Launching Laid with Love
November 8th, 2011The Lakes Free Range Egg Company, a family business in Cumbria, has joined up with Cancer Research UK, to launch a new egg brand, Laid with Love TM. The free-range eggs are being launched with Booths and go on sale from November 8th.
The distinctive pink pack with the Laid with Love TM logo compliments the pink branding associated with Cancer Research UK and the iconic pink ribbon. The Lakes have committed to raise £100,000 to help the fight against breast cancer and 1p per pack of six eggs will be donated to Cancer Research.
Laid with Love TM eggs are extra tasty due to a special vegetarian diet enriched with lutein from marigolds that is fed to the hens. Hens live on family run farms where they are free to roam and forage in pasture, enriched with natural woodland.
Biodiversity is at the heart of the Lakes Free Range Egg Co farming ethos and all farmers are committed to protecting the environment through the planting of natural broadleaved trees, hedges and the creation of wildlife areas.
Hens are well cared for on small family run farms and each egg is uniquely numbered so consumers can trace the farm and learn more about it.
David Brass, founder of the Lakes Free Range co, said: “We’re extremely proud to be working with Cancer Research and the opportunities associated with the Laid with Love TM brand. The brand offers consumers a unique proposition, an egg which not only combines great taste and nutrition but provides a means to help in the fight against cancer.
“Claire Rowney, Head of Corporate Partnerships, Cancer UK, said “We’re really excited about the Laid with Love TM, campaign that the Lakes Free Range Egg Company and Cancer Research UK will be running to promote awareness and support for Breast Cancer Awareness. This is a brilliant example of cause related marketing and is the beginnings of an exciting partnership!”
Sarah Burns Senior Marketing Manager, Booths said “The eggs tie in with our local sourcing policy, enabling us to supply customers with products from small, local family run farms with the highest ethical, welfare and environmental standards.”
Each egg carries a unique code and customers can trace the egg to an individual farm by visiting the Laid with Love website at www.laidwithlove.co.uk
BBC Countryfile films the “Lakes”
October 3rd, 2011
The BBC Countryfile programe on Sunday 2nd October featured the new packing station and one of our producers flocks.
You can view the footage by following this BBC Countryfile link and watching from the 30 minutes marker.
The programme researchers included the Lakes Free Range Egg Company in their Eden focused story because they are at the leading edge of free range egg production.
Since 1997, when David Brass first started the company, they have always planted trees – and were one of the first egg producers to do so. As a key supplier to McDonald’s UK for almost ten years, the ‘Lakes’ participated in a new piece of commercial research initiated by McDonald’s and conducted by FAI. The study was carried out to determine whether planting trees on the range led to a reduction in feather pecking and a net increase in animal welfare for laying hens. The results were positive. Tree cover encourages laying hens to roam more freely outdoors which in turn reduces the amount of feather pecking in the flock.
The film crew were also keen to look at the new technology and innovation at the ‘Lakes’ and spent the morning filming in the new packing station which has been specifically designed to achieve net zero GHG emissions by the end of the second year and also includes first two robots in the UK to help pack eggs.
BBC Countryfile presenter Katie Knapman said “David and Helen are forward thinking and passionate about their hens, it’s been amazing to find out just what is involved in free range egg production. The packing station is very efficient and automated, then in contrast, you walk into a field full of trees and hens and see how quiet and calm they are. The hens are inquisitive, look very healthy and are obviously happy roaming around. My six year old daughter loves eggs – cooked any way. I had a picture taken of me with hens just so I could show her where free range hens live and what they look like.”
David Brass said “Sustainable farming is about our environment and ethical production as well as economics. Making these things work together and embracing new technology is important and it’s the things we do right that appeal to McDonald’s and our supermarket customers; like caring for our environment, planting trees, looking after our wildlife, reducing our carbon footprint and constantly being innovative.”
UK’s first robotics in egg packing plant
September 26th, 2011The Lakes Free Range Egg Company Limited has invested in robotics to pack pre-packs into crates, cases and shippers. The family run, free range egg business is the first in the UK to embrace this innovative technology.
Two spherical robots were introduced to the company’s new purpose built packing centre in July. Combined with several other key pieces of equipment and modern technology, they further enhance the operations leading edge facilities.
The robots were developed to provide the flexibility required by the complex, multitude of pack and outer case combinations demanded by the UK’s leading retailers. The Lakes team worked closely with the manufacturers to ensure they were designed to their exacting requirements, ensuring they were able to handle consumer packs, packing them into cases, crates and shippers.
The robots were manufactured by Moba who worked with Motoman, a Yaskawa subsidiary and leading global supplier of industrial robots to perfect the machines. Each is capable of packing over 6,000 6 egg packs per hour.
David Brass, at the Lakes Free Rage Egg Company said “We have always been innovators in the world of free range egg production so we see this as just another natural progression – but they are amazing pieces of equipment to watch. The robots, which we’ve named Robbie and Wally, were developed from car manufacturing robots. Eight Dutch engineers spent a week commissioning the equipment and one engineer remained on hand until training and calibration was concluded– it is now calibrated to 0.1mm accuracy. They have provided excellent customer service and so far, the machines have been running well.”
Whilst the new plant has become more mechanised, it has not been at the expense of local jobs as David explains. “We have not cut staff numbers, instead, we have up-skilled our workforce to make best use of the new machinery and increase productivity, something which is good for our carbon footprint and future opportunities. It’s what we do right that appeals to our supermarket customers, like caring for our environment, planting trees, looking after our wildlife, reducing our carbon footprint and constantly being innovative.”
Anyone interested in learning more about how the Lakes Free Range Egg Co. production process works can contact David Brass on 01768 890 460
This project is part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.