Based in the northeast of Latvia, Aluksne Poultry Farm has recently officially opened its most recent poultry house. This latest phase of expansion increases the company’s output by 35%.
According to Baltic Times, the 3,000-square-meter house is on a 23-hectare (57-acre) site in the municipality of Aluksne belongs to APF Holdings.
With a capacity of 125,000 hens, the new house is a cage-free facility. It brings to three the number of houses operated by the company. At a total cost of EUR4 million (US$4.7 million), construction was undertaken by a local company over a period of nine months.
Among those attending the official inauguration of the new building were ministers of the Latvian government and local authorities, as well as equipment supplier, Officine Facco.
Aluksne Poultry Farm has become a leading and growing egg producer in the Baltic region, according to Massimo Finco, president of Officine Facco. This was the egg company’s most recent of two houses fitted with Libera Cage Free equipment since 2019, he said. The farm’s decision in favor of cage-free egg production was an innovative one for the region, he said.
Over the past 5 years, EUR15 million have been invested in the production facility, including EUR1.5 million in funding from investment organization, Altum.
Recent and future developments at Aluksne Poultry Farm
At the inauguration, the founder and chairman of APF Holdings, Jurijs Adamovics, stressed that the application of modern technology on the farm allowed both a high degree of automation, and world-class biosafety standards. As a result, around 30% of the farm’s production is exported to other European Union states.
Looking ahead, he announced that Aluksne Poultry will soon be supplied with pullets from a new subsidiary. So far, the firm has imported replacement birds, but these will be supplied by a new subsidiary — Preilu putni — set up by the holding company from next year.
From the current workforce of around 50, the latest expansion of the farm provides a further five jobs, said Hermanis Dovgijs, CEO of the Aluksne Poultry Farm. This brings socio-economic benefits to the area, he said.
According to Dovgijs, the farm currently has 415,000 layers. With an annual output of 115 million eggs, the Farm is now the second largest egg producer in Latvia.
Over the next five years, Aluksne Poultry Farm will continue to raise production, and widen its product range, he said.
More on Aluksne Poultry Farm
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Aluksne Poultry Farm was founded in 1961, according to the firm’s website. A series of modernizations and improvements began in 2017, with the third poultry house as the latest phase in the firm’s development. Since 2016, investment in the facilities has totaled EUR12 million.
With a current capacity of around 290,000 hens, egg production is in the region of 85 million eggs. With an area of 2,000 square meters, the farm’s sorting capacity is around 30,000 eggs per hour.
APF offers three egg brands. The Oluksne Premium and Oluksne brands are from birds housed in barns, while APF eggs come from enriched cages.
For the cage-free options, at a stocking rate of no more than nine birds per square meter, hens are housed in barns. At least one-third of the floor area is covered in natural bedding, and there is sufficient space for perching. Feeders and drinkers are easily accessible.
Latvia’s egg industry in the EU
At the inauguration of the new facility, Latvia’s agriculture minister, Kaspars Gerhards, highlighted the rapid expansion of Latvian egg exports over recent years, reported Baltic Times. The value of this trade has risen by more than 40% over the past five years, he said.
Of the animal proteins, poultry production is growing rapidly worldwide, and official forecasts see this trend continuing. He said that the new company would contribute to rising consumption.
Latest figures from the European Commission (EC) put Latvia in 19th position in terms of laying hen population within the European Union. In 2020, the number of hens in the country was a little over 3.255 million out of the community’s total of more than 372 million.
In Latvia, 75% of Latvian hens were housed in enriched cages, and 22% in barns. Free-range and organic production, respectively, accounted for around 3% and 0.2% of Latvian hens.
So far in 2021, no outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been reported in Latvia's commercial poultry flocks through the EC Animal Disease Information System. In wild birds, 37 cases have tested positive for the virus, most recently in June of this year.
