Free-range hens mark next phase in Norfolk farm's evolution

David Cross, a fourth-generation tenant at Glovers Farm in Sedgeford, near Heacham, has installed two mobile hen houses, each holding 450 chickens, producing 700 eggs a day.

It is part of a "holistic" farming system which has seen former arable fields replanted as legume-rich herbal leys for grazing animals, in a series of 120m-wide strips.

A 240-strong herd of beef cattle, being fattened for M&S, grazes these pastures - returning nutrients to the soil via their manure, before being moved onto the next "alleyway".

West Norfolk farmer David Cross with his new mobile hen house at Sedgeford (Image: Denise Bradley)

Then, a week later, the hens will be brought in behind them, pecking up bugs and parasites as they forage freely outside their new mobile coop.

This helps to improve animal health when the cattle return to the same piece of grass, about 45 days later.

Sheep are also alternated into this rotation, meaning the business now has three livestock enterprises "stacked" on the same land, which also generates environmental payments from the government's Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) schemes.

Mr Cross hopes this will lessen the farm's financial risks, remove the cost of synthetic fertilisers, and help the soil health recover after decades of conventional arable farming.

Meanwhile the eggs have become a valuable new product which is being sold directly to farm shops and restaurants.

Free-range eggs in the Farmermobil hen house at Glovers Farm in Sedgeford (Image: Denise Bradley)

"It is that whole holistic approach, which is beneficial for the cattle and for the chickens," said Mr Cross.  

"The chickens are grazing these multi-species leys, and instead of using chemical fly controls or internal parasite controls, we are using the chickens to break the lifecycle of those parasites.

"Also, there's no extra area needed for the chickens, so it is stacking enterprises, and our average per-hectare margin should be better."

The mobile chicken coops, made by German company Farmermobil, are believed to be the first two of their kind in the UK.

They cost £60,000 each, funded with the help of a 40pc grant from the Defra-funded Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme.

Chickens outside the Farmermobil hen house at Glovers Farm in Sedgeford (Image: Denise Bradley)

The solar-powered housing and laying units have automated feed and water supplies, with internal lighting also computer controlled, and everything remotely monitored on a smartphone app.

Mr Cross, who has only previously kept "a handful of garden chickens" said he enjoyed the new addition to the farm.

"There is something quite calming about it," he said "I am used to livestock, so this is just another bit of science, and the individual needs of another animal that you have got to learn.

"The biggest thing from a learning perspective was the direct marketing and trying to get the eggs out there. The whole branding thing is new to us."

The Glovers Farm brand was designed by fellow Norfolk livestock farmer and textile designer Izzi Rainey.

Free-range eggs from Glovers Farm in Sedgeford (Image: Denise Bradley)

Mr Cross runs his family business alongside his wife Mari, and their three young children Elsi, who is almost five, two-year-old Osian, and five-month-old Nel.

About half of the farm's 1,000 acres have now been converted to multi-species grass leys - including many fields which previously grew potatoes and cereal crops.

"Going forward it will be 95pc of the farm, just to give us options for the future," said Mr Cross.

"If this eventually becomes less competitive as part of the rotation, our soil will be in a better condition.

"At the moment, there is government support for multi-species leys. 

"We didn't want to go down the whole SFI route of non food-producing options. We want to improve the soil, but while still producing food. And I think we will achieve that faster by the way we are choosing to farm, integrating animals."

Glovers Farm is in its final year as an AHDB Monitor Farm, part of the knowledge-sharing network run by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.

Mr Cross said this process included a close look at performance data which helped to influence the farm's future strategy.

"For us, to keep doing the same thing was not an option," he said. 

"Whatever we needed to do, it needed to happen fast because the single farm payment [former EU subsidy] was disappearing fast and there was a void in our income, our soil health was not good enough, our income sources were not diverse enough.

"We were stuck on the treadmill of conventional agriculture - commodity sales and purchases governed by big ag companies, all of which we had very little influence over.

"What we are doing now is removing risk and cost wherever we can."

West Norfolk farmer David Cross with his wife Mari and their children Osian, two, Elsi, five, and five-month-old Nel, outside their new mobile hen house at Sedgeford (Image: Denise Bradley)