Today is: Thursday 17 May 2012 21:39:53
Comment
I have decided to allocate most of my report this month to the BFREPA Flock Survey results. I thank you all for returning the postcards promptly.
294 members responded from a total of 472 cards sent out giving us a return rate of 62.29%. This was a little less than last year’s survey. As I feared the result is clearly showing an overall in...
I put pen to paper again for this month’s chairman’s report and due to so much happening in our Free Range industry at the moment I want to make it clear that it is my comments as of today, Sunday 1st April. Yes, we have all had price increases in the last few weeks - some as high as 10p per dozen across all methods of production and...
As I write this report on the 4th March 2012 our BFREPA Regional Meetings are in full swing as advertised in the ranger, and also by Keith Wild’s texting service, reminding you all of when and where they are taking place. I have to mention my appreciation to Robert Gooch, my Vice Chairman Rodger Gent, and all Area Council members for their ...
Our first Council Meeting on the 24th January was very well attended with only 3 apologies and as I said in my last report there was a wide and varied agenda to cover. To cope with the ever increasing work load and to help Robert Gooch in his new post, I have set up a small Policy Sub-committee made up of myself, your Vice Chairman from Central...
The agenda for the council meeting on the 24st January 2012 had no less than 17 headings long all with relevant matters affecting our industry. As I said in my last report, all council positions were not filled, but having said that, we have 3 new council members on board and at our first meeting after the AGM we will select co-opted members on ...
The 2011 AGM was better attended than normal with 150 members sitting in for the formal proceedings. This was probably due to the conference being 2 weeks earlier than last year and the weather conditions being completely the opposite of 2010. Although I was not out all day, temperatures were reported in the teens and the sun shone. This brought in...
BEIC subscriptions were to be re-addressed, as I reported in my chairman’s comments August Ranger. This was done at the BEIC subscribers meeting on the 4th October. Keith Wild has texted all members with the outcome of this meeting and due to not receiving any further comments on the matter I feel there has been a reasonable compromise for ...
My comments for the Ranger this month coincides with three parts of breaking news. The first is that we have appointed a Director of Policy to work part time on your behalf on all matters affecting our free range industry. Robert Gooch from Pound Farm, Sweffling, Saxmundham, is at the moment a Policy Analyst at National, UK and EU level for cli...
I attended a NEMAL meeting last Thursday 1.9.11 along with support from fellow councillors and was given the chance, once again, to put forward our costings and to highlight the losses we free range egg producers are incurring. After a lengthy discussion regarding overall costs, but more importantly the possibility of an increase in egg prices,...
The Chairman’s comments for the August edition of the Ranger are upon me. Hard to believe there are only two more editions until our AGM in November. Although well covered in the Ranger, I would like to remind you all of the Free Range Awards 2011. These awards are given for Retail, Business, Marketing Initiative, Breakthroughs, Producer of...
As I stated in my last comments, BEIC subscriptions were well discussed at the BEIC Council on 8th June and I am hopeful that a more tiered system may be considered for smaller producer packers but this will not be decided until the subscriber meeting in October. This gives your association time to redress all avenues when BFREPA meet again on the...
Your council met on Tuesday 24.5.11 with a full agenda of very important subjects, so much so, that I brought the start time forward from 10.30 to 10am and I can assure you all your council worked extremely hard to cover all subjects and give the more important items the time they deserved - the meeting did not finish till 4.30pm! One item was ...
After attending the Pig and Poultry Live event I would like to congratulate RASE and ABN on a very informative and well run event. My feeling is there was not a great free range attendance but nevertheless by helping Keith Wild man the BFREPA stand there was a lot of interest from potential associate members who were interested in joining the assoc...
I have just come back in to my office today, Saturday 2nd April after visiting my laying flocks and of course visiting the oldest ones last as I am a strong believer in implementing the highest bio security standards that can be practically achieved. On this visit it suddenly occurred to me that my oldest flock of 24,000 free range were now just o...
Another BFREPA regional meeting took place in Cumbria on Monday 7th March, organised by council member John Geldard where in excess of 60 Free Range Egg Producers attended. (Members & Non Members). The meeting was addressed by Steve Carlisle, Director of Country Fresh Pullets, and myself. We said last year that we were going to hold Regional Mee...
