'Countryfile' star Adam Henson presents awards at British Free Range Egg Conference

Adam Henson presents the award for Producer of the Year over 5 years production

The cream of Britain’s free range egg producers were honoured in the annual awards of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA).

Now veteran producer Phil Twizell was rewarded for achieving top production and quality whilst pushing the age of the flock to beyond 80 weeks. A commitment to conservation helped Clive and Liz Patrick to a producer of the year award. And Andrew Hall, who picked up the award for small producer of the year, impressed the judges with both production and good ranging.

The awards were handed out by BBC Countryfile presenter, Adam Henson – himself a farmer in the Cotswolds, although not an egg producer. He was assisted during the ceremony by the voice of the BBC’s national lottery programme, Alan Dedicoat. The presentations took place during BFREPA’s annual conference at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

Phil Twizell, of West Newbiggin Farm in County Durham, has now been producing eggs for six years – a fact that just pushed him into the ‘veteran’ category for producers with more than five years in the business. He was clearly pleased with his award. “I’m highly delighted to win it against some pretty old hands in the game. It was absolutely great news.”

The award judges felt that Phil was achieving top results. “He has learned well and, to sustain and improve his business, he has implemented many extras to provide superb range facilities, increase bird health and nutrition to maximise performance and bring in alternative income sources through his own branded internet egg sales,” they said in their citation.

Phil told the Ranger that his success was predominantly down to the way he looked after his birds. “I just put it down to husbandry, to be honest. Attention to detail. We just look after the hens. The philosophy is that if you look after the hens they’ll look after you.

“It’s about making early interventions and spotting when things are about to go wrong rather than after they’ve gone wrong. We measure a lot of things – egg weights, body weights – and then there’s the feeling inside the shed. We are in the shed a lot. There are a lot of things combined, as usual. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Phil said that he had been trying to extend the laying life of his birds as much as possible. “Because we are getting good production, we try to push the boundaries a bit in terms of longevity of the hens. We took the last crop to 86 weeks and they were still laying quite well. The egg packer had no issue with the quality of the shells. I would like to push this one to 90 weeks but it’s a risky business if it goes wrong. It’s difficult trying to get an option if it doesn’t go right with replacement pullets. If it goes wrong, I could be out of production for a month or so. It is a bit risky but the rewards are there if you can get it because your turn-around costs are massively reduced,” said Phil.

He said he had also been increasing private sales from his farm – something that also helped him to monitor more readily the quality of his eggs. “We get a lot of feedback from that in terms of quality of the egg. The chefs are quickly on the phone if something’s going wrong, especially when you’re getting towards the end of lay.

“When you are getting to 60 plus weeks it’s important to keep the quality and we’ve been able to manage it. I put it down to husbandry. Whether it’s that or just good luck I don’t know.”

Winners of the producer of the year award for producers who have been in the business for less than five years were Clive and Liz Patrick from Thurlby Grange in Lincolnshire. Clive said he was “overwhelmed” with the award. “I think it’s a great industry to be in, and to get this award is something fantastic.”

The award judges said that Clive and Liz had displayed “fantastic farm bio-security,” obsessive attention to detail in the care of their birds and a commitment to conservation on their 650-acre arable and poultry farm. Liz said, “We use all the manure from the egg production unit to spread on the land, so it all comes together that way. And we get all the wildlife and wild flowers on the range.”

Clive said, “Because we are multi-tier we muck out twice a week, so this is spread straight onto the land, which is reducing our nitrogen. It all goes together with the poultry as well and the arable to work hand in hand.”

The winner of the award for small producer of the year was Andrew Hall of Wilton Gatehouse, Yorkshire. Judges said he had shown attention to detail. They also praised the good ranging of his birds and excellent performance. Andrew told the Ranger that he achieved 332 eggs per hen housed with his last flock. “Sadly, they went at 71 weeks. If I had known they were going to do so well I would have kept them longer.”

Andrew said, “I try to make the birds feel as happy as possible, just to enhance their natural behaviour. That helps to reduce stress, which I think you get back on the production side. I watch them outside, see what they like to do, where they like to go, what they don’t like, and try to build on that really - just spend a bit of time with them, just enhancing their natural behaviour.

“I put a pathway down the front of the shed so that I can fence them off outside when it’s getting poached badly in bad weather, used some reclaimed concrete sleepers and planted trees down to make like an avenue and get them away further down the range so I can manage it better. Some nice good sized cobbles at the front of the shed helps to keep their feet clean. It encourages them just to go a little bit further away once they get going out onto the range.”

Andrew was delighted with his award. “It’s a great honour, really, to be noticed by BFREPA. I’m extremely honoured.”

This year’s retailer of the year was Marks & Spencer, which became the first retailer to sell only free range eggs when it announced the move in 1997. At the beginning of 2015, Marks re-launched its free range, organic and specialty egg range in a blaze of publicity and worked with suppliers to develop a number of new initiatives to grow the category. Free range egg sales increased by nearly 40 per cent in value and 37 per cent in volume in the 12 weeks to July 19 this year, when the nomination for the award was submitted.

The award for food business of the year went to L J Fairburn & Son for what the judges said was outstanding commitment free range and organic egg production and for being a role model to all aspiring businesses of what can be achieved through drive and determination.

The award for the marketing initiative of the year was presented to Noble Foods for its happy egg free range educational tour. During the summer, the happy egg tour bus visited 40 county shows and retail stores, seeing more than 1,000 visitors each day to help educate consumers about free range farming and the benefits of eating eggs.

Noble Foods was also involved in the initiative that won the award for breakthrough of the year, although the award was presented to Tesco. It was presented for the supermarket chain’s decision to launch a feed tracker contract for egg producers, enabling farers to insure against volatility in the cost of animal feed. The contracts are issued through Noble Foods.

The winner of the annual calendar photographic competition was Gill Clarke of Sadlers Barn Farm, Worcestershire.

The award for best trade stand at the conference went to Blackdown Hills West Country Eggs. Elanco, Stonegate and Moba were all highly commended.

The winners of the egg quality competition were Stuart and Vanessa Chadwick. J B Bradley Ltd took second place, with Charlie Stephenson third.