Top performing ProTen Queensland broiler farm visited by Danish trade delegates

On the morning of the May 13, Poultry Digest visited a state-of-the-art ProTen broiler farm at Allan Creek in the Gold Coast hinterland. 

Arne Overgaard, SKOV’s Export Manager, also took a Danish Trade delegation to visit the farm.

The Danish government recognises the importance of Australia’s livestock, feed milling and other forms of farming activity, to its exports of critical equipment including SKOV’s climate control technology and the Landmeco feeding system.

When we arrived at the Allan Creek Farm, we were met by ProTen’s Regional Operations Manager, Morné Potgieter and his team, who run this farm that sets the standards for broiler shed performance within its SE Queensland regional pool.

The farm is a joint venture between Santrev and industry partners who acquired the site with the specific aim of designing and constructing a leading-edge broiler rearing operation. 

Luke Trevanion, CEO of Santrev, told Poultry Digest that “the eight-shed farm was built with a focus on efficiency and performance. 

“We simply wanted to build the best farm in the country,” Luke said.

“Mark and Fiona Tilley owned the site initially and we shared in the partnership as we operated the farm as Ingham’s contract producers before the farm was sold to ProTen in November 2023.

“Mark was new to the industry and came to the project with a varied background in farming and the mining sector, however his experience proved to be critical to the overall success of the operation.

“Mark and Fiona owned the block of land which had been in the family for generations and they were looking to diversify the family farming operations.

“They worked with their local council for several years before obtaining the approval for an eight-shed farm.

The partnership with Santrev occurred sometime later when the opportunity became available to build the farm as an Ingham’s contract grower. The first birds were placed in April 2022.

“The farm has not disappointed and with the benefit of a good manager, who was committed to excellence, this farm has topped every batch since the inception, in a pool of 38 Ingham’s broiler growers,” Luke told Poultry Digest.

“When the farm was sold to ProTen, all the staff who had operated the farm during the Santrev/Tilley partnership, were transferred to ProTen.

“The farm doesn’t only deliver on the performance parameters vital to the integrator such as FCR average daily weight gain etc.

“From the grower’s point of view, in this case ProTen, the farm provides optimum efficiency in heating and cooling using the world class ventilation systems of our Danish partners, SKOV.

“We have seen gas use savings of around 30% when using the SKOV 

indirect dry heaters mounted in the apex of the sheds,” Luke said.

Charlie Mayne is Santrev’s Area Sales Manager and spare parts/equipment specialist.

He described the critical equipment at the Allan Creek farm that, combined with good management practice, delivers the consistent optimal performance levels that were the aim of its original builders and now being maintained by ProTen’s team at the farm.

“The SKOV BF 55 fan combines a minimum energy consumption with a high airflow ratio. 

“It was developed with a ‘Dynamic Multistep Operation Control’ so these fans enable farmers to get what we believe is the most efficient ventilation performance currently available on the Australian market,” Charlie told Poultry Digest.

“This fan is constructed using thermoplastics and stainless steel which enables it to withstand the typically harsh environment in poultry housing.

“In order to achieve the maximum performance Santrev and the original owners were seeking, all the fans used on the Allan Creek site are variable in operation.

“They can work on an 0-100% basis depending on the specific ventilation requirements dictated by prevailing conditions and bird requirements.

“The IBH roof mounted indirect heater and SKOV’S fully automatic blow heater, ensures the correct combustion of the gas and also features automatic ignition,” Charlie explained. 

“The blow heater will activate an alarm in the case of combustion irregularities, thus avoiding the risk of unburnt gases in the house.

“This blow heater is resistant to the aggressive poultry house environment. It is made from stainless steel and requires a minimum of maintenance and can withstand high pressure cleaning. 

“The indirect heating allows litter to remain dry resulting in less maintenance duties for the farmer,” Charlie added.

“The Landmeco ‘Kick-off’ feeding system provides centrally controlled overfilling of all the pans at the same time.

“It is controlled centrally by one single operation for each feed line; a process which is extremely time saving and eliminates the need for manual work.

“The pan has a low edge (52mm), a critical feature which allows the day old chicks easy access to their feed.

“This in turn improves the chick’s appetite as the feed remains fresher because there is only approximately 1.1 kg of feed in the pan. 

“Another beneficial feature is the fact that the pans can be easily raised from the litter after only a few days.

“The Impex water drinking system is suitable for various poultry applications including broilers, layers, parent stock and free range production.

“The system is easy to clean, improves water temperature, requires minimal maintenance, delivers optimal hygiene with minimal water wastage,” Charlie said. 

“A relatively new concept for Santrev/FarmMark shed design is placement fences. 

“A placement fence offers a more permanent solution to farmers who want to keep their day old/young birds on top of the supplied feed.

“This is a critical strategy for the placement of birds in the typical Australian poultry shed,” Charlie stated.

Interestingly from Poultry Digest’s point of view, were the Enmach Polysilos installed on the property.

Apart from being durable and corrosion resistant, the semi-opaque nature of the polypropylene material used in the silos design, means farm and feed delivery staff can see at a glance where the feed levels are; a small but significant detail.

When Poultry Digest visited the Allan Creek property with SKOV’S Arne Overgaard and his guests, the sheds were between batches and in the final stages of cleanout.

Farm Manager André van der Westhuizen and his team, welcomed our group and explained in detail how the farm operated and how it achieved its excellent and consistent performance.

Apart from achieving the performance parameters that are vital to ProTen’s integrators like FCR and average daily weight gain, the farm has excellent environmental credentials. 

The provision of bedding for the birds, as well as managing the shed conditions to keep it dry, are obviously a significant cost, but at the end of each batch that litter becomes an asset as valuable fertiliser. 

Also, as the broiler sector has to move to greater focus on GHG emissions in any carbon audit, the ability to supply quantities of organic fertiliser to other sectors of agricultural production becomes a plus on the environmental balance sheet for the farm, and its owners.

For Poultry Digest, the day was a great opportunity to see first hand, a top performing broiler farm and through its knowledgeable staff, understand how it achieves a pool topping track record. 

Obviously the well thought out design and state-of-the-art SKOV equipment are critical factors in achieving optimum performance. 

Santrev/FarmMark and their partners, Mark and Fiona Tilley, who achieved their aim of building and operating a top performing broiler 

operation, recognised the contribution of an excellent farm manager and his staff.

Luke Trevanion, the CEO of Santrev, told Poultry Digest that the team that ran the farm before it was sold to Santrev, were critical to the achievement of a consistent high performance for the farm.

“When we transferred the farm to Proten, the staff in place went with the property and are now part of Proten’s expanding workforce,” he said.

Poultry Digest and other members of our visiting group were all impressed by the Allan Creek’s farm, its design and impressive equipment fit-out including much of SKOV’s innovative technology.

We were also impressed by the enthusiastic and knowledgeable ProTen staff who are justifiably proud of their farm and its performance record. 

Even advanced technology is only as good as the people that operate it.

However, at the Allan Creek farm, the team running the operation obviously know how to extract the best results from a farm conceived and built to be a broiler industry leader.