Becoming a contract producer for Aberdeenshire firm Farmlay has helped a local farmer turn modest acreage into a profitable egg business.
Like generations of farmers’ sons before him, Ross Learmonth was determined to “stand on my own two feet”.
He wanted to make his own living away from his family’s farm, near Ellon.
Ross didn’t want to ‘play farms’
The 29-year-old would be the first to admit he was lucky to have a headstart.
And it came thanks to an 80-acre holding from his grandparents, on his mother Shirley’s side of the family.
Ross explained: “I’d been working away with a few sheep, but was determined not to ‘play farms’ and started looking for something that would enable it to become a viable business in its own right.”
After graduating from Scotland’s Rural College with a first-class honours degree in agriculture, Ross, then 21, went to work for Turriff-based nutrition company Harbro.
Hens and not pigs did it for Ross
He said: “I was originally interested in pigs but, through the day job, found out more about hens and went cap-in-hand to speak to my banker.
“I was also successful in securing some young farmers’ start-up grant funding to help buy and relocate second-hand poultry buildings.
“In the interim, we set about organic conversion, as this was where the opportunity was with local egg packer Farmlay.
“The first 4,000 organic birds arrived in 2017.”
He added: “I soon realised that I was not able to give the day job as much commitment as I would like but also that 4,000 birds weren’t going to be enough.”
So he quit the day job to focus on the new venture, also based near Ellon.
He quickly set about extending the unit to 10,000 birds in time for spring 2018.
The hens allowed him to secure finance to buy a neighbouring 150-acre farm.
Family farming support
Meanwhile, Ross’s father, Eric, and uncle, Iain, who farm about 1,100 acres in partnership, felt the time was right for them to look at diversifying their cattle and combinable crop operation.
A share-farming agreement was drawn up, with Eric and Iain owning a purpose-built hen shed that went up on their land.
Ross took care of everything else, housing 12,000 birds on the site and using muck from the farm on his organic cereals.
16,000 new birds arrived this year
He was content with his own holding’s organic status, but it soon became clear that free-range could be a good option on his father’s farm.
So, earlier this year, 16,000 free-range birds arrived after the construction of another new shed.
Ross said: “We managed to go from steel up, to birds housed in less than 10 weeks, a credit to everyone involved.
“This included the installation of a microgrid, incorporating solar PV (photovoltaic), diesel generator, battery storage and provision of three-phase power, for the new shed.”
He now has the help of two staff, while his wife, Molly, has been looking after the administration side of the business since giving birth to their young daughter, Lois.
“Molly has great office skills from her career in the oil and gas industry,” Ross said.
He continued: “Record keeping is a big part of the egg industry.
“It’s really important, when you are starting out, not to underestimate the effort compliance and quality assurance requires.”
Ross supplies his eggs on a contract basis to Strichen-based Farmlay.
‘Golden age’ for egg producers
It is only a few years ago that images of supermarket shelves bare of eggs were common.
But a combination of factors, including high energy and feed prices, along with the risk of avian flu, ushered in what Farmlay has described as a “golden age” for egg producers.
The firm holds long-term contracts with supermarkets Aldi and Lidl.
It also supplies Spar and all Morrisons’ supermarkets in Scotland.
Eggs-actly the right kind of support
Ross said: “Farmlay provide a great support for audit compliance, and there is advice there for producers new and old should they need it.
“But I do like that there is still very much an independent element to producing eggs.
“It is by no means prescriptive.
“There is a good network for advice within the producer group too, from which we’ve certainly benefited.”
Poultry pays off
Poultry has facilitated diversification, delivering benefits for the whole family.
Ambitions for Ross now include making better use of solar power.
Currently, his grain store is home to a 34-kilowatt solar PV system, and 150 acres of organic winter wheat, spring barley and beans.
Ross also has 340 “organic” cattle out at grass, plus an arrangement with a contract shepherd to finish 1,000 hoggs this year.
He has just recently purchased a further 84 acres of farmland locally.
Looking back on his farming life to date, he said: “I must acknowledge my folks.
“They had the foresight to set me loose and then hold their nerve long enough to let all this happen.
Steep learning curve
“It has been a steep learning curve but I think eggs are a sector of farming that lends itself to first generation farmers, or existing farms that want to create a role for a family member.
“So long as you’re prepared to listen and learn, you don’t need decades of experience.”
He continued: “It means a great deal to me and my family that it has enabled my grandparents’ small farm to provide a living.
“It had lain underutilised for 20 years, but stocking it with hens created a business that has since been able to invest in land and ways of reducing costs.
“It has also meant my wife can be involved in the farm.
“And I’m finally, after some full-on years, hoping to get a bit of time back to spend with her and our baby.
Hens are set to remain at our core, as it is their reasonably predictable and regular cash flow that lets us build other areas of the business around them.” Ross Learmonth
“We often wonder what my grandparents would think of what we are doing with the farm now.
“A greater return may well be had, occasionally, at other enterprises.
“The boom in sheep prices, for example, would prove that this year.
“But the hens are set to remain at our core, as it is their reasonably predictable and regular cash flow that lets us build other areas of the business around them.”
Ross’s words of wisdom
Ross has some advice for other farmers of his generation or below.
He said: “If you are from a family farm, take time away to plough your own furrow if you can.
““Find what you are good at and leverage it – maybe it’s ploughing?
“Consider risk and reward together, not just one or the other.
“And the doom and gloom merchants, and spreadsheet millionaires are to be treated with caution.”
Significant capital and personal investment is required,” he said, adding: “Do not underestimate either. Both can be exhausted if you are not careful.”
Resilience is just as important as return, with both need for budgeting, he said.
A million hens producing about five million eggs a week – that’s Farmlay
Farmlay, which takes his eggs, has been around since 1946.
The family-owned business, including managing director Iain Chapman and his 70-strong workforce, can count around a million hens in production at any given time.
These are typically producing more than five million eggs every week.
The Chapman family, who founded and run the business, have 450,000 laying hens themselve.
And 26 contract producers account for the other half of total production.
Farmlay supplies Lidl, Aldi, Spar and a string of independent retailers and wholesalers across Scotland.
Read more: North-east egg producer lands new deal to supply Sainsbury’s
Read more: Aberdeenshire’s rocket-fuelled hens can be fussy eaters
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