Bennik’s was the first commercial poultry farm in New Zealand to become totally cage-free.
Bennik’s was the first commercial poultry farm in New Zealand to become totally cage-free.
The Country looks back at some of the biggest and best stories of the past 12 months, including readers’ favourites, news events and those yarns that gave us a glimpse into rural lives and livelihoods across the country.
This story by The Country’s Kem Ormond was originally published on January26.
When it comes to eggs, chickens and hens, there wouldn’t be much that the Bennik family don’t know about all three.
The Bennik family farms are owned by the four Bennik siblings Harry, Paul, Jane and Nick.
In the early 1990s, Bennik’s was the first commercial poultry farm in New Zealand to become cage-free and has been the pioneer of modern cage-free farming in New Zealand.
They were also the first egg farm to be accredited by the SPCA for good animal practice.
In August of 2022, in recognition of the dynamics of their growing family business and to ensure its longevity in the industry, the Benniks folded their four farms into a single entity.
This brought about the creation of the NZ Egg Group with 137,000 layers.
Shortly after NZ Egg Group acquired the long-established FRENZ Free Range Eggs business in Pukekohe, along with some additional local production sites.
Today, the family farms 216,000 layers at a range of sites in the Horowhenua and elsewhere around the country, supplying the two big supermarket chains, Progressive and Foodstuffs, and a myriad of other clients from local dairies to cafes and eateries.
They also export regularly to several international destinations.
Recently, NZ Egg Group completed the construction of its new wet egg processing plant, which takes the liquid portion of the egg out of the shell to produce whole egg pulp or separates into just egg whites and yolks.
These products are destined for various uses by food manufacturers in all manner of common food items.
Eggs as far as the eye can see.
This plant is only the second of its kind of any scale within New Zealand and can produce 20+ tons of liquid eggs per week, using 500,000 eggs in the process.
It also provided the opportunity to not only increase layer numbers but to invest in the support areas of pullet-rearing, feed milling, end-of-lay processing, liquid egg technology and sustainable programmes, such as composting of waste materials.
Harry Bennik and daughter Courtney Bennik (plant manager) together inside the new liquid egg plant.
Since the deregulation of the industry in the mid-1980s, it’s been an extremely fickle market with typically low profit margins — so low that the industry was slow to re-invest in advance of the ban on cages a year or so ago.
That led to egg shortages around the country, with some supermarkets running out of stock and others rationing supplies to customers.
NZ Egg Group and the Bennik family intend to continue their commitment to New Zealand’s egg industry by providing top-quality egg products and service to all its local and international customers long into the future.
Harry and Rhonda Bennik also own and operate the Bennik’s Egg Shop at 4 Buller Rd, Levin, part of a retail complex that includes The Garden Depot, a garden centre giftware shop, and the popular Salt & Pepper café.
Bennik’s family farm eggs can be bought by the public directly from the shop, with eggs being delivered daily, fresh from the farm.
