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Read more about the founding of Veltkamp Insemination Technics and the people behind the company.

About Veltkamp Insemination Technics by founder Jan Veltkamp

The Early Years

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, AI (Artificial Insemination) in pigs was not common in the US and Canada. Consequently, there were no materials available for purchase. However, there was interest in Canada, particularly among emigrated pig farmers from Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, who were accustomed to working with AI.

My internship supervisor and friend Jim Penders saw opportunities to take on the distribution of AI materials if I would handle the procurement of these materials. To this end, the company ITSI (Insemination Technics & Supplies International) was founded in Canada.

I gathered a container of materials for farm AI and shipped it to Canada on May 21, 1991. This was successful, and soon the request for the next container came.

Initially, I only did procurement for one customer, ITSI Canada. Due to my international reputation, there gradually came a demand for our materials from other countries. Moreover, because of my practical experience, many of our products were also somewhat more innovative than those of our competitors. Thus, we were not just a distribution conduit for products, but we certainly contributed to the innovation and spread of pig AI and related products.

The 21st Century

It was only around 2000 that I began replicating the (procurement) experience for ITSI in Canada to Europe. Particularly in the former Eastern Bloc countries, it was relatively easy to start a sort of copy of ITSI in Europe but under the name Veltkamp Insemination Technics.

In 2013, Veltkamp Insemination Technics was transformed into a general partnership with my wife Ice. From that year, sales really took off. After several years of hard work together, we began thinking about our future and possibly working less.

The Future of Veltkamp

There were two options: sell the company or find someone to join the company. Finding someone is easy, but finding the right fit is another matter. We are fortunate to have found Benno Diepenmaat after years of searching. Benno started at Varkens KI Gelderland, and he has a lot of practical experience in insemination and also in scanning sows for pregnancy. A worthy addition, indeed. He has since joined the general partnership.

And in Particular…

I would like to mention one person who has certainly been important to our company, our accountant Ap Pasman. He gained a lot of international experience with his previous employer, and his knowledge has helped us a lot. Meanwhile, Ap Pasman has retired, and Benno has now taken over the accounting, giving him good insight into the company’s financial and goods flows.

Patpimol Veltkamp - Khaongam

I am the wife of Jan Veltkamp.

My parents had a rice farm where I was born. We always had chickens but no pigs, even though Thailand has many pigs and pork is widely consumed there. In that regard, the world of Artificial Insemination was entirely new to me.

In Thailand, I studied marketing and also worked in the marketing and tourism department of a hotel.

Jan and I have known each other for over 20 years. Jan had a booth at VIV Asia in Bangkok. In 2015, I finally exchanged my Thai nationality for Dutch nationality.

I married Jan and became a shareholder of Veltkamp Insemination Technics in 2013, one of the most well-known companies in the field of AI worldwide.

Daily, I am involved in customer service and advertising. Additionally, I assist in the warehouse with receiving and preparing orders for shipment.

Benno Diepenmaat

I am Benno Diepenmaat, and in 2023, I joined the VOF of Veltkamp Insemination Technics. In addition, I run my own business as a Pig Scanner and Inseminator.

During my studies, 30 years ago, I first encountered pig artificial insemination (AI). After completing my education, I started working at Varkens KI Nederland as an inseminator, which allowed me to visit many pig farms. In February 1999, I took the leap and started my own business as a self-employed pig scanner and inseminator. Around the same time, Jan Veltkamp also started his own company. Jan and I were former colleagues at the AI organization, and we have always kept in touch.

Over the years, my company has grown, and I now employ two people while also collaborating with several self-employed professionals. However, in recent years, the question of how to secure the future of Veltkamp Insemination Technics VOF came up more frequently.

In November 2022, I accompanied Jan and Ice to EuroTier in Hanover, where I saw firsthand that Veltkamp is truly a well-established name in the AI world and must continue to exist. After multiple discussions back and forth, we decided to move forward together under the same trusted name you are familiar with: Veltkamp Insemination Technics.

We believe that the combination of our two businesses complements each other well.

On a personal note, I am married to Esther, and together, we have two sons. Our youngest son, Guus, has also expressed interest in pig farming and is currently studying at AERES University of Applied Sciences in Dronten. This has led us to carefully consider the future together.

We believe that, alongside Veltkamp Insemination Technics and with you, we are heading toward a promising future.

Together with Jan and Ice, we will continue the business in a trusted manner, with Service, Advice, and Trust remaining our top priorities!

Jan Veltkamp

I am Jan Veltkamp, the founder of Veltkamp Insemination Technics. Officially, I am the founder, but it really developed through autonomous growth.

After completing secondary agricultural school, I went to Canada for an internship. I worked for one year on a farm with 2,200 fattening pigs (all on solid floors), 800 oxen, and 120 hectares of corn. We managed all this with just the two of us. Unlike in the Netherlands, in Canada and the USA, bulls are not fattened but castrated, turning them into oxen. This keeps the barn peaceful, and more importantly, the meat of an ox is much tastier than that of a bull.

After the first year, I worked for another farmer near Woodstock, Ontario. After working there for almost 1.5 years, my work permits expired, and I had to return to the Netherlands. After various jobs and gigs, I found work at Pig AI Gelderland. Here, I worked in the barn, the laboratory, but mostly as an inseminator.

In 1978, I came into contact with barn equipment supplier Porcon.

They had a great job for me in the USA. In the state of Indiana, a German had a pig fattening farm with 10 x 1,200 pigs and wanted to expand to a closed system with 2,800 sows. At that time, these were enormous numbers for me. The German wanted to implement 100% AI, but there was no AI in the USA, and in Germany, they couldn’t find anyone who knew the entire process from semen collection to insemination. Additionally, the person needed to speak English, be willing to stay for a long period, and be able to leave. I met all these requirements and could get extended leave from the director of AI Gelderland with a guarantee of getting my job back upon return.

The success in the USA was significant. We achieved results that would place us at the top in the Netherlands at that time. For comparison, the top 10% of farms in the USA achieved 9.2 live births and a 77-78% farrowing rate with natural mating because AI didn’t work. We achieved a 94% farrowing rate and 10.4 live births with AI at a startup farm with gilts. Not to mention, this was a large farm with unskilled laborers with no experience in pig farming. People came from England and even Japan to see and hear how this was possible.

The proof was there that AI could be successful on large commercial pig farms, even outperforming natural mating. This became interesting for the big players. Just think of the savings in construction costs: a farm with 2,000 sows needing only a few teaser boars instead of 70 expensive boars saves about two-thirds in floor space.

Since Indiana is not far from Ontario, Canada, I frequently visited my second internship address, Jim Penders. That’s where the idea to start ITSI was born. Read more about this in the “About Us” section of Veltkamp Insemination Technics.

The requests to share my knowledge became so numerous that I stopped working at Pig AI Gelderland in 1995. I had years where I was on the road for seven months, going from hotel to airport to the next hotel.

The constant travel was exhausting, so in the late ’90s to 2000, I decided to reduce consulting and focus more on selling AI materials. We still do this today with great success!

As a promotion, I have exhibited at various international fairs and stands. At one of them, the 2001 VIV Asia in Bangkok, I met my wife Ice. She first came to the Netherlands in 2010 and became a participant in my company in 2013. I transitioned from a sole proprietorship to a two-person partnership, and the company continues to grow steadily, even though I wanted to scale back. Fortunately, we have now brought Benno Diepenmaat into the partnership.