Renewables will 'put back poultry margins where they should be' says Herefordshire farmer

RENEWABLES could help feather the nests of Herefordshire broiler producers looking to fund new poultry sheds in response to growth from poultry giant, Cargill.

Hereford-based Cargill is expected to need 90 new poultry sheds as part of development plans to meet a rise in poultry consumption poultry is expected to account for more than half of our meat intake this year, up from just over a third 20 years ago.

And farmers such as Andrew Davies, who has been rearing broilers at Aberhall Farm near Ross-on-Wye since 2001, are supporting their expansion by incorporating renewable energy production into plans.

Adopting renewable technology simply restores poultry margins back to where they should be, he explains. Costs of production have gone up but returns havent kept pace, so income from renewables is becoming pretty important in poultry enterprises where margins are typically squeezed.

Without renewables youd be looking at 15 years or more to pay back the investment in a standard shed; with renewables, this is nearer six years if you can get your costs right.

Andrew has installed 198kW boilers to heat his six sheds; each takes a multi-fuel feedstock of anything from wood chip to miscanthus also known as elephant grass rape straw and poultry litter (thanks to recent Environment Agency approval), increasing his ability to deal with supply issues or future price rises.

Further insulation from fluctuations in biomass feedstock markets will come from 8ha of his own miscanthus he has planted for the first time this year. The miscanthus will be due for its first harvest in two years time, and with yields of about 20 tonnes per ha per year expected over the next 20 years, this should leave us about 15 per cent self-sufficient in energy crops at our current rate of use, he explained.

This means we will be less reliant on wood chip, which we currently source as timber offcuts from Forest of Dean. Its a great local supply, but the price has recently risen to 31 per tonne and we still have to pay for chipping on top of that. So it definitely pays to keep your options open by making sure the boiler can run on a variety of materials.

He says the underfloor heating installed in the last of his sheds has proven especially beneficial during the initial 18 days of the production cycle. It might add 55,000 to capital outlay, but before a batch of chicks arrives in cold weather, it can take 25 per cent less energy to get the shed up to temperature.

Then it dries the litter out better, lowers ammonia levels, reduces odour and keeps an even temperature across the whole shed. Ive seen perfect chick distribution in that shed even on the coldest of days an hour after chicks arrive and a reduction in podo-dermatitis incidence.

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Renewables will 'put back poultry margins where they should be' says Herefordshire farmer