Poultry feed mill hauls in high priced wheat
UK - Farmers on the Dorset-Somerset border are getting higher grain prices after the opening of a multi-million pound poultry feed mill by egg producer Paul Crocker.Mr Crocker's birds lay a quarter of a million eggs a day - 1.5% of UK consumption - and his plant will process 20,000t of locally grown wheat in its first year. Of this, 60% will be fed straight to his chickens with the rest sold to other poultry farmers.
"We have made pledges to our farmers to pay the Farmers Weekly feed wheat price plus 4/t for the next three years, and not to charge any weighbridge fees. We are almost having to turn people away, because it is more than they will get elsewhere," said Mr Crocker.
Despite the 2m cost of the computerised mill, 10% of which was grant funded, Mr Crocker reckoned he would soon be saving money.
Source: FWi
26 September 2005
1 minute read