Before you read this month’s Chairman’s report you will all have received my letter informing you of the meeting we had with the NEMAL members on Wednesday 9th February. I hope you all appreciate that I felt compelled to write to you immediately after that meeting to pass on the unwanted news that any chance of a Producer price increas...
A Good New Year to everyone and best wishes for the coming year. I have been trying on your behalf to keep communication lines open with egg packers, and in conjunction with the NFU, submitted a letter to the major supermarkets the week before Christmas, highlighting the plight of both the meat and egg industry If nothing else, this should hav...
Winter has started in fine style. When Linda and I left home to travel south for the BFEPA Conference last week we left 1½ feet of snow and two men full time keeping our four farm roads clear of snow for general access. Returning on Friday, we were welcomed by a further 6" and you may remember I said in my January comments this year, we may...
Feed prices – I mentioned last month my fears that wheat prices might push above the £170 per tonne mark and in Scotland it certainly has standing at £177 delivered to my feed mill today, Monday 1.11.2010. This is now putting tremendous pressure on our production costs as compound feed rises steadily month on month. My second disappointment of ...
Your Council met again on 5th October and there was a positive air about the meeting due to Noble increasing their producer price by 6p per dozen from the 1st October. I felt it was great news for the free range producers as I hope other packers will follow on with similar price increases. I will continue on going discussions of egg price inc...
I have attended the Packer’s meeting on Monday 13th September along with 3 other members of your Council. First on the agenda was Free Range Producer Prices and although the BFREPA costing was showing £1.35 per bird loss in the August edition I had with me, the latest September costing shows a further drop in Producer prices which is now ...
I have just arrived back home from injecting 15,000 12 week old pullets with Eorsipolis vaccine to comply with some of my customer’s requirements to achieve their proper immunity levels for their individual farms. I think I said back in November 2009 that we must make sure before ordering pullets that your individual requirements will be ...
The rain has come, as it always does but I fear in this year’s case, a bit too late for some of the winter wheat crops. We will not see the low prices experienced for wheat going forward for the remainder of this year. Your council met in July for the 4th time this year covering a variety of subjects – the Poultry Fair, Impact 2010, the...
I make no apology for my comments this month – they will be entirely about the Pig & Poultry Fair at Stoneleigh Park, 11th & 12th May 2010 that turned out to be a great event for BFEPA. Those of you who attended the two day event and visited the BFREPA stand, I hope approved of what we had set up for this event. We set off with two main themes....
At last we have a new Government appointed or should I say Governments and as you can imagine they will be setting off like a new broom working together solving all our country's problems and probably creating some new ones for us to contend with. As your Chairman I did say way back in December 2009 that I would look closely at free range ...
Your Council met for the second time this year on the 9th March when I had the pleasure of welcoming two new co-opted council members who will be eligible for election at the November AGM. They are John Dalrymple from Stranrear in Scotland and Richard Barton from North Chailey in the South East. The main topics discussed were Salmonella Insurance ...
Another month has quickly passed and it is time for my next Chairman's comments. I represented BFREPA by attending the National Farmer's Union AGM two weeks ago and found it a very intense but interesting two days. They had quite a political line up of speakers on the first day and I was encouraged to hear Hillary Ben address the gather...
The snow has finally gone and I can see that our own birds are beginning to range further from their sheds. Things are now getting back to normal except for those of us who suffered structural problems. This will take quite a few months to resolve with careful planning to keep disruptions to a minimum. Your council met for the first time in 20...
As your new Chairman I would like to take this opportunity to wish all BFREPA Members a very happy and hopefully prosperous 2010. I have to start by mentioning the adverse weather conditions that we have all been coping with since before Christmas over the whole of the UK and Ireland. Temperatures as low as –18 C have been recorded in some area...
This will be my last comment. As you know I am now no longer Chairman having handed over to John Retson at the AGM. I have much enjoyed my nine years in the Chair. Free Range egg production has come a long way in the last fifteen years with regular and sustained annual growth. This looks likely to continue. Of course there have been problems but th...
Some time ago we asked people to nominate for this year's BFREPA awards. We are still evaluating the various entries. For the first time we have two sections for producer of the year (over and under 5 years production). Several members of council have visited the nominees and we have been very impressed by what we have seen. It is not that diff...
