NI farms cash in on 'free-range' market

Over 30% of the factory's output is 'free-range'

By Martin Cassidy BBC Rural Affairs correspondent

Farmers in Northern Ireland are cashing in on eggs this Easter with the growth in the free-range market offering a new source of income.

This week Marks and Spencer said it intended to completely remove battery cage produced eggs from its food range meaning extra orders for for one of its main suppliers, Skea Egg Farms in County Tyrone.

Skea Egg founder Matt Hayes said that free-range now accounts for 30% of throughput.

"People are buying on a welfare issue," he said.

Free range hens: The birds have freedom to roam

"Some people think that battery cages are cruel so they buy free-range eggs."

The free-range market is trundling along nicely for the Dungannon company which is supplying Marks and Spencer stores with over 7.5m eggs a year.

That order looks set to grow following the retailer's decision to offer hundreds of products ranging from ready meals right down to the glazing on sausage rolls which are made using only free-range eggs.

The group's conversion to free-range eggs will be completed by September.

But what life do hens really have in this new free-range world?

Singing

Poultry specialist Betty McLean said it was all about giving the birds freedom to roam and to behave the way hens want to.

"They like to come out onto the range and to the pasture just to roam around and peck," she said.

"They don't like adverse weather but a day like today encourages them to come out."

There are no cages on the farm and Betty listens as well as looks at the birds to gauge their mood.

We are now shipping free-range eggs into depots in England

Matt Hayes Skegg Egg Farms

"When you come in you hear them singing," she said.

"That's the sound of contented hens."

But it is a busy life too for these free-range birds.

Most days there's an egg to lay and that means climbing the little ladders up to the nest boxes.

Inside there's a rubber mat to cushion the egg as it rolls onto a belt which carries it all the way to the egg store.

From there it is a short journey to the Skea Egg packing house where the eggs from more than 40 free-range farms are assembled and graded ready for despatch.

According to Matt Hayes, free-range is proving profitable for local farmers who have always enjoyed being good stockmen.

"This is an area where Northern Ireland can compete. We are now shipping free-range eggs into depots in England," he said.

Betty McLean: "When you come in you hear them singing"

Free-range production now looks to have the potential to reverse the sharp decline in local egg production.

At one time, the province had over 8 million hens.

Today the figure is just two million.

Poultry specialist Harold Richmond of feed compounders John Thompson & Sons said it suits many farmers to keep a free-range flock alongside their sheep and cattle.

"The free-range sector is certainly growing strongly," he said.

Keeping poultry outside though is not without its problems.

The biggest threat comes from foxes which would happily make a meal of free-ranging hens.

Freedom though comes at a price.

Free-range eggs can cost as much as 75% more to produce than battery cage eggs.

Higher housing, labour and feed costs amount to around 30 pence a dozen.

No one seems to be suggesting that free range eggs are any healthier or better tasting.

The reason it seems a growing number of consumers are prepared to pay a premium more than for battery produced eggs is to give the hens a better life.

With the European Commission signalling an end to battery production in the longer term its a price we may all have to pay one day.