History

JOZ’s journey began 70 years ago, with Jan Oostwouder’s dream of making farmwork easier. Jan’s dream has come true. Modern dairy farmers all over the world now use the manure disposal systems he devised, along with a wide range of other solutions developed by JOZ over the past 7 decades.

Jan Oostwouder, who was born in ‘t Zand in West Friesland, once worked in a bakery. He also mucked out the manure in a local farmer’s winter cowshed. This tough work got him thinking; there must be an easier way of doing this?

The first manure scraper system

More than 70 years ago, he devised and designed a system that removed manure on a conveyor belt and dumped it at a collection point. It put an end to labour-intensive, time-consuming manual manure removal. This Turning Chain System is still made by JOZ, and is used all over the world.

At a certain point, Henk Elling, Jan Oostwouder’s son-in-law, joined the firm. After he arrived, JOZ began exporting its products and acquired a number of companies. The range of different manure scraper systems was extended, innovation continued unabated, and Henk started to look at robotising the manure scraper systems. After all, if milking robots were available for dairy farmers, then robotising a manure disposal system had to be possible, too?

The world’s first manure robot

In 1999, work on developing the first manure robot began. In the early 2000s, Rick Elling and Rob Elling joined JOZ; the 3rd generation. Once again, JOZ underwent a few changes. Companies were divested, and JOZ was further developed as the number one specialist in modern barn cleaning.

In 2005, JOZ launched the world’s very first manure robot. We won awards, and it wasn’t long before we were manufacturing a manure robot for another supplier. In the years that followed, the manure robot was further developed, we designed our own control platform (the JOZ Management System), and we switched to the application of water.

Feed Pusher Robot Moov

In 2014, the Moov was launched – a feed robot that pushes feed towards the cows. This marked an expansion of our scope, as we also started deploying robots on the opposite side of the feed fence.

The success of the feed pusher robot was quickly noticed by farmers around the world. The Moov continued to evolve, incorporating high-end technical features and innovations such as automatic door opening and closing, and a lift function for slopes or unpaved surfaces. In 2025, we launched the latest Moov 2PRO, equipped with even more functionalities to further ease the farmer’s workload.

Nitrogen Cracker Gazoo

But that’s not all. In 2020, JOZ introduced the Nitrogen cracker Gazoo in response to the growing demand for a solution to the nitrogen issue in the Netherlands. With the Gazoo, farmers can reduce nitrogen emissions and at the same time produce their own artificial fertilizer. Thanks to this innovative technology, the Nitrogen cracker contributes to a more sustainable livestock sector and helps farmers meet increasingly strict environmental regulations.

International Growth

Now, more than 70 years later, the current market penetration of JOZ products offers great potential for international expansion. We aim to accelerate this growth by tapping into new markets and launching innovative new products.

To make this possible, Rabo Participaties has joined as majority shareholder. Together with the management team, JOZ is taking the next step – leveraging Rabobank’s industry knowledge and extensive network within the Food & Agri sector.