The family escaped Zagreb’s more stressful energy but now wants to conquer it with organic eggs.
Seven years ago, the Roginić family from Zagreb, dissatisfied with life in the big city, moved to the village of Ladislavec in Zagorje. They decided to start breeding hens and selling eggs. Although at the beginning they didn’t know anything about egg production, little by little they managed to develop a farm with nearly 500 hens. And, in order to increase the number of buyers of their eggs, they recently installed the first egg vending machine in neighboring Zlatar, reports tportal.hr on January 23, 2018.
The hens are free range and eat only natural food, corn, clover, and cereals without additives. “We escaped Zagreb because it had become a neurotic city. We were surrounded only by negative energy. In Zagorje, our fathers had some land, and we decided to move here. We started growing hens because it is the easiest work for former city dwellers. Pigs and cows are large animals, and you must have some knowledge and experience,” explained Zdenko.
They founded the JJAE family farm, which is officially registered as an organic farm. Apart from Zdenko, the business includes his wife Andrea, son Stjepan Luka, and daughters Antonija and Lucija.
“We’ve built everything ourselves, without bank loans. You can survive by selling eggs, although the profit is not high. You have to be very modest. It’s fortunate that we have water from our well, and we’ve also installed solar panels, so we have our own electricity. The biggest cost is the delivery of eggs to customers. That is why we started with the egg vending machines,” said Zdenko.
Having set up their first machine in Zlatar, they plan to expand to the Zagreb market as well. “We’re looking for right locations. Large shopping centers don’t want to take our eggs. And dealers are unfair to small producers. They want to buy eggs as cheap as possible, not caring whether we can survive with such a low price. With a fair price, I could buy more hens and machines, but they don’t care,” added Zdenko.
Packages available in the vending machines are those with ten eggs at a price of 15 kuna, and with five eggs at a cost of eight kuna. All eggs are in the original packaging, with the required stamp and the use-by date printed on the label, which also contains all the information on the family farm and the product.
Eggs are of different sizes and shades because hens can choose themselves what they want to eat. Since they live on a large meadow, the eggs are distinguished by a unique smell and taste. “Our farm is under the control of veterinary, sanitary and other inspections, town, regional, county and state authorities. Every 20 days, we check the eggs for salmonella,” Zdenko said.
He added that his family farm was registered for breeding of 3,000 hens, so in the future, they plan to expand the production. And he is most pleased about the fact that his children are interested in eventually taking over the business.
Translated from tportal.hr.
