24 | Dolma Eggs re-investing for the future They bought the property with semi-retirement in mind “but it didn’t work like that”. Russell Fredric Strong demand for Dolma Eggs free range eggs is driving investment in automation and solar technology. Located near Ashburton, the business is owned and run by Simon and Lucy Raisbeck on 24 hectares alongside their calf rearing operation. Dolma Eggs has 7000 layers hens that roost in mobile sheds that each have a capacity for 1000 hens, with a total daily production of 5,500 eggs. The hens spend their daytime hours grazing outside with water and feed freely available and return to the sheds at dusk, but the sheds provide about 14 hours of light year-round so production is even throughout the seasons. “We bought the farm five years ago and the egg side of it has been running commercially for about two-and-a-half years,” Lucy says. The eggs are sold to commercial customers, as well as Dolma Eggs having and on-farm retail shop. Simon and Lucy previously had a hobby business with about 100 hens. Three years ago they were approached by a Christchurch company asking if they wanted to supply wholesale free range eggs. “We thought, ‘why not’.” “One of the main things was because its an all year round income, because the calf-rearing is only twice a year so the eggs complement what we’re doing on-farm and we’ve always had birds, we used to show a lot of different breeds.” Ironically, they bought the property with semi-retirement in mind “but it didn’t work like that.” “We are busier now than we’ve ever been, but we absolutely love it, just doing what we enjoy doing, being outside, being busy.” “I like having happy customers, it’s fantastic having people coming in every day saying, ‘you’ve got the best eggs ever’. It’s a lovely feeling.” Dolma Eggs employs six staff. A year ago Lucy and Simon made a significant investment in a Zenyer egg washer/grader which is operated by three people, processing 3000 eggs an hour compared to the task of grading the daily production manually previously taking all day. “It’s an amazing difference. It’s certainly made the whole process a lot easier and efficient.” The layers have a productive life span of 18 months and are sold when they are retired, with PRODUCE » Dolma Eggs there being plenty of demand for the low cost birds from private buyers which means they do not have to be culled. Regulatory changes enforced from January 1 2023 meant battery cages which confined hens in small, individual cages, were banned and this was the driver behind Dolma Eggs being approached about commercial-scale production. Its eggs are now supplied mostly to two wholesalers. “There’s a lot more demand now for free range eggs. It made the people a lot more aware of the difference, I guess, between free range eggs and cage eggs. Also there was a number of cage egg places that ceased to operate so there was a shortage of eggs.” Because Simon has a background in agricultural building he was able to design and build Dolma’s sheds which has been a considerable saving and he also has a side business building them for others. Because the sheds are mobile, they are solar powered with the systems incorporating batteries, lights, timers and nest box closers. “We are looking to hopefully get solar panels in the next 12 months or so to our packing shed which will then help to run the egg wash machine because that uses quite a lot of power.”
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