A company which specialises in free range chicken and turkey is offering free range egg producers a way out of their current financial crisis.
With losses mounting because of high feed costs and low egg prices, some free range producers are looking to get out of the egg sector.
TNP (Traditional Norfolk Poultry), which is looking for new growers to meet increasing demand for its table birds, believes it can offer those egg producers a profitable alternative.
The company has been targeting free range egg producers as potential new recruits. TNP director Mark Gorton says they have been contacted by a number of egg producers and some have already made the switch.
“We know that free range egg farmers are struggling at the moment. Their farms could be ideal because they are already free range and a lot of them have woodland.
We are getting a lot of enquiries and we already have some ex free range egg producers now growing for us,” said Mark, who said extra growers were needed because of increased demand.
“We have tripled business in the last couple of years. I know the country is in recession but we have bucked the trend. When the recession started we wondered what we would do but we have found, and the figures show, that consumers will keep buying the product and more customers will move into the category. Because of that we are looking for extra space all the time.”
The need for extra growers could become even more urgent following the launch of a completely new range by TNP – the Norfolk Black chicken, which is being retailed in an exclusive link with the supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s.
“We have been producing Norfolk Black turkeys for the past six or seven years and have seen that business really take off. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a Norfolk Black chicken?' It has just launched in Sainsbury’s and the initial signs are good,” said Mark, who said the bird had been specially bred for both appearance and taste. Planning for the new bird started three years ago.
TNP developed its own genetic cross and it now has three of its own breeding flocks. The Norfolk Black is being sold at the premium end of the market and is exclusive to TNP. It is likely to mean that the company will need more growers than ever.
“We are always looking for new growers but the launch of the Norfolk Black chicken has just raised it up to another level,” said Mark. “We are interested in speaking to anyone who might consider making the switch from free range eggs to growing chicken.”
Mark said that making the transition to chicken from eggs could be relatively straightforward. He said it was probably easier to move from free range eggs to free range chicken than from intensive chicken to free range chicken. “They are already free range so that makes it easier. The big differences are not using nest boxes and we cannot use track feeders,” said Mark.
He said that the switch would inevitably be simpler on some systems than others, but the company was usually able to work through the conversion.
“There are a number of different lay-outs for egg sheds. We look at each shed case by case, taking each one on its merits, and we can usually find a good compromise for all parties. We are all Freedom Food so we cannot use track feeders and we need natural light in the sheds, but we don’t have to go into sheds and start smashing down walls. There is probably a slight increase in the number of pop holes, but free range egg sheds have lots anyway, so it’s just a case of adding a few more. From what we have seen so far it can work out very well for both us and the farmer.”
TNP has been producing free range chicken for 25 years.
The business was started by Mark Gorton and David Garner with just 12 Christmas turkeys but has grown to become one of the leading producers of free range and organic chickens and turkeys in the country. The business is still growing despite the squeeze on family incomes. Even organic is growing. Mark said the company was looking for organic growers as well as free range.
“I think it is because we specialise. Organic generally has had a difficult time but ours is growing. Others have dropped out of organic but there is still a market out there. For some it was an extra business and they have dropped out and that business is now coming to us.”
Mark said that the free range egg market had got into difficulties because free range eggs had become a commodity. “I was with a big farming group last week. They were saying that KFC was going to convert all its ingredients to free range eggs. But big organisations like KFC and McDonald’s will be the ones who will drive the price down or they are not going to do it. Free range chicken is completely different. It is pretty much impossible to devalue it. Everything is different. I just can’t see the same thing happening. I can’t see free range chicken becoming a commodity.” Mark said that a consumer could not easily see the difference between a free range egg and a cage egg side by side; the difference between a free range chicken and an intensive chicken was immediately obvious.
He said he recognised that for some free range egg producers switching to growing chicken would be a big decision, but he said it was worth trying.
“And it doesn’t matter to us whether it’s a big unit or small unit, as long as we can make things work for us and the farmer. We are happy to talk to anyone. We can come and have a chat, have a look at their unit and they can come and look around the factory and processing plant so we can introduce ourselves and people can have confidence in what we do.”
