This week’s CBBC programme Show Me What You’re Made Of highlighted free range egg production and gave young audience a wider understanding of where food comes from.
The programme sought to engage with a younger generation, encouraging them to think about where their food comes from, the benefits of free range eggs and the improved welfare of the hens that lay them.
The approach from programme makers for the BBC Children’s channel CBBC was seen as a good opportunity to show how free range egg production works and how it makes a difference.
The Lakes Free Range Egg Company featured in the fifth and final part of a series called Show Me What You’re Made Of.
The programme films five children who work alongside people in the UK who make things they rely on in everyday life. This episode visited The Lakes Free Range Egg Company so children could see how free range eggs are produced and packed for the retailer shelves.
The Lakes owners Helen and David Brass worked alongside presenter Stacey Dooley to assess the performance of the children in a series of tasks. The programme began with a first test – which demonstrated to Helen that they could calmly and safely catch a hen.
The children learned that The Lakes have over 135,000 hens in 18 flocks that can wander outdoors and into the shelter of trees, so an obvious second test was to take the children outdoors.
The task was to gather in one flock of hens for the evening, returning them to their night time house. The task normally takes two people ½ hour, but it took the 5 children over an hour to complete. They said it was harder than they imagined, but they did get organised in the end.
Gathering and packing eggs
The next test was to gather eggs that had been freshly laid. The machines were slowed down to help and they managed to gather 2,300 of their target 5,000 eggs.
The final task was to pack egg boxes coming off the factory lines. Again this was quite a challenge but the children did really well, packing the six crates with great speed and efficiency.
The award for star employee went to Maddie – it was the first time she has received promotion during the series and Helen chose her because “she had come furthest on the journey.”
All the children found their visit of great interest and Tom commented “I’m going to open an egg with more passion next time!”
Parents were interviewed about how their children had changed and Lucas’ parents said they felt he had become more responsible and caring, other parents had similar comments.
David and Helen Brass who own The Lakes Free Range Egg Company said: “We were pleased to be able to highlight free range egg production to such a young audience.
“CBBC’s core audience is primary school children aged 6 to 12-years-old and the beauty of a TV programme like this is that if you miss it, you can watch it again on Catch Up or on the CBBC You Tube page. Around a quarter of their viewers watch programmes on line at a later date – that’s huge.”
