With the keenest emphasis invariably placed on welfare, innovation and the environment, Ashleigh Farms is a fully self-sufficient and sustainable third-generation family pig farm based in West Waterford. We travelled to their impressive home unit in Cappagh and touched base with director Jason McGrath to get an update on this industry-leading enterprise.
Ashleigh Farms exists at the cutting edge of sustainable, modern, innovative pig farming, focussing on genetics, animal health, welfare, production output, staff development and the environment to achieve outstanding results. The progressive nature of this exceptional family business was very much evident in 2018 when they added a third unit (with 550 sows), located at Glenbeg near Dungarvan, which is one of the most modern and innovative pig units anywhere in Europe.
Big Dutchman in Germany, supplied the penning, feeding system and ventilation, while McAree Engineering in Monaghan built the silos for feed ingredients. Meanwhile, using the latest technology and innovation, freedom farrowing pens (granting sows six square metres of space after farrowing) were designed in conjunction with Ashleigh Farms and Big Dutchman.
With another 900 sows on the home unit and 450 on the breeding unit (at Caliso Bay, Kinsalebeg), the family business has come a long, long way since David and Annastatia McGrath started out in the early 1960s with just two sows. Today it is among the top performing farms in Europe, producing up to 34 pigs per sow per year.
The founders’ son Jim and his wife Eleanor successfully developed Ashleigh Farms into a thriving birth to bacon operation which became the blueprint for pig production in Ireland. In turn, their sons Jason and Ken are currently helping take this exceptional third-generation family business to the next level, while another son James has branched out into the poultry business. (Ashleigh Farms Poultry)
Biosecurity is of utmost importance and with that firmly in mind, they produce their own breeding stock, transport their own pigs and manufacture and deliver their own feed, with a dedicated, experienced team employed in pig production, feed manufacture and transport.
As Jason McGrath confirms, sustainability and innovation are very much at the forefront of the Ashleigh Farms ethos: “As the industry has changed over the last number of years we have gone more and more down that road because that’s where the future lies,” he states. “Our new unit was built on a greenfield site and has been up and running three years – at the time it was built, it was one of the most sophisticated pig units in Europe.
“As efficiency has increased, we have gradually decrease our sow numbers on our other units whilst increasing output at the same time. Genetics is the big driver behind that. We have brought in breeding animals from Denmark and improved genetics is very much the nucleus of the business. Pig farming has been completely transformed and is totally different today in terms of how many pigs a sow can produce and also how fast and efficiently pigs can grow.”
All three pig units are An Bord Bia and Red Tractor quality assured, with most of Ashleigh Farms pigs going to Rosderra Meats. As well as overseeing an environmentally-friendly pig production system, Ashleigh Farms maintain a keen emphasis on animal welfare (including comfortable housing, nutritional diet and constant monitoring).
“Animal health and welfare is so important,” confirms Jason, who has worked full-time in the family business since 2006. “We must create the right environment for our animals and without our team of highly dedicated people we could not achieve the performance and efficiencies we currently have, the care and attention they give the animals is second to none and their willingness to continue to learn and improve is what pushes us on further. We have 17 people working in the pigs, milling and transport side of the business and they have showed amazing dedication to their job, particularly giving the challenges they have faced in working during Covid19 for the past 18 months or so.
“This industry traditionally has a high turnover of workers, so we are trying to be better employers and to make the working conditions as appealing as possible and to make sure they are settled in and feel at home.”
Serving the agri-food, industrial and municipal Anaerobic Digestion markets, company spin-out Ashleigh Environmental has developed Biowave, an advanced microwave biotechnology pre-treatment system to liberate difficult-to-break-down organic by-products prior to being anaerobically digested for the creation of renewable energy. The technology enhances biogas yields significantly and improves throughput time for digesters. The company’s next installation is at a major milk processor in Ireland and they also have projects in the UK and France.
Ashleigh Farms biogas plant handles approximately 9,000 m3 of pig slurry per year, which is hugely beneficial to both the farm and the environment. The by-product from the Anaerobic Digester is a nutrient-rich and consistent organic fertiliser called digestate, which local farmers spread on arable and grassland.
The expertise of Ashleigh Environmental is used to help Ashleigh Farms achieve its ambitious sustainability targets. For example, as part of their sustainability plan, Ashleigh Farms has a slurry cooling system consisting of approximately 10km of pipe underneath the slurry tanks providing a renewable heat source for the heat pump (used to heat the farrowing and weaner areas).
The self-sufficiency model works extremely well for Ashleigh Farms as they can keep costs down. “Having control of what’s inside our farm gate is vital,” Jason concurs. “The pig farmer has little or no control over the price from the factory, so we have to look at maximising production and feed efficiencies, as well as staying innovative and sustainable. Those are the things we can control.”
Does the Waterford man agree that pig farmers are unrecognised and undervalued within agriculture in general – and the community as a whole – for their innovation and progressive nature?
“I think so. Pig farming is unrecognisable from what it used to be. There is so much automation and daily data produced on all farms, we try to gather all that information and use it as a decision-making tool to be more efficient. It’s all happening live and you can make decisions instantly based on the information you can gather.
“As an industry, we are very adaptable and progressive, there will always be something new coming down the track and you have to be ready to embrace that and move with it. We try to take on new ideas and new techniques as soon as they are developed and we’re constantly looking to improve.”
Regarding some of the challenges facing Ashleigh Farms in the short-to-medium-term future, Jason concludes: “Price volatility is always there but we are conditioned to it now, although it cannot be a race to the bottom… we produce a very high quality and safe product and that should be better reflected in the price and promoted more in Ireland. There are also challenges in the industry at the minute with environmental constraints and a lack of skilled labour. With regard to the environmental issues the slurry cooling system and AD plant are key and we need to further optimise these techniques. It is our goal to introduce pragmatic and impactful sustainability measures wherever we can. On the staff front, we strive to be an employer of choice and we have built up a strong team spirit here, with an emphasis on relationships and good working conditions.
“We are in a very good position going forward. Myself and Ken have youth on our side and we are very lucky to have the opportunity to continue on a great family business which has given us a serious foundation to build upon. Through the generations, this business has always looked for ways to improve and that’s exactly how we intend to continue.”
Ashleigh Farms Ltd,
Ballinameela,
Cappagh,
County Waterford.
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ashleighfarms.ie
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 9 No 6, November/December 2021
