady demand over the past several years without any marketing efforts.
"This year, we've put together a marketing plan for duck eggs that should not only help increase our sales but other duck egg farmers too," he said. "We do our best to give our ducks the best life, as a result, animal welfare standards haven't affected the way we grow our ducks and I don't see that changing."
The company's marketing plan includes a retail shelf dangler that will provide consumers with duck egg recipes. It also plans to soon work with a West Coast food influencer, host an editorial farm tour, and do in-store demos.
Using duck eggs
"Our chefs enjoy being creative with their evolving menu by adding a fried duck egg over a steak, cooking a duck egg-topped pizza, or serving a poached egg over asparagus," he said.
A duck egg can be substituted with a chicken egg in any recipe, adding richness in flavor.
"As far as frying, it is important to cook at a lower temperature as the higher protein content in duck eggs will cause a rubbery texture if cooked too hot,” he said.
Duck eggs are commonly used in higher-end restaurants. They can be substituted with a chicken egg in any recipe, but duck eggs have a richer flavor. (Courtesy Olinday Farms)
Duck eggs have more protein and fat per gram of egg. Proportionally, a duck egg's yolk is larger than a chicken egg's yolk so there is a higher level of vitamins and minerals.
The shelf life of a duck egg is 10 weeks.
Planning for the future
"We are experimenting with mobile pasture pens," Metzer said. "These are 20-foot-by-20-foot pens on skids that allow the ducks to move to fresh grass every week. Ducks in these pens are fed organically. This is more geared towards our retail grocery store customers, but we have had some interest from chefs too. We own the genetics and hatchery; we are ready to gear up for larger quantities as the demand comes at us."
