HatchTech, Willmar Poultry enter distribution partnership

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

Jonathan Huisinga and Rick Huisinga, of Willmar Poultry, upper left, and Joost ter Heerdt and Tjitze Meter of HatchTech, lower right, celebrate a distribution partnership partnership reached between the two companies. (HatchTech)
Jonathan Huisinga and Rick Huisinga, of Willmar Poultry, upper left, and Joost ter Heerdt and Tjitze Meter of HatchTech, lower right, celebrate a distribution partnership partnership reached between the two companies. (HatchTech)

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

HatchCare, according to a press release from HatchTech, is a unique and widely-adopted hatchery system where day-old birds hatch under optimum, and uniform temperature conditions, and are provided with fresh water, feed, and light as soon as they hatch.

Years of investments and thorough testing of early feeding potential for turkeys has revealed positive results. Willmar Poultry is now in the process of extending its research and development facilities, adding HatchCare systems to their process, to increase testing capacity and enable large-scale field trials. Willmar and HatchTech will work in close partnership to monitor outcomes, gather data, and measure the performance and bird-health impact of these systems.

Due to the expectation of a positive outcome of these efforts, Willmar Poultry has become the exclusive distributor for the sales of HatchCare for turkeys in the United States of America 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,” he said.

Rick Huisinga, CEO of Willmar has a similarly positive outlook: 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. HatchTech has developed the best solution in the world to deliver feed, fresh water, and an ideal environment to newly hatched chicks, and we believe the same potential exists in poults. The future of HatchCare for Turkeys is bright.”

Both companies say they are aware of the tremendous potential that fresh water and early feeding will deliver for day-old Turkeys. At the same time, they are fully aware of the fact that the genetics and behavior 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 companies stated. 

“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” added Jonathan Huisinga, Willmar Poultry’s research & development director, “I look forward with great confidence to the first results.”

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