Eggs are an integral part of our daily diet and have been for many, many years as they can be used in many various dishes.
They are also a nutritious concentrated source of good quality protein with a wide range of vitamins and minerals. Eggs are great value, easy to cook and a very versatile ingredient for both savoury and sweet dishes. They provide meals in minutes either on their own (boiled, poached, scrambled) or added to other ingredients (quiche, pancakes, omelette.
In these current times, when healthy eating is more than just a passing fad, for most healthy people saturated fat intake is a more important factor than dietary cholesterol. Although eggs do contain some saturated fat more than half of the fat found in eggs is either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Reduce your total intake of fat and eat a balance of the different types of fat.
Free-range eggs are eggs produced from birds that are permitted outdoors for at least part of the day. The term “free-range” may be used differently depending on the country and the relevant laws.
For this month’s edition of Irish Tractor & Agri, we profile one of the country’s leading producers of free range eggs, Donegal based Castle Free Range Eggs.
This family run business situated on the outskirts of Ballyshannon has been supply top quality free range eggs to a large customer for many years now.
Owner and director of Castle Free Range Eggs is Hugh John Patton and he explained to us the operation of producing such a high quality product.
First, let’s take a look at the history of the business and see how they got to where they are today, producing eggs from an impressive 28,500 birds.
“My mother always had a few hens and we would have to go out and wrap the eggs in paper before they would be sent down to the local shop. As was the way at the time we used to give them to our neighbours, bartering them. Then in the late 80’s we set up as a company with 50 hens,” revealed Hugh John.
“As the demand grew, so too did the company, becoming registered and licensed.
“So we invested a lot of money after talking to the Department of Agriculture and Bord Bia who helped point us in the right direction. Myself and my wife Mary travelled and looked at egg production in other countries. We adapted what was working there to the farm in Donegal. We saw both large and small scale farms and we took the best parts of those to our operation.
“We then came home and after a long deliberation we bought our first bird house which held up to 1,800. This was Bord Bia approved and it worked so well that we soon added 5,000 bird house.
“All the time the market was growing and many of the local businesses supported us which we were and are very grateful for. The Shop Local principle is vital for us from the border counties as you are competing against products from Northern Ireland.”
Soon Hugh John added a third bird house and this one had a 6,000 bird capacity before the fourth and their most recent purchase was set up as they became the first free range egg producer in Ireland to have a 16,000 multi-tier, temperature controlled bird house installed.
“The new bird house is temperature controlled and has a ventilation system in place and it is geared towards the welfare of the birds.”
Castle Free Range Eggs now have four operational bird houses catering for their ever expanding customer base that includes retailers such as Tescos, Super Valu, Centra, Spar and Mace as well as hotels and restaurants in the county of Donegal and surrounding areas including Sligo and Leitrim.
Hugh John revealed that a lot of work goes into providing their customers with the right type of egg. “Our reputation precedes us at this stage as our customers know that they will receive a quality product. This is down to a number of factors including a healthy bird, proper feeding, which is Bord Bia approved and we get from AW Ennis and no over-crowding. We have actually about 90 acres covered in sand where the birds are free to wander during the day and this all helps produce top quality eggs.”
Hugh John purchases all his birds from Bord Bia approved breaders, Tom Ryan, Tom McArdle and Andrew O’Connell.
The company MD and his wife are joined in the business by their daughters Sinead, Amanda, Edel and sons Hugh John Jnr, Brendan and Michael, and a four full time staff, all of who are dedicated to continuing the high level of service that their customer base has become accustomed too.
Castle Free Range Eggs,
Ballyshannon,
Co Donegal.
Tel: 071 9851280
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 2 No 5, October 2014