As all of you know by now RSPCA/Freedom Food have agreed to increase the external stocking density from 1000 per hectare to 2000 per hectare. This is still 500 birds per hectare less that Europe but none the less we are in a considerably better position than before. I think we need to be grateful to the RSPCA for their prompt action. I know they...
The other day I was thinking how much the free range sector has changed since I started in 1994. My first flock was 7000 birds which was a relatively large number to house in one shed. Now 16000 is the norm. There was no Freedom Food and no Lion code. Our only inspection was from the egg marketing inspector. I don't regret the extra controls th...
I am pleased to be able to report that, at last, there is some movement over the external stocking density question. We are not there yet, or anything like it, but there does seem to be a possible faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Representatives of the industry met with two members of the RSPCA last month and it would be true to sa...
We now have the result of the external stocking density survey. We had 66 responses with a total increase in birds of approximately 660,000 in the event that the stocking density is changed from 1000 per hectare to 2000 per hectare. Of the total, 14% indicated no change, 3% said they will actually be reducing (that total is only 4,500 birds) and 83...
I have just finished cleaning out my 16000 bird shed following depletion of the flock. As always, it was unmitigated hell! I do the job myself with an excellent gang of workers and it always takes about two weeks to complete the bulk with a further week with a reduced workforce to prepare everything for the next crop. This time all the usual pro...
I have to report that there is still no positive news from RSPCA about the proposed external stocking density. Please continue to lobby Freedom Food. The decision is very important to the future of free range in this country, but almost as important is the need for the decision to be made quickly. As I stated last month we really do not have a lot ...
There is an increasing likelihood that there will be a national shortage of eggs by 1st January 2012. Conventional cages will be banned from that date and it seems unlikely that sufficient enhanced cages will be constructed by then. Free range is expected to increase in volume, but may not have done so to a sufficient extent. This is dangerous. You...
The egg market is very tight at present. This is unusual at this time of year and there seem to be several reasons for it. In spite of the overall financial climate there is still a growth in free range, and the principle of buying eggs that do not come from caged birds seems to be established. The weak pound has made imports expensive. Eggs are at...
I was very pleased to have news of the recent producer price rise from Noble Foods. I hope that all other packers have followed their lead by the time you read this. We are in for a nasty feed price rise which I think may not be short lived. It is therefore gratifying that Noble has recognised this and has paid accordingly before having completed t...
I put pen to paper again for this month’s chairman’s report and due to so much happening in our Free Range industry at the moment I want to make it clear that it is my comments as of today, Sunday 1st April. Yes, we have all had price increases in the last few weeks - some as high as 10p per dozen across all methods of production and...
As I write this report on the 4th March 2012 our BFREPA Regional Meetings are in full swing as advertised in the ranger, and also by Keith Wild’s texting service, reminding you all of when and where they are taking place. I have to mention my appreciation to Robert Gooch, my Vice Chairman Rodger Gent, and all Area Council members for their ...
Our first Council Meeting on the 24th January was very well attended with only 3 apologies and as I said in my last report there was a wide and varied agenda to cover. To cope with the ever increasing work load and to help Robert Gooch in his new post, I have set up a small Policy Sub-committee made up of myself, your Vice Chairman from Central...
The agenda for the council meeting on the 24st January 2012 had no less than 17 headings long all with relevant matters affecting our industry. As I said in my last report, all council positions were not filled, but having said that, we have 3 new council members on board and at our first meeting after the AGM we will select co-opted members on ...
The 2011 AGM was better attended than normal with 150 members sitting in for the formal proceedings. This was probably due to the conference being 2 weeks earlier than last year and the weather conditions being completely the opposite of 2010. Although I was not out all day, temperatures were reported in the teens and the sun shone. This brought in...
BEIC subscriptions were to be re-addressed, as I reported in my chairman’s comments August Ranger. This was done at the BEIC subscribers meeting on the 4th October. Keith Wild has texted all members with the outcome of this meeting and due to not receiving any further comments on the matter I feel there has been a reasonable compromise for ...
My comments for the Ranger this month coincides with three parts of breaking news. The first is that we have appointed a Director of Policy to work part time on your behalf on all matters affecting our free range industry. Robert Gooch from Pound Farm, Sweffling, Saxmundham, is at the moment a Policy Analyst at National, UK and EU level for cli...
