Sheep or eggs?

How does a man who sells eggs for a living, regularly make it onto the Sunday Times Rich List?

A three minute video at the end of John Campbell's presentation to the BFREPA conference at Stoneleigh yesterday gave more than a subtle clue. It showed the boss of Glenrath Farms strutting around the ring at some Scottish ram sale as, one by one, his animals went under the hammer for eye watering amounts.

"£7,000, £8,000 - do I hear £9,000?" went the auctioneer. Yes indeedy, as the prices soared into the high teens. One ram even hit the £40,000 mark, to the gasp of sheep farmers at ringside and delegates at the Stoneleigh conference.

Quite what the relevance of this video was to the egg industry was left to the audience's imagination (and the Feathered Forager has quite a vivid imagination!)

No explanation was offered by Mr Campbell. "Really it's a hobby for us," was all he said. "It's what I like to do at night time."

Mr Campbell concluded by telling the audience that there was a great future in egg production for young people and new entrants.

The Feathered Forager reckons there's probably a better future in sheep....