Lakes Free Range Egg Company goes back to school
The Lakes Free Range Egg Company (The Lakes) went back to school last week, looking at the part farmers play in caring for the environment and producing free range eggs. Forty five primary school pupils from the Lowther Endowed School in Hackthorpe had chance to talk to the team from ‘The Lakes’ and ask questions.
Armed with a basket full of eggs, video’s and a diagram explaining how their sustainable farming model works, ‘The Lakes’ team of Mark Gaskin and Helen Brass spent the morning with the ‘Ladybirds’ and ‘Butterflies’ classes.
Working on a farm project, the primary school pupils had already visited the Herdwick Farm at Matterdale and created a colourful farm collage backdrop in their classroom. It was the perfect location for ‘The Lakes’ team to talk about their free range flocks of hens and explore the world of eggs.
Helen Brass said “Living in a rural area, the children already know quite a lot about trees, we explained why we plant even more to give our hens extra shade and protection when they roam outdoors. Two key questions asked were ‘how many eggs are produced’ and by ‘how many hens’. They were staggered to hear there are over 1 million hens laying eggs for us. Watching a video of eggs being packed in the factory kept pupils glued to the screen, they couldn’t believe that robots don’t drop or break the eggs.”
After the visit, the children created a book of comments to say thank you. Mark Gaskin said “It was one of the most thoughtful ‘thankyou’s’ we have received. The beautiful hand-made book included a cover of a hen with handprints making feathers; inside was full of comments and pictures. The fact we have over 1 million hens laying eggs made a huge impression – so did the robots!”
The book is now sitting in pride of place in reception at the factory, so visitors can see their handywork.
The Lakes Free Range Egg Company visits several primary schools each year and hosts factory visits for secondary schools and colleges.