I attended a NEMAL meeting last Thursday 1.9.11 along with support from fellow councillors and was given the chance, once again, to put forward our costings and to highlight the losses we free range egg producers are incurring. After a lengthy discussion regarding overall costs, but more importantly the possibility of an increase in egg prices,...
The Chairman’s comments for the August edition of the Ranger are upon me. Hard to believe there are only two more editions until our AGM in November. Although well covered in the Ranger, I would like to remind you all of the Free Range Awards 2011. These awards are given for Retail, Business, Marketing Initiative, Breakthroughs, Producer of...
As I stated in my last comments, BEIC subscriptions were well discussed at the BEIC Council on 8th June and I am hopeful that a more tiered system may be considered for smaller producer packers but this will not be decided until the subscriber meeting in October. This gives your association time to redress all avenues when BFREPA meet again on the...
Your council met on Tuesday 24.5.11 with a full agenda of very important subjects, so much so, that I brought the start time forward from 10.30 to 10am and I can assure you all your council worked extremely hard to cover all subjects and give the more important items the time they deserved - the meeting did not finish till 4.30pm! One item was ...
After attending the Pig and Poultry Live event I would like to congratulate RASE and ABN on a very informative and well run event. My feeling is there was not a great free range attendance but nevertheless by helping Keith Wild man the BFREPA stand there was a lot of interest from potential associate members who were interested in joining the assoc...
I have just come back in to my office today, Saturday 2nd April after visiting my laying flocks and of course visiting the oldest ones last as I am a strong believer in implementing the highest bio security standards that can be practically achieved. On this visit it suddenly occurred to me that my oldest flock of 24,000 free range were now just o...
Another BFREPA regional meeting took place in Cumbria on Monday 7th March, organised by council member John Geldard where in excess of 60 Free Range Egg Producers attended. (Members & Non Members). The meeting was addressed by Steve Carlisle, Director of Country Fresh Pullets, and myself. We said last year that we were going to hold Regional Mee...
Before you read this month’s Chairman’s report you will all have received my letter informing you of the meeting we had with the NEMAL members on Wednesday 9th February. I hope you all appreciate that I felt compelled to write to you immediately after that meeting to pass on the unwanted news that any chance of a Producer price increas...
A Good New Year to everyone and best wishes for the coming year. I have been trying on your behalf to keep communication lines open with egg packers, and in conjunction with the NFU, submitted a letter to the major supermarkets the week before Christmas, highlighting the plight of both the meat and egg industry If nothing else, this should hav...
Winter has started in fine style. When Linda and I left home to travel south for the BFEPA Conference last week we left 1½ feet of snow and two men full time keeping our four farm roads clear of snow for general access. Returning on Friday, we were welcomed by a further 6" and you may remember I said in my January comments this year, we may...
Feed prices – I mentioned last month my fears that wheat prices might push above the £170 per tonne mark and in Scotland it certainly has standing at £177 delivered to my feed mill today, Monday 1.11.2010. This is now putting tremendous pressure on our production costs as compound feed rises steadily month on month. My second disappointment of ...
Your Council met again on 5th October and there was a positive air about the meeting due to Noble increasing their producer price by 6p per dozen from the 1st October. I felt it was great news for the free range producers as I hope other packers will follow on with similar price increases. I will continue on going discussions of egg price inc...
I have attended the Packer’s meeting on Monday 13th September along with 3 other members of your Council. First on the agenda was Free Range Producer Prices and although the BFREPA costing was showing £1.35 per bird loss in the August edition I had with me, the latest September costing shows a further drop in Producer prices which is now ...
I have just arrived back home from injecting 15,000 12 week old pullets with Eorsipolis vaccine to comply with some of my customer’s requirements to achieve their proper immunity levels for their individual farms. I think I said back in November 2009 that we must make sure before ordering pullets that your individual requirements will be ...
The rain has come, as it always does but I fear in this year’s case, a bit too late for some of the winter wheat crops. We will not see the low prices experienced for wheat going forward for the remainder of this year. Your council met in July for the 4th time this year covering a variety of subjects – the Poultry Fair, Impact 2010, the...
I make no apology for my comments this month – they will be entirely about the Pig & Poultry Fair at Stoneleigh Park, 11th & 12th May 2010 that turned out to be a great event for BFEPA. Those of you who attended the two day event and visited the BFREPA stand, I hope approved of what we had set up for this event. We set off with two main themes....
