Hamilton Distributing Crane Services, 3392 Lincoln Rd, Hamilton, MI 49419, US

Big Dutchman has been providing poultry and egg production systems since the poultry boom of the late 1930s. Michigan poultry producers Jack and R.A. DeWitt found themselves faced with the tedious job of feeding hundreds of birds by hand. The two founders designed an automated process that used a central holding tank and motor connected to a flat chain traveling inside a circuit of trough. The feed was poured into the tank by hand, and then fell onto the chain, where the motor moved it around the trough. The DeWitt s named the feeder the Big Dutchman Automatic Feeding System with Champion Chain Conveyance. Big Dutchman also offers auger and pan feeding systems for broilers, turkeys, roosters, pullets, layer cage systems and bulk feed handling systems for poultry and egg production. Big Dutchman expanded into Europe with subsidiaries in the Vechta, Germany, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Big Dutchman is headquartered in Holland, Mich., as well an office in St. Petersburg, Fla.