Day 11, Friday May 20, 2015

Garrett Elpers 

Overview

• Rondeel chicken farm
• Wageingen University animal science department and exchange student programs
• De Ommuunrde Tuin (community garden)- hung nets over berries

As we loaded the bus bright and early in the morning with all of our belongings, we headed to a chicken farm. The farm name was Rondeel, which is a chain of chicken farms that work together and produce eggs. They each store the chickens for a certain time period of their life. The particular one that we visited received the birds at 18 months and kept them until 14 months. The population of the farm was 30,000 birds stored in this innovative new style of barn and operation. The barn is a circle and is split up by facilities. The birds are splitup into groups of 6,000 in 5 different areas and are allotted a night house and an open roaming area. The night houses are where the birds lay the eggs and are then collected on a conveyer belt. Once this process is complete, the eggs are sent to the basement where they are checked to make sure they are within the required weight range. Then they are picked up by suction cups and are placed into organic decomposable packages which then are sold to super markets and other individuals. The Rondeel name is very respectable to all of the health and regulation organizations, even the Wakker D!er radio station which is very hard on many organizations. In 2012 the company was awarded the Good Egg Award. But while all of this information is cool to learn about the experience that we all had at the plant with the owner and the live chickens made for bunch of selfies and attempts at mocking the birds. We all were very engaged and had a good time playing with the chickens through a glass wall. As we departed we said thank you to the man that lead us around by presenting him with a gift from all of us and took a group picture in front of the huge egg.

The next stop of the day was Wageingen, a college campus in a historical town. The town was where the peace treaty of WW2 was signed in a local building called the Hotel De Worled. As we walked around with some Dutch students, we saw this building, traveled down the dike that protects the town, and we talked and made friends with them. Then we went onto the actual campus where we learned about the university and the exchange student opportunities that had to offer at the university. The university only had around 10,000 students and a 1:7 student teacher ratio. This was their selling point for having such a personal relationship with the instructors. They were also a very diverse school with only 25% being actual Dutch students. But after this we all walked to the Aquaculture building where we learned about some of the research they are doing on rainbow trout, guppies, and many other varieties of fish. They make the fish work out in a whirlpool and take data on how well they do in different speeds of water movement. They also mostly worked on their diet and the amount of feed to provide them with without wasting and polluting the tanks. The tanks they had were not just your normal fish tanks they had a filter system that kept the environment very safe for the fish throughout the studies that are performed.

Once we left this facility we went to the building right next door where we suited up in navy blue jump suits and footies to be sterile in the cow research facility. In this facilit,y I saw something new: a fistula. This is when they put a gauge in the side of the cow so they can reach in the cow and take samples to see how well it is digesting the feed. This was one of the main focuses of the research of this facility currently. While we all stood there looking like the sterilization crew on Monster Inc., we all noticed this vacuum that was going around on its own and cleaning the floors. The facility was one of the cleanest cow operations I have ever witnessed. This being said, we were not in there very long before the tour came to an end and we had to get back on the bus and head to Haan’s house to help him load the trailer for our next destination.

Picture this station wagon type care pulling a little trailer with a couple ladders with a net to cover and secure the ladders. This was what the bus followed to De Ommuurde Tuin, which means community garden. Here we participated in some hands on activities. We had to stretch netting across a plot of berry plants so that the birds could not get to them. After we completed the task we had dinner there which was soup and bread made by the ladies at the garden. Then we learned a little back ground of the garden. The garden was purchased many years ago by King Wilhem III which ruled the Netherlands many years ago. The garden was a gift for his young wife. Today it is not in the hands of the king but it is a 1-hectare garden with roughly 150 different varieties of plants and flowers that are sold in many different ways. They had a prepaid, weekly variety of vegetables package and they also had a little market that was open a couple days a week to make the income for themselves. They also used the land for weddings and parties and such as well. After this we loaded the bus and since everyone had a full belly of warm soup many quickly past out on the bus on the adventure north to our next destination which would be the next hostel.  

Key Takeaways

• Chicken farms are very complicated and interesting how they work
• Don’t be stuck in your ways try the new things such as the Rondeel style farms
• Wageingen University wants exchange students
• De Ommuurde Tuin (community garden)- follow your passion and make what you love work