Egg Production at Frowen Farm (Read the Full article in Farmers Weekly)

Read the Full article here in Farmers Weekly!

When weighing up returns from egg production against income from their suckler beef and sheep enterprises, it gave two farm owners the confidence to invest in establishing a free-range 32,000-bird unit with a purpose-built off-grid electricity system across their farm in Carmarthenshire.

Nearly a year after the first eggs were produced at Frowen Farm, near Llanboidy, they say it was the right decision. “It is more or less a constant income, apart from a few weeks when we are empty between flocks,’’ Diana explains. The business opted for the most modern technology in everything from the egg sorting line, to the drinking water auto flushing lines. Ben reasons:

“If you install technology that is already five or 10 years old, then it will be out of date before you have finished paying for it – it is worth paying a bit more for the most recent kit,’’

This decision making extended to the Energy supply. The initial quotation for installation of three-phase grid-connected electricity was £90,000, and it would take nearly five years to be operational.

Instead, the business invested in renewable energy – a 125kW roof-mounted solar system and 150kW battery storage – to allow the sheds to run off-grid.

The system we specified and supplied to a company within our installer network, AM Power Solutions, is operational now and expected to pay for itself within six years. “When we took [the £90,000] into account and, by having renewable energy, we have future-proofed the business against energy price rises and power cuts,’’ says Ben.