22 ASIAN POULTRY MAGAZINE – August 2011

A fter their 20-year land lease

in Choa Chu Kang expired the Koh family, owners of Singapore’s Seng Choon Farm, decided to relocate their layer farm to a bigger plot of land in Lim Chu Kang, 15 minutes away from the old farm.

Moving was an opportunity to upgrade their machines, systems and houses. The new farm has five houses for pullets and 13 for layers. The feedmill is now fully automated and it has a second silo. The egg grading facility features a new 12-lane egg grading machine.

With the current infrastructure the farm produces 400,000 eggs per day compared to 300,000 previously. Running full steam it can produce up to 700,000 eggs per day.

“There’s still room for growth. It’s a 14-ha property and only 60% is used,” said Managing Director Koh Yeow Koon.

Good move

“The move is both unfortunate and fortunate. It’s unfortunate

Relocation an opportunity for Seng Choon to

upgrade

If you could start all over again what kind of improvements would you introduce on your farm? The operators of Seng Choon in Singapore decided to relocate as their land lease had expired. It was a chance to improve and upgrade, Managing Director Koh Yeow Koon tells RACHAEL PHILIP.

Relocation an opportunity for Seng Choon to

upgrade

because of all the extra expenditure moving entails and fortunate because a lot of good things have come out of this relocation.”

In space-constrained Singapore, land is normally leased for a maximum of 20 years.

The move was particularly good because the owners could plan their new farm layout taking into consideration bio-security features.

“It was like tearing down the old place and examining what was not good in the old layout and the systems we had in place. I’m sure in the long-term we will see the benefits of this,” said the second generation Koh who has been in the family business for 10 years now. His father Koh Swee Lai, 67, is today the Chairman of the company.

“It’s easier to plant bio-security features from the start rather than make adjustments or renovations along the way to fit in a feature. With the old site it was difficult to control the flow. Over the years we kept assembling new structures on

Koh Yeow Koon

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24 ASIAN POULTRY MAGAZINE – August 2011

the farm as business expanded. Also biosecurity concerns were not a big issue 20 years ago.”

Farm architects

The planning team learnt a lot just by studying the blueprint of the old farm. They came up with a number of improvements which may seem insignificant to those not in the business but ingenious to an experienced poultry farmer.

A bad design layout of the whole farm area could cause cross contamination as workers move around from one area to another. Since Seng Choon could start all over again they decided to enhance security by controlling traffic flow and by simply making it tedious to move around.

A wire fence cuts the farm into two parts. The secure zone, where stringent biosecurity measures are in place, sits at the furthest end of the farm. Workers who have no business across the fence would think twice about coming over as the single opening is at one end of the farm, 150m away.

Eggs are collected automatically via conveyor belts from the layer houses and channeled over the fence, also a via conveyor belt, running on

Feed determines health

The health of layers is determined by their feed and Seng Choon are experts in this field. The family started in the feed milling business back in the 1970s. The new fully automated feed mill mixes and batches the feed, reduces wastage, keeps the feed quality consistent and processes the feed faster.

To maintain consistent feed quality, Seng Choon implements strict quality control measures on incoming raw materials, formulations and production processes. Raw material is first screened physically and then sent to the laboratory for analysis to make sure that their nutritional content is up to mark.

The mill maintains its feed formulation even when prices of raw material fluctuate.

“We try not to substitute our corn-soy diet with other grains as it will affect hen performance and the quality of eggs. Anyway raw material prices correct themselves after some time. There is no relatively cheaper material unless you use radical ingredients which we don’t,” Mr Koh explained.

All individual ingredients are weighed and mixed by the machine. Feed trucks transfer the feed to individual houses.

Automation saves time

“Now, with the same input, we can produce 50% more feed. The mill has the capacity to produce 12 tonnes of feed per hour, that’s about 108 tonnes per shift and double that if it needs to run on two shifts,” Mr Koh said adding that the produce of the mill is used solely on the farm.

