Top New Zealand Grower now Industry Consultant
Lindsay and Marie Louise Winchester acquired their broiler sheds near Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island eleven years ago after Lindsay wanted a change from being a policeman.

The five shed farm had a 58,000-bird capacity and after a period establishing themselves as compentent growers for their integrator Tegel, Lindsay was given the opportunity to increase his capacity to 90,000 birds.

This expansion meant that Lindsay's operation is a large farm by South Island standards where bird capacity is typically around 77,000 birds, according to Lindsay.

A sixth shed was planned and Lindsay was keen to build a state of the art fully automated climate controlled unit.

He came to Australia to look at options and decided that SKOV systems best suited his needs and he became the first Tegel contract grower to use SKOV in NZ.

While he looked carefully into his shed climate control options, he had already realised that attention to detail in broiler sheds of all levels of technical sophistication were key factors in achieving the best possible results.

"We are consistently in the top percentage of growers in the country that is a world leader in poultry meat growing performance," Lindsay said. Their Christchurch farm was the first in NZ to top 400 PIF, a remarkable achievement and a justification of the commitment of the Winchesters to perfect their operation - they grow chickens with excellent live weight and optimal FCR.

 Top New Zealand grower now industry consultant