Makorit 2000 celebrates 25th anniversary

Mid May 2015 Makorit 2000, LOHMANN TIERZUCHT’s distributor of LSL in Israel, celebrated its 25th anniversary in Tiflis, Georgia. More than 75 staff and farmers joined in this 4-day event. A brief overview of this great company and the poultry industry in the land of milk, honey and eggs.

Since the foundation of the company in 1988, the main owner and Managing Director Moshe senitzky has largely expanded the business of turkeys and layer chicks in Israel.

At present, Makorit 2000 has a market share well above 50%. About 20 years ago, the LOHMANN LsL-eXTRA was introduced which turned out to be the ideal bird for the highly demanding Israelian market. Most layers are kept in traditional cages under harsh conditions. Farm houses are open or semi-closed, with summer temperatures exceeding 35°C and major disease challenges. In the last two to three years several large-sized modern farms with closed, climate controlled houses were constructed.

Israel: champion in poultry and egg consumption

Israel’s poultry sector accounts for almost one fifth of the country’s agricultural output. Per capita consumption of broiler and turkey meat is amongst the highest in the world. About 1.88 billion table eggs, 460,000 tons of broiler meat and 75,000 tons of turkey meat are produced each year.
Consumers clearly prefer large, white shelled eggs. eggs need to be ‘kosher’ for religious reasons, meaning no blood nor meatspots may be present inside the egg. eggs above 73 grams get a premium price.

Government-regulated production

Both the egg market and the dairy market in Israel are state regulated. This means that farmers receive a fixed price for selling their eggs and milk. However, they are also limited to producing a fixed, government-determined quantity. This so-called “quota system“ ensures a fixed income for the farmers. some farmers also sell or rent out their quotas to larger producers. Many poultry farmers sell their quota eggs to supermarket chains and other stores. Less than 5% of the sold eggs originate from free range and organic barn production. Those specialty eggs are not subject to governmental price control and are generally double the price of ordinary table eggs.

Aimal welfare

Nearly all layers in Israel are kept in conventional cages. For several years now, animal rights activists are trying to change conditions in the poultry industry. The parlement, called Knesseth, has already approved legislation to increase minimum space per hen from 300 to 750 square centimeters, in line with former european regulations. Another fundamental change will be a complete ban on forced molting; merely all birds are currently molted after a production period of one year and kept for an additional second cycle up to 115 to 120 weeks of age. several new projects have already installed enrichable cages in recent years, to be prepared for further legislation.

LOHMANN TIERZUCHT

Opening of a new hatchery

In late August, Makorit officially celebrated opening of a brand-new hatchery at kibbutz Hasolelim.The new facility has an annual capacity of 14 million hatching eggs, exclusively for Lohmann LsL extra. state-of-theart equipment of Petersime, Viscon and Novatech ensure that this is the largest, most modern layer hatchery in the region. with this new milestone, Makorit 2000 is well prepared for another 25 years of successful distribution of Lohmann layers.