When fire destroyed one of his units, free range egg producer Mike Wilkinson turned for a replacement to a company virtually unknown in this country.
German manufacturer Farmer Automatic may have celebrated its 50th anniversary recently, and its egg production systems may well be used extensively in Holland, Spain, France, Eastern Europe, the United States and Canada, but here in the United Kingdom the company was a mystery to most farmers when Mike took a chance and had one of its multi-tier systems installed on his farm in Yorkshire. His is still one of only two farms in this country with a Farmer Automatic system in operation - the other is in Scotland - but Mike has been so impressed with the unit that he has become the company's agent in the UK. He is now singing its praises to other British egg producers who are looking to replace or expand production.
Some may say it was fate that led Mike to the doors of Farmer Automatic. First of all, the flat deck unit he had on his farm at Topcliffe near Thirsk was gutted by fire. Secondly, at the time Mike was looking for a replacement unit, his previous supplier, Yorkshire-based Vencomatic, had gone into administration. Kevin Howse, who had been working for Vencomatic and who has since returned to a new Vencomatic operation, had begun doing some work for Farmer Automatic. He suggested Mike take a look at the German firm's systems and the rest, as they say, is history. Mike now has two 16,000-bird multi-tier units installed by Farmer Automatic - in addition to the 16,000-bird Vencomatic unit he already had on the farm. And he is delighted with the results. "I have been really pleased with the new units from the very beginning," said Mike.
Ranger readers may recall that we ran a series of articles on Mike after he had his first multi-tier system installed. That system was the original Vencomatic unit and we ran regular updates from Mike on how he felt multi-tier production compared with traditional production in his 12,000-bird flat deck - the one that has since burned down. Mike did have some early problems with system eggs on the multi-tier unit, although his experiment convinced him that multi-tier was the way ahead. System egg rates are now running at just 1.25 per cent across all three of his units. During his one-flock comparison Mike found that the multi-tier birds consumed less feed and that they maintained production all the way to depletion. When it came to replacing the fire-devastated flat deck unit, multi-tier was, for Mike, the obvious choice.
With Vencomatic out of operation at the time, Mike took the advice of Kevin Howse to consider Farmer Automatic. He does not regret the decision. "The system ticks all the boxes for me," said Mike. "It is very easy for bird management; very user friendly. It is very accessible for cleaning, for removing dead birds and treating for red mite. It is easy to move around and it is also very easy to see all levels of the unit without having to climb up and down. I have a lady who works for me who is five feet six and she has no problems seeing the birds wherever they are in the shed without climbing."
Mike said that another positive about the installation was the fact that the birds could access water and feed at all levels. At the time of his comparison between flat deck and multi-tier, Mike believed that one of the reasons for his early system egg problems was the lack of access to water at the higher levels of the unit. In time, Mike managed to get the system egg problem under control on his original multi-tier unit. With the Farmer Automatic units, he said, there had never been a problem. The birds had performed well from the very beginning.
Mike said that at the moment Farmer Automatic only had UK operational units on his farm and on a Scottish farm owned by Irish farmer John Hall. "As far as I know John is doing well with the units as well." Despite its current small presence in the UK, Farmer Automatic is looking to expand in the British market, and Mike said the company believed in using producers to promote the benefits of its systems rather than sales people. "It believes that its customers are its best salesmen, so I have been set on as their agent here in the UK. Any producers who are interested are more than welcome to come and look over the units here, but obviously all the installation work will be carried out by the professionals at Farmer Automatic."
Mike clearly believes he fell lucky when he happened upon Farmer Automatic. He feels the systems are both well made and designed with the producer in mind. For anyone looking for a unit at the moment, he says that the prices are also very attractive. Mike said that Farmer Automatic was offering particularly competitive deals to help increase its presence amongst UK egg producers.
