Rob and Kim Evans are proud owners of the first commercial free range egg farm on the island of Anglesey.
It took four years for planning to be approved, and the couple had to jump over numerous hurdles in what was a make-or-break decision. Kim made the bold move to leave her job as a midwife to assist Rob on the family’s beef and sheep farm. The poultry unit was added to bring in an additional income stream. The pressure was on because if it did not pay, the couple were prepared to sell the family farm.
Being in a conservation area within Snowdonia National Park, air scrubbers were included in the plans to reduce the poultry unit’s environmental impact by lowering the amount of dust, odour and ammonia in the air. Air scrubbers were installed to the rear of the house, with the poultry unit itself forming a trouser leg shape. Two mirror-image chicken sheds are adjoined by the section of air scrubbers, each comprising Big Dutchman’s Natura 264 multi-tier system and housing 16,000 birds.
Kim says, “I left behind my career as a midwife, but I have no regrets. We are on our second flock now and are continuing to learn every day. I love what I do because I am able to fit work around my three children. They will often come in here after school and help out.”
Being a family affair, Rob and Kim have lots of plans to build on their success including the installation of an egg vending machine at the bottom of the farm’s drive. Rob expects it to be popular with both locals as well as holidaymakers to this scenic part of Welsh coastline.
Currently yielding 28,000 to 31,000 eggs per day for their egg business, Wyau Mon Eggs, Rob and Kim did their homework before settling on Big Dutchman for their egg production needs. Kim explains, “We visited lots of sheds to see the Big Dutchman equipment in situ. We liked the style of it, and we knew it worked. It was an easy decision because we were told that we had to use Big Dutchman air scrubbers because they were the only ones to have been proven to reduce ammonia at the time.”
The perfect union of manual and robotic solutions, Rob and Kim are joined by a team of six farm staff who carry out regular eyeball inspections of the flock, as well as assisting with other jobs on the farm. Although they are keen to embrace modern innovations, employing Kletec’s Ant30 palletiser for the automation of egg handling processes, Rob and Kim enjoy being hands-on in their approach. They are often at farmers’ markets across Wales, as well as working with local groups such as Llangefni Young Farmers to inspire the next generation of egg farmers.