“From our experience as feedmillers we know that good feed is beneficial to chicks. We buy feeds that are wholesome,” said Mr Koh. The mill uses the least cost formulation software based on its own formulation specifications.

Since nutrients are transferred to the eggs via lipids, Seng Choon prefers oil-based nutrients which are added into the feed with the usual phosphate enzymes and toxin binders for better performance.

The mill prepares various types of feed products to enable the birds to produce eggs which are lower in cholesterol and rich in lutein and Omege-3. The farm is also the market leader in First-Born Eggs which are believed to be nutritious.

While Seng Choon produces its feed with stringent specifications and testing, feed analysis is also carried out by the Agrifood and Veterinary Authority (AVA). The company also steps up checks when it suspects inconsistencies in the feed.

The conveyor belt runs about 4m from the ground.

The farm has two large silos. Each silo can store up to 300 tonnes of feed

a closed overhead bridge, about 4m from the ground and into the egg grading building.

“This used to be the weakest link before. Now the eggs roll in without workers handling them,” Mr Koh said, referring to the artery which delivers the eggs into the egg grading centre.

Here the eggs are fed into the farm’s new egg-grader installed in October last year. The 12-lane machine has a dirt detector, a crack detector and a blood spot detector.

“I believe we are the first in

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26 ASIAN POULTRY MAGAZINE – August 2011

Southeast Asia to have the full suite of detectors.”

Safe eggs

The dirt detector has four cameras which capture images of the eggs rolling by. Here every egg is given a code. Dirty eggs are sent to a separate lane. Next each egg is tapped 16 times on different locations to determine if there are cracks. This way is said to be more accurate than candling.

“There are more rejects now compared to before! This is because the machine is more accurate,” Mr Koh said.

Double rollers on the egg grading machine keep the eggs cleaner as it prevents contamination from broken eggs. The weighing system with light detectors has load cells that are placed above the eggs and not below, again reducing the risk of contamination.

“The machine can run 60,000 eggs per hour. It’s not a big machine but sufficient for our use. Eggs are out in the market within four hours of being laid.”

Mr Koh has also made some improvements to the layer houses. The new houses maintain the tunnel ventilation system with cooling pads for optimum temperature for the birds. Every cage has been carefully designed to eliminate blind corners which can trap eggs in the cage.

“Eggs are supposed to roll out automatically but sometimes they can get trapped. By re-working the design of the cages we can get better quality of eggs with lesser cracks.

We’ve also reduced the number of soiled eggs we produce.”

Family business

Right now, Mr Koh feels, the management is content to run the business as a family outfit and has no intention of being listed.

“Farming is a multi-skilled job. We cannot afford to have an expert in every field. What we have here is years and years of experience and commitment,” said the 36-year-old.

“If a farm system is broken it must be fixed immediately. We don’t have specialised engineers for each machine. We train on the job and help out in any area that needs help,” said the National University of Singapore Business Administration graduate.

“Farming in Singapore is challenging. You can’t buy the land, so there’s no land appreciation, no capital gain. It’s an on-going cost, in fact. Because the cost factor is very high every cent counts.

Regulations are also stringent in Singapore. Authorities from the AVA come over to monitor the health status of the flock on a weekly basis. Mr Koh does not doubt that this kind of checks lend his clients confidence and the assurance that his products are safe.

Seng Choon also receives funding from the Government’s food security program which is used to process chicken dung by drying and composting. The fertilizer is then sold to farmers to nourish the soil.

“We produce and distribute our products ourselves to supermarkets, where we do our own marketing activities, and to industry users such as caterers, food factories and hawker centers.”

Seng Choon is also involved in downstream activities. It produces cooked and peeled hard boiled eggs as well as pasteurised liquid egg products for its clients. n

Left:

Seng Choon can deliver its eggs within four hours of it being laid.

Below:

Premium eggs such as 1st Born Eggs and eggs lower in cholesterol are gaining in popularity.

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