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Simon and Alison Brice with Harvey and Amber

It sometimes takes a disaster to appreciate how fortunate we are, and this is the attitude taken by UK pig and egg producer Simon Brice of Poplar Hall Farm, Suffolk.

Simon and Alison Brice saw a blaze rip through their farm early one morning in June 2010 after an electrical fault in the piggery shed’s wet feeding system. On what Simon describes as “one of the most awful days of their life,” the fire destroyed the building, which was the central hub of the farm and resulted in the death of almost 300 pigs.

Forty-five-year-old Mr Brice had been in the drinks industry for 18 years but was no novice to farming. His father had been a pig a farmer and had reared chickens and ducks himself on a contract basis. Farming is “in his blood.” Yet he had never experienced anything like the fire.

Forward planning 

With stock and income down, it has taken over a year to rebuild the farm, yet Mr Brice and his wife remain undaunted and are looking firmly toward the future. Now that the pig side of the business is back to capacity, plans are already underway to expand egg production, which was unscathed by the incident and acted as a lifeline following the fire.

The Brices bought Poplar Hall Farm some 10 years ago and set about establishing a pig business. Four years ago they added free-range egg production. Egg production currently accounts for some 20% of the business, but this is due to rise to 50% in 2012.

So why the move into egg production? Mr Brice explains: “We were at the maximum with the pigs and my brother said that he would take eggs – I had a bit of spare land and a ready market. I only sell to my brother and he only supplies free range. We decided to go for free range because you can get the maximum price without having the expense of enriched cages.”

Mr Brice’s brother, Alaistaire Brice, owns Havensfield Eggs and supplies free-range eggs to local schools and hospitals. He has 10,000 birds of his own and a further 70,000 contracted out.

But the fire could have put an end to everything. The family was sleeping in the farm office when the fire broke out, because their house was still under construction, and were awoken by the sound of exploding aerosols from the veterinary medicines store in the piggery. To make matters worse, the fire occurred during a dry spell, meaning that water to tackle it had to come from a pond on the other side of the nine-acre farm. In all, some GBP150,000-worth of damage was caused that night.

Although the pig business suffered heavy losses, the egg flock survived unscathed. With a back-up generator on site, loss of power to the hen house was only for a very short period.

ISA Brown birds currently produce some 100,000 dozen eggs annually.

Yet, to make matters worse, the farm was underinsured so a lot of the rebuilding has had to be carried out by the family. The pig unit is now back and running, but the incident has meant that the finishing touches to the farm house have had to be delayed as have some other investments.

Long-term view 

Now the farm is fully operational again with 4,000 laying hens and 3,000 pigs and with a new central piggery at its centre. As part of the rebuilding work, the Brice’s have installed three 15 m high 5kw wind turbines through Windcrop Ltd.

Mr Brice said: “After the fire, we were determined to rebuild the farm and looked into ways in which I could save some of the money we had lost, and become more efficient and sustainable for the future. Having researched renewable energy systems, I decided to start with wind energy as this seemed to offer one of the quickest ways to make an immediate and noticeable impact. I did have some initial concerns that the chickens may be frightened or spooked by them, which could affect the lay, but they don’t seem bothered at all, and I’m still getting as many eggs as usual.”

While the pig operations were down, the egg business provided an ongoing stream of income. The Brices keep ISA Brown hens, which are supplied at point of lay by Country Fresh Pullets.

There are currently 4,000 birds on site producing 100,000 dozen eggs per annum. However, 2012 will see the number increase by 5,000 with annual production of 230-250,000 dozen. And additional investments will be made to cater to this higher number.

The farm currently has a Halo mobile unit that cost GBP100,000 some four years ago, but there are plans for a static shed that are currently going through planning procedures and should be erected in early 2012. It had been planned to erect the building in 2011, but this had to be put on hold because of the fire. Mr Brice believes that egg production is the right way to expand his business, particularly as he has a ready buyer and believes that feed prices will come down.

In addition to the direct investment in the egg flock, Mr Brice also has plans to start producing feed on site for both the pig and poultry businesses.

It’s pretty tough recovering from a major event such as the Poplar Hall fire, but does Mr Brice have any regrets?

“No, I’ve got no regrets," he says. "It’s made me more determined. I want my boy to be interested in the farm. I want to make it a good, viable unit, easily manageable and profitable. We continue to modernize as we go along so that he has something for his future.”