(cont)

the British Egg Industry, but we don’t just meet these, we go above and beyond them. We use alcohol gel on the employees’ hands, use boot dips and insist that nobody enters the farm in their conventional clothing or takes any on-site clothing off the farm.”

Biosecurity measures are maintained on the farm with absolutely no exceptions, and despite being a warmly-received visitor, Lesley insisted the Lincolnshire Pride Land Rover remain outside the gates and that I changed into disposable biosuit and that wellies were pressure washed, dipped, then covered in snoods.

Conditions were more akin to a laboratory than a farmyard, but once through the gate, it was easy to see the importance the farm places on hygiene as well as welfare; everywhere was absolutely spotless, with no feed spilled anywhere and no clutter. Equally, the team has clearly invested a good deal of time and attention ensuring a good environment for the whopping 48,000 birds kept on the farm.

“We’ve planted trees which provide good shelter from direct sunlight and act as windbreaks, we’ve also installed plenty of huts and felled trees for perching and hiding from perceived predators at ground level. We’re really conscious that the birds should have plenty to keep them interested.”

For birds in the laying or battery system, just 550cm2 per bird is necessitated, but since 2003, only the construction of enriched cages has been permitted; as seen on the Jamie Oliver documentary, these have scratching and perching spaces, and sees birds being able to interact with each other, in colonies of 40-60. However, the free range system on our farm affords much more space to its birds, and to put this into context, Lesley told us that in the same amount of space as the free-range barns, each of which holds two sections of 3,000 birds, a total of 6,000 animals, there would be as many as 12,000 enriched birds of a massive 32,000 intensively caged birds.
“Each of the systems has its advantages and ultimately it’s the consumers decision, but the fact that more intensively produced eggs are cheaper than free range eggs is keeping demand high across each system."

On average, Lesley’s free range birds consume 20g more food per day than caged birds, and fewer birds per shed will mean a dearer end product for the consumer, but there’s absolutely no doubting the condition of the birds under Lesley’s free range stewardship is easier to accept; when Lesley’s birds are let out of their sheds in the morning, their welfare is evident – each is in an excellent condition, remarkably clean, with all feathers intact and each is bird is extremely tame, racing up to Lesley and comfortable with being picked up,