By Debbie James

Installing a borehole to draw a private supply is resulting in cost savings of around £5,000 a year on water use for a Pembrokeshire free range egg business.

Lyn and Carol Jenkins diversified from dairy farming to poultry in 2013, establishing two flocks of 4,000 hens in two second-hand 9x66 metre mobile flat deck houses.

To make the figures stack up with 8,000 birds, they set efficiency targets to minimise the cost of production.

Establishing their own water supply on the greenfield site at Dreenhill, near Haverfordwest, ticked that box.

A borehole was sunk at a depth of 60 metres which, even in the driest of summers, has yielded ample supply.

“We have had some very dry summers but even in those conditions the water has been visible four feet from the surface,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

“We don’t have any mains water. Everything is run off the borehole, even the water in the house.’’

The deeper the borehole, the higher the capital cost of establishing it – the Jenkins’ spent £5,678 on setting up theirs.

Water demand in their poultry system can be as high as 1600 litres daily when the hens are housed, such as when housing measures are introduced to help prevent the spread of avian flu. But it can be as low as 600 litres.

A chemical analysis of the water at the site showed high levels of iron and manganese so a filter was installed to remove these; UV filters are also fitted to remove bacteria.

The only input cost is salt – this is needed to keep the pipework clean.

“It’s the same type of salt as used in a dishwasher,’’ Mr Jenkins explains. “We add it to a brine bath which is in the same shed as the filtration system and it is automatically flushed through the pipes every night.’’

The site was off-grid so all the power needs were initially delivered by a 24 volt off-grid solar system with a small petrol-powered generator used as a back-up at times when there was insufficient energy from solar.

In 2014, with only a third of the energy produced from the solar system used in the business, three-phase electricity was installed to enable excess energy to be sold to the grid.

The combined cost of a transformer and connection was £9,720.

Feed waste is another area the business has improved to increase overall efficiency.

In 2020 it replaced an auger pan feeding system with a track feeder, which included additional perching to comply with new regulations.

“The system needed replacing because it was ten years old and coming to the end of its working life,’’ Mr Jenkins explains.

The chain feeders allow for more consistent, efficient feeding by delivering food on a slow moving mechanical line.

“The entire flock has equal access to the same feed and because the feed is evenly distributed it means low stress on the birds,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

The simple and open system can be easily managed and cleaned.

With feed accounting for the highest portion in the overall cost of production, the new feeders are paying for themselves with less waste.

However, although waste has reduced there has not been a financial saving on feed because installation of the new system coincided with changes to bird breed.

“We were running a flock of Burford Browns and Old Cotswolds but we are now all Burford Browns – and they eat more,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

Birds consume an average of 145g/day.

But, while the hens consume more feed, the business receives a high price for its eggs.

Seventy per cent of eggs produced are large and supply a higher value market.

Hens lay an average of 280 eggs at 72 weeks, with eggs supplied to Stonegate.

“We are now pushing it to 76 weeks because that’s what our buyer wants but we will have to keep an eye on thinner shells and more seconds,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

-ends-

Installing a borehole to draw a private supply is resulting in cost savings of around £5,000 a year on water use for a Pembrokeshire free range egg business.

Lyn and Carol Jenkins diversified from dairy farming to poultry in 2013, establishing two flocks of 4,000 hens in two second hand 9 metre x 66 metre mobile flat deck houses.

To make the figures stack up with 8,000 birds, they set efficiency targets to minimise the cost of production.

Establishing their own water supply on the greenfield site at Dreenhill, near Haverfordwest, ticked that box.

A borehole was sunk at a depth of 60 metres which, even in the driest of summers, has yielded ample supply.

“We have had some very dry summers but even in those conditions the water has been visible four feet from the surface,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

“We don’t have any mains water. Everything is run off the borehole, even the water in the house.’’

The deeper the borehole, the higher the capital cost of establishing it – the Jenkins’ spent £5,678 on setting up theirs.

Water demand in their poultry system can be as high as 1600 litres daily when the hens are housed, such as when housing measures are introduced to help prevent the spread of avian flu. But it can be as low as 600 litres.

A chemical analysis of the water at the site showed high levels of iron and manganese so a filter was installed to remove these; UV filters are also fitted to remove bacteria.

The only input cost is salt – this is needed to keep the pipework clean.

“It’s the same type of salt as used in a dishwasher,’’ Mr Jenkins explains. “We add it to a brine bath which is in the same shed was the filtration system and it is automatically flushed through the pipes every night.’’

The site was off-grid so all the power needs were initially delivered by a 24 volt off-grid solar system with a small petrol-powered generator used as a back-up at times when there was insufficient energy from solar.

In 2014, with only a third of the energy produced from the solar system used in the business, three-phase electricity was installed to enable excess energy to be sold to the grid.

The combined cost of a transformer and connection was £9,720.

Feed waste is another area the business has improved to increase overall efficiency.

In 2020 it replaced an auger pan feeding system with a track feeder, which included additional perching to comply with new regulations.

“The system needed replacing because it was ten years old and coming to the end of its working life,’’ Mr Jenkins explains.

The chain feeders allow for more consistent, efficient feeding by delivering food on a slow moving mechanical line.

“The entire flock has equal access to the same feed and because the feed is evenly distributed it means low stress on the birds,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

The simple and open system can be easily managed and cleaned.

With feed accounting for the highest portion in the overall cost of production, the new feeders are paying for themselves with less waste.

However, although waste has reduced there has not been a financial saving on feed because installation of the new system coincided with changes to bird breed.

“We were running a flock of Burford Browns and Old Cotswolds but we are now all Burford Browns – and they eat more,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

Birds consume an average of 145g/day.

But, while the hens consume more feed, the business receives a high price for its eggs.

Seventy per cent of eggs produced are large and supply a higher value market.

Hens lay an average of 280 eggs at 72 weeks, with eggs supplied to Stonegate.

“We are now pushing it to 76 weeks because that’s what our buyer wants but we will have to keep an eye on thinner shells and more seconds,’’ says Mr Jenkins.

-ends-

Lyn and Carol Jenkins have established their own water supply