Henry Gibbs: From 0 to 32,000 free-range laying hens

Hello, welcome to Poultry Prospects, where we're featuring new entrants into poultry production. My name is Jake Davis from Poultry Network, and I'm joined by Adam Platt from Alltec. Today we're at Heart of Shropshire Eggs, and we're featuring Henry Gibb and learning more about his story. With that in mind, let's get going. So Henry, thank you for having us here today, and really fantastic, Impressive setup you've got here. Thank you very much. You know, you're young enough A farmer in a highly competitive industry. Tell us a bit about your story—how did you get into it? So, ever since leaving school, I've always been interested in agriculture. So from school I went to Reese's Agricultural College, and there I had a middle year placement. which I went down to Hereford to an arable farm there, they grew cider apples and a lot of them of renewable energy, and then I went back to Reese's for my final year And then I went to Australia, did a harvest there, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Great insight into how differently they do things out there. So ever since then, I've always wanted to return to the family farm; I'm the fourth generation. so looked at different diversification opportunities and free-range layers was Really the one for me, so I went to another farming structure, Heel Legs. to see if I actually liked it, because obviously it's a major investment, and you know, it's like your life so soon after being there for just a few months, I knew it was something I wanted to do so from there I submitted an application, went through that process, and stayed at Heels during That time. Learned a lot there, really—it was a phenomenal experience. So then I left there. Just before starting to build here, really, and then yeah, this is now my second flock. 32,000 birds, these are 32 years old, and yes, I've really enjoyed it. So really interesting stuff, Henry, but what I really want to know is, has it always been Easy sailing, or what kind of challenges have you encountered in the past few years? Well, there have been two major challenges really—the global pandemic, which has It's been quite an eye-opener; the pandemic actually started just as I had my birds in. I didn't really know any different, so we've had that, and then also the avian influenza, which was a a major challenge for me, you know, having to house the birds for three months was, you know, it was A challenge, you know, the kind where welfare comes first and all that. These have all been some great insights. Henry, but I guess my question is, what's next for you? Well, one of the big things that I've done Launch the egg vendor machine, which has been extremely successful; keep pushing forward. that really, and then also continue to maintain high welfare standards, and you know, the birds Inside, really. So I guess making the most of the flock you already have? Yeah, yeah, that's it. so you know gut health and yeah all things like that to maintain shell quality and production That's a big thing for me, and you know, happy hen, happy egg, happy Henry. Well there you go, so as you can see, we've been caught out by the summer weather here in Shropshire. Once again, I hope you've enjoyed that introduction to Henry's farm. We'll be back in a few weeks. inside to get a bit more technical insight into how he runs his farm, but in the meantime, yeah, I've been Jake Davis at Poultry Network, Adam Platt at Alltech, Henry once again thank you for having See you this afternoon, yeah, like, share and subscribe, and we'll see you again soon. Thank you. So Henry, how does this work? I assume the chicken sits in the back and The Egg Bowl runs over there? Yeah, pretty much, take it in turns, so all you have to do is Present your card or your phone, then wait for authorization, and wait for the eggs to be laid. Nice and fresh, and then the door opened, so these were always kept. Laid fresh on the day of purchase, standard mixed weight tray, and yeah, it seems really popular so. It's a quality worker, really clever stuff. Here we are, beautiful—30 fresh free-range eggs.