THE ‘MANOK PINOY’ BREED
ENTERS THE NICHE MARKET
By Manny Piñol
Two weeks ago, I received a call from a friend who said that the “lechon manok” which I sent to a party he tendered was “very tasty.”
He wanted to know if I was producing a lot of that breed suggesting that its distinct tastiness and thick firm meat would be a sure hit in the niche market for naturally raised free-ranged meat chicken.
My friend was actually referring to the “Manok Pinoy,” a new strain of free-range chicken which I developed and started breeding 8 years ago.
I developed “Manok Pinoy” because of my personal preference for the naturally raised native chicken over the 27-day-old broiler.
I prefer the firm meat and long muscle strands of the native chicken in contrast to the clumpy, coarse and short muscle strands of the broiler.
The development of “Manok Pinoy” did not come easy though. It took years of trials and experiments guided only by a set of standards which I wanted to achieve:
1. A chicken breed which grows faster and lays more eggs than the native chicken;
2. A chicken breed which would still possess the long muscle strands and firm meat which makes the native chicken distinctively different in taste;
3. A chicken breed which carries more meat than the ordinary native chicken and could survive in the free-range under the elements;
4. A chicken breed which would survive and grow with just ordinary feeds like yellow corn, sorghum or other indigenous feeds to allow ordinary farming families to raise it.
I used an indigenous Oriental breed and crossed it to the iconic meat and egg breeds to produce the chicken of my dreams and when I finally developed it, I decided to name it “Manok Pinoy.”
Today, we are hatching about 1,400 eggs every week and we intend to increase the number of our breeding hens to about 5,000 heads before the end of the year.
With the support of my friend, we are ready to enter the niche market of natural-raised and reared free-range chicken.
We plan to open an outlet which would sell nothing but natural free-ranged Manok Pinoy lechon and barbecue cooked naturally with Lemon Grass, Tamarind leaves or the local Basil called Sangig.
This is a dream come true for me and the ultimate joy for a farmer like me.
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