Humble free range egg company sells at Sainsburys

May 29 2009 by Iain Pollock, Dumfries Standard Friday

FREE range eggs from a new operation on the outskirts of Dumfries are already on the shelves of a major supermarket chain.

Nith Valley Free Range Eggs was set up just two months ago by Stuart Rutherford.

At the age of just 24, with all the confidence of youth, he is already making plans to expand the business, a move that could create a couple of jobs.

Eggs from his 3,500 birds at Kirkmahoe are on sale in Sainsburys.

And Stuart, who lives at East Gallaberry, is also supplying a number of local outlets.

Nith Valley Free Range Eggs is believed to be only the third such business in Dumfriesshire and it represents the fulfilment of a long held ambition for the young man.

“My uncle George got me into the industry when I was 16,” he explained. “I decided to take it seriously so I went to the SAC in Ayr.”

Stuart walked away with an HND in poultry production and management, a qualification that landed him a trainee manager’s job with Grampian Country Chickens at Aberdeen.

Two years later he was back at Ayr managing a free range egg company and that gave him the experience to go on his own.

When he got the offer of mobile hen sheds he grabbed it with both hands.

“It’s always been my ambition to have my own business,” he said. “Now I’ve got two mobile hen sheds and 3,500 birds and plan to expand with another two sheds as soon as I can.

“I have a contract to sell eggs to a company in Ayrshire which I used to work for and they go to Sainsburys as well as local businesses,” he added.

Stuart’s hens are Lohmann Browns, a hybrid of Rhode Island Reds. He has 96 per cent production, two per cent more that Lohmann claim.

“I’m pleased with them,” he said. “When I get the other two sheds there will be almost 5,500, a total of about 9,000 birds.”

His sheds are totally self sufficient, with wind and solar energy powering a bank of 12 volt batteries which run the feed lines, lighting system and auto ejects, used to kick the birds out of nesting boxes at night to stop them sleeping there.

The only manual work involves packing the eggs which are brought to the packing area on a conveyer belt system, routine checks and putting down shavings.

The birds are free to leave their sheds during the day.

Stuart added: “The industry is really strong at the moment. It’s bucking the recession trend, not affected at all.

“In fact, egg sales have possibly increased. There is a huge, huge demand out there for free range eggs and a shortage of them in the UK. That is going to stay with us for quite a while.

“In 2012 there is a ban on cages coming in. At the moment, about 38 per cent of all the eggs consumed in the UK are free range. With the cage ban that should go up to about 50 per cent.

“So there are plenty of opportunities for expansion.”