The Illingworth family have future-proofed their farm, at Howgillside, near Lockerbie, with a free-range egg venture. Following their 20-year long-term Farm Business Tenancy (FBT), in 2014 the Illingworth family were given the opportunity to purchase the 380-acre Howgillside farm. The family are renowned breeders with well-established pedigree cattle and pedigree and commercial sheep enterprises. To finance their mixed farm, the family sold their internationally recognised pedigree Limousin herd and sought the support of their bank manager. Stephen, Helen and their son Thomas run the farm together, and to ensure that it remains fit for future generations they are capitalising on the farm’s renewables opportunities, grasping new technology and working towards the Net Zero Agenda.
A hidden camera has revealed the living conditions of thousands of free range hens at sites across the UK.
Animal rights group PETA said they found the Happy Egg Company birds miserable, bleeding, decomposing or dead when investigators recently visited three farms.
The secretly recorded footage shows thousands of hens packed into filthy and dark sheds that were so overcrowded that birds had pecked one another through stress.
Campaigners said some of the company s so-called happy hens had died and their corpses were left to rot among living birds at the sites.
Animal rights group PETA said they found the Happy Egg Company birds miserable, bleeding, decomposing or dead when investigators recently visited three farms