Ranger Magazine

December 2018

I think most producers who are not aligned with a feed tracker will have seen the price paid for their medium, small and second grades reduced over the last month. 

Friday’s were the latest to reduce the price they paid for medium eggs by five pence which followed a similar reduction by Noble. 

There is a fundamental problem here, and a welfare issue to boot. As an industry, and without wishing to be alarming, we need to educate retailers and consumers to the laying cycles of a free-range hen and the welfare concerns we have for birds being pushed to lay larger eggs. 

Today I read about the Iceland Christmas advert which was banned for portraying a political message. As part of its festive campaign the discount supermarket struck a deal with Greenpeace to rebadge an animated short film featuring an orangutan and the destruction of the rainforest at the hands of palm oil growers. 

November 2018

The first BFREPA Awards event was an incredible success, with over 120 diners in attendance. 

I must thank everyone who helped make the event a resounding success as we start discussions to increase the diner numbers for next year, giving more producers and traders the opportunity to celebrate awarding success to outstanding contributions made over the past year and I congratulate all the winners. The new dinner format is a great chance to network and I urge all producers to reserve their tickets for next years’ event as soon as they are released. 

The subsequent Conference was the perfect opportunity to announce two new initiatives.

The NewGen programme aims to help fund the next generation of egg producers. BFREPA will offer grants to help young people working in the sector reach their full potential. 

October 2018

The Food Standards Agency have issued a recall on Dr Zaks barn farmed liquid egg white infected with salmonella. A product sourced in France, and another reminder of why retailers should look to British egg and British egg products. The UK’s salmonella record is second to none.

This recall and outbreaks reported in this Ranger both in the United States and Australia, should make us pause and reflect on the devastating effect an outbreak can have on an egg farm. 

In some respects, and thankfully, not many of us will have had any experience in dealing with an outbreak, and for that reason we do not understand or can even comprehend the processes and regulations we have to follow to return to a disease free status.