Ayrshire egg farmer is best of British

Mar 1 2013 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post

When it comes to eggs, Alan Robb knows his yolks.

Brought up on a farm which produces thousands every day, he had the best education.

Now the 31-year-old is following in the family footsteps after landing his first food title.

Alan, who works with mum and dad on Chalmerston Farm near Mauchline, is officially Britain’s top free range egg producer.

Not an easy title to bag when you have 20,000 hens to look after every day.

But the quality of Alan’s work has ensured another big title for one of Ayrshire’s business success stories.

The farm, a provider for the Happy Egg franchise, is renowned for its standards in the area.

And with a client book including Marks & Spencer and top hotel chains like Costley & Costley, business is booming.

Alan admitted: “It meant a lot to win the award as it could have gone to any one of more than 400 people.

“You have to be nominated instead of just entering yourself, and it was one of the country’s main suppliers who put me forward for the award, so that was great.

“You have to satisfy a lot of criteria to win producer of the year, and we’re producing 19,000 eggs every day on the farm so it’s a big operation.”

And as fast as Chalmerston can produce their free range eggs, the Ayrshire public seem to be lapping them up.

Whether it’s fried, scrambled or poached, the desire for eggs is on the increase.

Dad Billy, who runs the retail side of the business, is proof that not all parts of the food industry are on the back foot.

Billy, the current holder of the Scottish Quality Egg award, is also rightly proud that his son is following in his footsteps.

He said: “The farm has been here since 1958 and it’s been a great trade for the family.

“We produce for a lot of local butchers and our orders have shot up by 20-25 per cent in the last fortnight.

“People are heading back to their butcher for their meat given recent events in the food industry.

“I think we’ll see a lot more of that trend and when people are going for their meat, they’re buying other things like eggs as well.

“It’s great news for all of us.”