At last we have a new Government appointed or should I say Governments and as you can imagine they will be setting off like a new broom working together solving all our country's problems and probably creating some new ones for us to contend with. As your Chairman I did say way back in December 2009 that I would look closely at free range ...
Your Council met for the second time this year on the 9th March when I had the pleasure of welcoming two new co-opted council members who will be eligible for election at the November AGM. They are John Dalrymple from Stranrear in Scotland and Richard Barton from North Chailey in the South East. The main topics discussed were Salmonella Insurance ...
Another month has quickly passed and it is time for my next Chairman's comments. I represented BFREPA by attending the National Farmer's Union AGM two weeks ago and found it a very intense but interesting two days. They had quite a political line up of speakers on the first day and I was encouraged to hear Hillary Ben address the gather...
The snow has finally gone and I can see that our own birds are beginning to range further from their sheds. Things are now getting back to normal except for those of us who suffered structural problems. This will take quite a few months to resolve with careful planning to keep disruptions to a minimum. Your council met for the first time in 20...
As your new Chairman I would like to take this opportunity to wish all BFREPA Members a very happy and hopefully prosperous 2010. I have to start by mentioning the adverse weather conditions that we have all been coping with since before Christmas over the whole of the UK and Ireland. Temperatures as low as –18 C have been recorded in some area...
This will be my last comment. As you know I am now no longer Chairman having handed over to John Retson at the AGM. I have much enjoyed my nine years in the Chair. Free Range egg production has come a long way in the last fifteen years with regular and sustained annual growth. This looks likely to continue. Of course there have been problems but th...
Some time ago we asked people to nominate for this year's BFREPA awards. We are still evaluating the various entries. For the first time we have two sections for producer of the year (over and under 5 years production). Several members of council have visited the nominees and we have been very impressed by what we have seen. It is not that diff...
As all of you know by now RSPCA/Freedom Food have agreed to increase the external stocking density from 1000 per hectare to 2000 per hectare. This is still 500 birds per hectare less that Europe but none the less we are in a considerably better position than before. I think we need to be grateful to the RSPCA for their prompt action. I know they...
The other day I was thinking how much the free range sector has changed since I started in 1994. My first flock was 7000 birds which was a relatively large number to house in one shed. Now 16000 is the norm. There was no Freedom Food and no Lion code. Our only inspection was from the egg marketing inspector. I don't regret the extra controls th...
I am pleased to be able to report that, at last, there is some movement over the external stocking density question. We are not there yet, or anything like it, but there does seem to be a possible faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Representatives of the industry met with two members of the RSPCA last month and it would be true to sa...
We now have the result of the external stocking density survey. We had 66 responses with a total increase in birds of approximately 660,000 in the event that the stocking density is changed from 1000 per hectare to 2000 per hectare. Of the total, 14% indicated no change, 3% said they will actually be reducing (that total is only 4,500 birds) and 83...
I have just finished cleaning out my 16000 bird shed following depletion of the flock. As always, it was unmitigated hell! I do the job myself with an excellent gang of workers and it always takes about two weeks to complete the bulk with a further week with a reduced workforce to prepare everything for the next crop. This time all the usual pro...
I have to report that there is still no positive news from RSPCA about the proposed external stocking density. Please continue to lobby Freedom Food. The decision is very important to the future of free range in this country, but almost as important is the need for the decision to be made quickly. As I stated last month we really do not have a lot ...
There is an increasing likelihood that there will be a national shortage of eggs by 1st January 2012. Conventional cages will be banned from that date and it seems unlikely that sufficient enhanced cages will be constructed by then. Free range is expected to increase in volume, but may not have done so to a sufficient extent. This is dangerous. You...
The egg market is very tight at present. This is unusual at this time of year and there seem to be several reasons for it. In spite of the overall financial climate there is still a growth in free range, and the principle of buying eggs that do not come from caged birds seems to be established. The weak pound has made imports expensive. Eggs are at...
I was very pleased to have news of the recent producer price rise from Noble Foods. I hope that all other packers have followed their lead by the time you read this. We are in for a nasty feed price rise which I think may not be short lived. It is therefore gratifying that Noble has recognised this and has paid accordingly before having completed t...
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