How free-range layers complement electricity generation

Six thousand hens range under the solar array on 16ha (40 acres) of former arable land let to egg producers Charlie and Laura Tomkins.

The birds share the site with a flock of 80 Lleyn ewes, the different grazing habits of both species complementary to their health and nutrition.

See also: How one couple set up in free-range egg production

Ten years ago the Tomkins solely farmed sheep and beef on their grassland, in Bedfordshire, while also growing arable crops.

They were keen to introduce poultry into the mix to generate another income stream.

“A college friend with free-range chickens was a big fan of the benefits poultry brought to his farming system. That encouraged us to look at having our own flock, but we couldn’t find a suitable grassland field for setting up that enterprise,’’ recalls Charlie.

Two events helped to change that position.

Solar

Charlie attended a presentation by a solar company at a farm innovations event in London, advising how poultry could be integrated into a solar field.

And an arable field, next to a farmyard he rented, was able to secure planning consent for an 8.9MW solar array.

“It was a lightbulb moment. I thought: there is the solution. It all came together,’’ he adds.

The field owner sub-let it to the couple, and Charlie and Laura then worked with the solar developer to ensure that the infrastructure being put in place would be compatible with poultry and sheep, and their plans for grazing.

Good security fencing

A major advantage of ranging poultry on solar land is the good security fencing at these sites, designed as barriers for excluding deer and vandals.

“The fences are 6ft [1.8m] high and can also be fox proof. We just needed them adapted a bit to stop vermin or predators climbing over, or digging in,” Charlie explains.

The panels are south facing, the front of each is about 0.3m (1ft) off the ground and the rear with a 1.8m (6ft) clearance.

Their height is the one thing Charlie would change, but for reasons specific to sheep grazing, not poultry.

“It is quite a bother when we are rounding the sheep up – getting them out from underneath the panels; it would help if they were further off the ground.’’

This is a consideration that he will raise with the developer of a second site, comprising 8ha (20 acres), that has secured planning consent for solar and which he will also rent.

“We will ask for the panels to be as high as possible at the front, to make it less of a bother to get sheep out of them,” he says.

The hens combine ranging across the solar site with housing in two mobile sheds.

The first shed that Charlie and Laura invested in has capacity for 2,000 hens and was bought second-hand, with all internal fittings (including feeding, drinking and perching systems, the slatted floor, and nesting boxes) previously used too.

As their confidence as chicken farmers grew, they bought another shed with capacity for 4,000 birds, this time opting for new but sourcing second-hand internal fittings.

Expanding numbers

Going forward, they are planning further expansion with the aim of investing in an 8,000-bird shed to increase hen numbers overall to 14,000.

“We might decommission the smaller shed, or update our second shed with an aviary system to take a few more birds,’’ says Charlie.

The hens have year-round access to the solar areas and the sheep graze them from April, sometimes earlier, depending on the grass growing season.

Sheep grazing is vital when ranging poultry under solar, unless the grass is being mechanically managed. It keeps the grass at a length that the chickens can manage.

“For hens it is quite important that we keep the grass a short length. The chickens aren’t great grazers.

“They will range and scratch about, but if the grass gets away from them and they start eating it, they can get crop bound and that can cause them problems.

“But the chickens root around in the muck, spread it around a bit, and that has to be good for parasite control,’’ says Charlie.

He adds that solar companies tend to be supportive of integrating livestock into developments as it reduces the cost of maintaining the site:

“It means they don’t have to cut the grass which can be a big expense – animals do it for them.’’

Natural cover

The panels provide good shade and shelter, but the hens also like to have natural cover, so there is a border of trees where the sheds meet the grazing area.

The ground underneath the panels, where little grows, creates the ideal dusty conditions for hens to exhibit their natural behaviour of scratching around and having a dust bath.

As new entrants to free range egg production, Charlie and Laura say that having a source of good advice was important to them, and they credit Jason Cooper, of Country Fresh Pullets, with providing that.

“As well as pullets, Jason supplies us with endless amounts of knowledge and advice. He has been the secret to us making such a success of it all,’’ says Charlie.

However, the part of the process that can be the trickiest is liaising with the solar developer.

“They have security cameras and we often get calls when we are on the site to alert us that there are intruders.

“They keep changing the passwords too which can make life difficult. We manage the situation as best as we can.’’

Charlie believes that integrating livestock helps to mitigate concerns over the encroachment onto agricultural land by solar energy.

“The land has an agricultural purpose, rather than being purely commercial. It is still being used to produce food and people are generally more supportive when that is the case,” he says.