IPPE: Big Dutchman launches Natura Nova True Aviary
Natura Nova Barn focuses on welfare and efficiency for layers
26 April 2022
2 minute read
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Big Dutchman recently unveiled a new product at IPPE, the Natura Nova Barn, which is a layer system that focuses on welfare and efficiency for layers. The True Aviary Natura Nova Barn is for organic, free range and barn egg production and is designed with welfare in mind. The Natura Nova Barn is built around proven concepts in cage-free that Big Dutchman has learned over the years. It has been designed from top to bottom to allow layers free movement and gives them ample space to perform natural behaviors.
"We've included things like dedicated nesting areas, dedicated rest areas and dedicated areas for nighttime access," Steve Walcott, vice president of sales at Big Dutchman in the egg business unit, said at the 2022 IPPE event in Atlanta.
Bringing together all the attributes of cage-free that birds want including perching, feed, etc., the system was designed around the Natura family of products. Globally, the Natura family houses more than 100 million birds and learnings from that on-farm experience have been incorporated into this new design.
"True Aviary is a key feature, and in our mind it is a system with a true actuated mechanical nest. We feel and believe that drives higher nest acceptance, and we see more eggs laid in a nest that is a cleaner nest. Therefore, you have less dirty eggs," said Walcott.
Bottomline benefit to a producer
"What you have at the farm level is a very efficient use of space. It's all about going taller. How do I get as many hens as possible in my barn and still have an effective use of all the space and the requirements that they have for enacting natural behavior?" he explained.
The bottomline benefit is really all about efficiency - efficiency in egg collection, efficiency in feeding and efficiency in the use of space available in a building.
Most of projects, sites and farm sites are set on a fixed piece of land. The challenge is how to effectively use that space to increase bird numbers or at least break even when transitioning to cage-free.
"Everybody has the same struggles - we have a global economy that is seeing this huge increase in cost. So how do I get back to a point of making it pay to be in the business of making and creating producing eggs?" he said.
Learn more about Natura Nova Barn.
