March 24, 2009

Scotland's cage egg units will plunge by 85 percent over the next years, despite the country's starter grants for aspiring egg and poultry farmers.

The national cage flock currently consists of 42 sites, but may only have six left by 2012, said Scotland's chief poultry adviser Charles Russell.

The three major egg packer producers in Scotland - Farmlay Eggs, Glenrath Farms and Noble Foods - will be among the remaining six, but most others will be retiring between 2009-12 and the next generation has no interest in taking over, Russell said.

Despite the falling numbers of Scottish cage producers, the country's egg flock has increased to 3.6 million bird places last year from 2.7 million in 2006. Most growth is from free-range, accounting for 34 percent of the 906,000 extra bird places while enriched colony accounted for 32 percent.