For Jim and Anne Smillie of Corrie Mains Eggs in East Ayrshire, a flexible and reactive approach to nutrition, twinned with a healthy growth plan and local business model has helped the business grow into a profitable and diverse family enterprise.
The independent business, which was established in 1996 with only 800 hens, was originally based in East Kilbride. In 2007, they moved to today’s site where the business has grown to 20,000 birds.
Previously producing a combination of caged and barn eggs, they expanded to include a few free-range flocks, where they saw a good margin in free-range over caged. Fast forward 15 years and now all eggs are free-range across seven flocks, ranging from 3000 – 3850 birds.
“At the time of moving over to free-range in 2008, we soon saw that it was the future,” explains Anne Smillie, owner of Corrie Mains Eggs.
“It’s what our customers wanted – we told them our plans, and didn’t lose a customer, despite charging more.”
Jim and Anne’s two sons James and Ross are now a part of the business, as well as nephew William. Two drivers – Stevie and Peter, Joy – who grade the eggs, and Sarah, who provides office help, complete the team.
Business growth
Anne and Jim have built the business up slowly, adding a flock as needed throughout the years. In 2015 they advertised the need for a ‘satellite producer’ in The Scottish Farmer, hoping to catch the eye of a farmer in the local area looking to diversify.
Enter John Hunter and his wife Louise, who produce beef cattle across 65 acres and were looking to generate some additional revenue. They have just taken in their sixth flock, Anne reports production is great and they’re managing birds to 80 weeks.
“We have a great relationship with John and Louise, and, as they’re in the next village, their production slots seamlessly into the business. As part of our working relationship, we’ve also provided advice to John and Louise over the years and they’re good at taking it,” explains Anne.
The addition of this 8000 bird flock brings the total to 28,000 birds across the business, enabling them to produce enough eggs to sell to the market at a premium price.
“We believe our steady growth of production aligning with our customer demand is key,” says Jim Smillie.
“As independent producers, we never create a surplus and are quick to react to an oversupply.”
Over the past 20 years, the family business has been Scottish Egg Quality Awards winners, including overall winners, numerous times. In 2020, Corrie Mains Farm won a Poultry Farmer of the Year Award, having demonstrated steady, sustainable expansion and close control over every element of production.
Nutrition
Seven small flocks, all at different ages, enables the business to ensure a constant supply of eggs to service customer requirements. This does mean, however, that they are not always in a position to choose the breeds they receive when new flocks come in. Because of this, they have to be adaptable, and therefore feed accordingly.
“Every flock is different, none are the same, so we will manipulate the input of food if we have issues,” Jim explains.
“This does bring positives though, as it means we’re closely monitoring every single flock, even if it does require additional time and input,” he says.
Very little grain is grown locally, so birds are fed a complete ration from ABN Feeds, milled at the Langwathby site. Corrie Mains Farm is equipped with six bulk bins and an automated feeding system, with hens on a flat-deck system. A chain feeder, which runs six times per day, allows for close monitoring of the ration.
Jim and Anne’s business is reliant on producing a significant percentage of large saleable eggs. Working alongside John Thornborrow, Commercial Layer Species Lead at ABN Feeds, and the wider ABN team, they created a new range of rations to help achieve this, by increasing nutritional drivers to promote early egg weight.
“Our relationship with Jim and Anne has developed over many years, and we work together to monitor progress charts for each flock to help identify trends,” explains John Thornborrow.
“Their need to produce large eggs quickly means they’re often balancing genetic potential with nutritional solutions. Most breeds will start to produce large eggs post-30 weeks, but we’re working with Jim and Anne to accelerate this process to 26-28 weeks through nutrition,” says John.
“As a business, we have to ensure we have a product offering wide enough to feed the situation, and we therefore need to be flexible and able to adapt to many microclimates across a broad geographical spread.”
Anne says John is always on hand to discuss production KPIs and will share feedback with the technical team at ABN if they face any issues.
“John will often come back with suggestions or tweaks to help us adapt to temperature increases, fix egg size issues, or help us extend lay beyond 80 weeks,” says Anne.
“With each change, feed quality is always consistent, which is really important for the birds, and also for us as a business, as we’re providing our own customers with quality eggs.”
Route to market
Eggs are collected, graded, coded and packed on the farm each day, then delivered to customers within 36 hours. Their somewhat unique business model is key to their success, selling to shops, schools, restaurants and at farmers markets in an 80-mile radius.
They deal directly with their customers and place huge value on transparency and educating the younger generation on the workings of the poultry sector.
So, what next for Jim, Anne and the family? There are no current plans to expand beyond the 20,000 birds at Corrie Mains Farm, but they aim to continue to slowly grow bird numbers by recruiting more satellite producers. With two sons in the business, Jim and Anne have accepted that they need to 'do a wee bit less' in future years.
Corrie Mains Farm is further reinforcing its close working relationship with ABN and the drive for a more sustainable poultry sector; with the advantage of small flock sizes, meticulous record keeping, and a conscious understanding of consumer perceptions, they are in discussions to conduct feed trials that will partly replace soya with a pulse-based ration.
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