Stepping over another organic hurdle

By Peter Whitehouse

Last year experts were warning that a total ban on the use of synthetic amino acids in organic layer diets would lead to disaster.

They predicted that performance levels would slump and flocks would be blighted by increased pecking problems.

Well one flock at least has defied these gloomy forecasts. And happily it’s ours. The 2,850 Lohmann Tradition pullets delivered in November last year have turned in a performance which by any standards would be regarded as very respectable.

With just a couple of weeks to go before depletion they are set to reach a HHA of 275 eggs to 70 weeks (against a performance target of 295 to 72 weeks) and an average egg weight of 66.4 grams (against a target of 65.5 grams). But just as impressive is the appearance of the birds which, although non-beak trimmed, still look in excellent condition. This is an even more satisfying outcome given that they had a less than promising start.


The pullets delivered to our Soil Association organic unit in Somerset were extremely uneven so we did not begin with the highest hopes, even without taking into account the withdrawal of synthetic amino acids. In a bid to bring them up to weight we delayed the onset of lay so obviously lost eggs in the early weeks. But since then the Traditions have never looked back.

Fed by CMC Vitrition, the flock—which is operated with my partner Helen—are housed in five mobiles. The popholes were opened 48 hours after the birds arrived and as a result they have ranged well throughout the laying period.

They peaked at 92 per cent, stayed above 90 per cent for ten weeks and above 85 per cent for 25 weeks. For the last couple of months they have easily exceeded the Lohmann performance targets. Mortality, at just over 6 per cent, is also close to standard.

We could see from early on that we were going to produce very large eggs and were obviously concerned about the risk of prolapse and the danger that might present in a fully beaked flock in terms of pecking. But it has simply not been an issue.

The only problem they have presented us with was a rash of floor eggs in the early weeks—something we have never previously experienced—but this eventually disappeared.

Of course we are not fooling ourselves that we are permanently on top of the ever-tightening demands facing organic producers. Last year, with a different breed of bird, we were blighted with pecking. This was directly linked to the way the birds were reared and although we have made a number of changes to our own management system we still feel we are walking on eggshells.

As we entered the organic sector after 1999 we are already operating at the new EU stocking levels of 6 birds per square metre. Next year we face the extra costs of the increase in the organic content of the diet.

Of course organic standards need to move forward (the existence of 12,000 bird ‘organic’ flocks is no more than a joke).


But being an organic producer at the moment feels like being in some kind of bizarre game in which the rules are made ever more difficult until the last man, or woman, falls out. The biggest shadow falling across our future is the Soil Association’s insistence on pushing ahead with the introduction of organic pullets.

We are already being quoted anything up to £6.50p per bird and, of course, we have no way of knowing what impact being reared on organic feed will have on final performance.

This could unquestionably be the move that drives us out of the Soil Association.

So we are delighted with the performance of this flock. And obviously we have Lohmann Traditions on order as replacements. But we know that all we have achieved is to step over one more obstacle in the ever more demanding assault course that is organic egg production.