Conference promises practical speakers
Pictured: Mike Tyers of Deans Foods
Once again practical-minded speakers will be the main feature of BFREPA’s annual conference, taking place in November at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.
With nearly 5,000 acres of arable land to keep him busy who would have thought Doug Wanstall would want to be bothered with hens. But Doug operates a 20,000 bird free range unit on the family farm in Kent and delegates will hear how he gave up producing eggs for a packer to concentrate on selling direct. Along with eggs from contracted producers, he now supplies around ten million eggs a year into catering outlets and hotels across London and the southeast.
Mike Tyers is another hands-on poultry man but one with very close ties to a packer. He’s a regional production manager for Deans Foods and has to ensure the eggs keep flowing from around a quarter of a million free range layers.
With a sizeable proportion of these hens farmed organically, Mike has a special interest in the implementation of the new EU organic standards. Government officials recently visited one of Deans’ farms where Mike was able to explain the difficulties surrounding the future requirement for organic pullets. Conference goers will learn whether Mike believes the organic egg sector can survive beyond these new rules.
The day’s third speaker may be a geneticist and not a hen farmer but he’s nevertheless taking a very practical approach to selection of breeding stock.
Rudi Preisinger will reveal what him and his team at Lohmann have learnt from fitting hens with transponders to monitor their movements. Not only have they been able to track bird movement around the house but they’ve also been following them outside on range. Could this mean that future strains are selected for their ranging ability? The answer to this question—and a host of others—will be in Rudi’s paper ‘Selecting layers destined for free range systems’.
And a new feature of the 2004 conference will be a workshop laid on by the Ranger vets of Crowshall Veterinary Services. Here delegates will be able to see first hand some of the techniques employed by the practice to diagnosis common health problems associated with free range layers.
Award for best exhibit
A new feature of this year’s conference will be the presentation of an award for the best exhibit. With more room available than ever before a record number of companies are planning to attend and in recognition of their support the Ranger is sponsoring an award for the best trade stand.
“The trade exhibits are a very important aspect of the conference and contribute greatly to the event’s success,” said Ranger editor John Widdowson.
“Companies invest a lot of time and money in attending and this is one way in which BFREPA can express its gratitude.
“It is particularly appropriate that the Ranger is sponsoring the award as many of those attending are the same companies who support us throughout the year by advertising in the Ranger.”
Companies still wishing to book trade space should contact Carole Arnold of sponsors Lohmann GB on 01526 351003.
