COMPANY PROFILE
2014
Nulaid
27 21 864 8600 | www.nulaid.co.za
company profile
A fresh egg is… Nulaid Editorial: Harriet Pattison Production: Hal Hutchison
Producing an estimated 2.7 million eggs every day, Nulaid has come a long way since its inception. With products ranging from freerange eggs to liquid eggs and day-old chicks, Nulaid continues to place a large emphasis on the importance of animal welfare and food safety which will, no doubt, secure its place as South Africa’s single biggest egg farmer for many more years to come…
Over the decades, the egg industry has become a highly developed and successful one. With new modern technologies
single age farms or sites on larger farms with an allin, all-out replacement program.
and cost effective production facilities, egg farmers are able to produce hundreds of thousands eggs every single day on just one farm alone. Up until March 1989, Nulaid was developed under the ownership of Premier Milling, and Lemoenkloof was developed under the ownership of Bokomo. Nulaid was later formed as a result of the amalgamation of the two companies under the sole ownership of Bokomo, who saw a market opportunity for chicken farming. From its inception, Nulaid’s philosophy has remained consistent: to develop separate specialised pullet rearing farms, improve biosecurity measures and to convert the layer farms as far as possible into
EXPERIENCE SPANNING THREE DECADES
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Roelof Viljoen, Executive Manager at Nulaid, explains the successful set up of the company which has shown such impressive growth over the last three decades. “We farm with the Lohmann breed and import grandparents from Germany. We have a grandparent facility where we produce day old parents which are transferred to our parent rearing and breeding farms where they produce fertile eggs. At our two big commercial hatcheries we produce day old chicks which are reared for 18 weeks on one of our six rearing farms. From here, at 18 weeks we then
Nulaid
transfer the point of laying hens to a commercial layer farm. � With eggs gathered daily, they each undergo a strict and rigorous grading process. The quality of the eggs is determined by means of the candling method without having to break the shell. Each egg is rotated under a harsh light and the quality of the egg yolk, the egg white and the air space is monitored. The eggs that do meet these special requirements are then sold as a checked quality egg. A number of eggs do not go through the process however and these are classified as ungraded and are sold fresh from the farm direct to the customer. Naturally, the graded eggs are more expensive as they go through a more costly process. These are sold to more formal retailers and wholesalers where
ungraded eggs are sold to separate markets. While the eggs are not sold directly to the public, Viljoen explains its biggest customer base are the four national retailers; Shoprite, Pick ’n Pay, Spar and Walmart South Africa. In addition to selling free-range eggs and canola eggs, with the latter the chicks are fed a balanced feed with added canola and therefore the egg is higher in certain omega oils, Nulaid also sell dayold chicks and point of lay hens to other farmers. Liquid eggs are sold to industrial customers, including mayonnaise manufacturers.
SPREADING THE COMPANY’S FOOTPRINT Despite nearing 25 years since its inception, Viljoen explains that the industry has faced challenges but
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company profile
THE SCIENCE OF HEALTHIER ANIMALS
MSD Animal Health is one of the world’s leading animal health companies. The company is dedicated to the research and development, production and marketing of innovative, high quality animal health products. Our sales team is strongly supported by highly qualified veterinarians. They provide expertise in their respective fields such as beef, dairy, small livestock, companion animals, pigs and poultry. MSD Animal Health’s goal is to be entirely service focused and provide South African farmers with optimal solutions to all their animal health needs. Intervet South Africa (Pty) Ltd. Reg No 1991/006580/07 Private Bag X2026, Isando, 1600, Tel: +27 (0) 11 923 9300, Fax: +27 (0) 11 974 9320 msd-animal-health.co.za | ZA/OPO/0914/0003
the company is still hoping to increase its footprint further into neighbouring African countries in the coming years: “In South Africa our industry has been through fickle times with high maize and soya prices which make up a big proportion of the cost of chicken feed. “At this time we do not plan any big expansions on the commercial side in South Africa. In terms of moving to Africa, the Quantum foods business of which Nulaid is part, owns two operations, one in Zambia and one in Uganda. Both of these are built around parent farming. In both Zambia and Uganda, these were started as parent farming businesses so the product they sell there is day old layers and day old broilers. In Uganda and Zambia this is the current business plus we have a commercial layer operation in the Copper Belt. We are looking into future expansion with increasing our footprint in Zambia and Uganda.” Nulaid has ensured that it remains competitive with a philosophy to ensure it is fully integrated with its own breeding farms, hatcheries, pullet rearing and commercial egg laying farms to grading, packing and marketing of eggs. This business ethos was based on the view that the balance between supply and demand and therefore profitability in
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the commercial egg industry was always going to be cyclical.
THE SINGLE BIGGEST EGG FARMER “Competition in the egg industry has always been and still is tough,” explains Viljoen. “Consumers are under pressure and if the consumer is under pressure then demand for our product is also under pressure. We are focusing and concentrating on supplying the retail market, so in order to do this we must adhere to a certain quality standard set. “All of our premises and our grading facilities are audited to ensure we are compliant to quality standards that are required by the retail market. Further to that it is important to have the correct administrative systems to interact with the retailers” As the single biggest egg farmer and only national producer in the country, Viljoen explains the industry remains very fragmented with a large number of smaller farmers: “In certain regions there are relatively big farms but in general, the industry is characterised by around 300 smaller farms so it is not dominated by three or four big players. “Not all of the smaller farms are able to concentrate on sales, distribution, administrative systems and quality, so that’s where we focus, to supply a certain segment of the retail market. The egg industry is supply and demand driven and daily stock management is of vital importance to be successful.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF STAFF TRAINING Showing such exponential growth, Viljoen explains that the company has a mixture of both old and more modern farms. As with many industries, advancements in technology have led to automation of facilities. Within one of its automated farms, Viljoen explains that only one farm worker is needed in a shed housing 40,000 birds. However in one of the older farms where neither the feed or egg collection is automated, one farm worker will be responsible for 6,000 birds. With such a large number of birds across each farm within the company, Viljoen explains the importance of animal welfare and food safety is imperative: “Our farm workers are trained externally and internally on how to handle the birds and animal welfare issues. Everyone who works with animals is trained to animal welfare standards, this is important as we are farmers with a love for animals.”
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“Grading stations are automated too but we use labour to do certain functions and these employees are trained on how to handle the product related to food safety regulations. We are involved with tertiary institutions and we accommodate trainee farm managers, trained on the different types of farms. As opportunities present itself some of these trainees will then be permanently employed.”
AN ICON BRAND Earlier this year, Nulaid received an award for “Icon Brand”. Despite over 8,000 brands in the running and a total of 31 brands awarded icon status, Nulaid came 12th, improving on the 15th place Icon status achieved in 2013, cementing the importance of its company values and prestigious role within an increasingly popular industry. “We are proud of the performance of the brand and in terms of the exposure the brand has to the market,” reflects Viljoen. With an estimated 2.7 million eggs produced every single day across the company in South Africa and plans to expand further into African countries, the future is looking to be an extremely positive one for Nulaid.
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