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EP 25: 2025 in Review – Avian Influenza, Market Shifts and a Strong Year for Poultry Performance
2 Playsin 14 hours
In this Christmas episode of The Poultry Network podcast, hosts Tom Willings and Tom Woolman close out 2025 with a sector roundup, alongside festive banter about their non-jumper fleeces, the cat walking out mid-recording, and a sheep update (“the ram is out and two are lame”).
Avian influenza dominates the conversation. Housing orders are framed as a recurring strain on the industry – birds finally going out around 15 May, then heading back in from late October/early November.
The discussion also touches on how AI has complicated the cage-free transition, including the January 2025 outbreak at Griffiths that removed 1.3 million birds (layers and pullets) and put extra pressure on barn supply.
Iceland’s brief wobble on its cage-free commitment is revisited too, followed by a swift reversal after campaign pressure, including Joanna Lumley’s involvement and support from Compassion in World Farming.
On eggs, the focus shifts to tight supply in the UK and across Europe, plus the wider context of expected laying-hen reductions in the Netherlands (talk of another 5–6 million birds exiting in 2026).
Per-capita consumption is flagged as a growth opportunity, with the UK at around 200 eggs per person versus roughly 220–250 in parts of Europe.
Broilers get a more upbeat report card: 2025 is described as a standout year for physical performance, with the first UK crop hitting 500 EPEF and more following. Strong prices and lower feed costs also feature, with feed easing by roughly £20–£25/tonne over the year.
The episode also takes in structural change and deal activity: the PD Hook/Two Sisters joint venture split (and PD Hook’s hatchery plans), 2Agriculture’s move to acquire two feed mills, and a run of egg-sector M&A including Eurovo’s investment in Two Chicks, the Griffiths/Eureden joint venture, Noble Foods’ acquisition of Just Egg, Bumblehole’s sale to the Hardeman Group, and Sunrise’s sale to Latvian firm Agrova.
In the meat sector, Gressingham’s majority sale to France’s LDC is noted, alongside a broader discussion about why European investment is still flowing into the UK despite post-Brexit friction.
The year ends on a lighter note with the South West Chicken Association Christmas dinner (4 December): an auction prize to guest-edit the podcast raises £250 for South West air ambulance charities (bought by Robert Lanning) – before festive wishes and a sign-off until 2026.
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Christmas Episode Humor
00:00:16
Tom Willings
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Poultry Network podcast. My name is Tom Willings.
00:00:21
Jake Davies
And I am Tom Woolman
00:00:23
Tom Willings
We're going to have a bit of a roundup, Tom, aren't we? 2025 in the yeah the proverbial rearview mirror um and ah and a quick summary of what we think the key events have been across the poultry sector.
00:00:35
Jake Davies
Yeah. Yeah. But I think first of all, Tom, probably ought to say, I thought when we discussed this, that we were going to be doing a, a Christmas jumper episode because it is the Christmas episode, but I can see true to form both you and I have, have turned up in a gray fleece.
00:00:50
Jake Davies
Um,
00:00:50
Tom Willings
Well, this is actually green. um Yeah. and And this makes dreadful listening for anybody who's not got the audio and i sorry, the the video.
00:00:53
Jake Davies
Who is it?
00:00:58
Tom Willings
um But you should think yourself lucky if you're not watching two bald middle aged blokes sat in their living rooms talking about poultry.
00:01:07
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:01:08
Tom Willings
It's bad enough just listening to it. But yeah, this is about as Christmassy as i I get at the minute. You probably call it drab, I think, or olive green.
00:01:15
Jake Davies
Olive green.
00:01:15
Tom Willings
It's pretty dull.
00:01:15
Jake Davies
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're know you're not going to frighten the birds walking around a chicken shed with that on.
00:01:17
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:01:20
Tom Willings
No, although again, for the for the yeah for the listeners rather than the watchers, the cat has just left.
00:01:20
Jake Davies
That's for sure.
00:01:25
Tom Willings
So yeah, realise what's going on.
00:01:25
Jake Davies
The cat has just walked out. Yeah. She's had enough already.
00:01:29
Tom Willings
I've listened to this tripe before I'm leaving, she says. There we go. speaking of Speaking of livestock, everybody listening will want to know. So I have to ask you just a quick sheep update one line.
00:01:44
Jake Davies
um Sheep update is two of them are lame. um The ram is out and two of them are lame. So we're into the world of sheep farming. um how how long How long is it you know until until one of them turns up its toes?
00:01:52
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:01:57
Jake Davies
I don't know. But um yeah, I've spent plenty of money on them already.
00:01:59
Tom Willings
I give it, i give it till Christmas. Yeah. Oh my God.
00:02:04
Tom Willings
Goodness me.
00:02:05
Jake Davies
Anyway.
Bird Flu in 2025: Challenges and Reactions
00:02:06
Jake Davies
So I think if we were looking at the big news stories of 2025, I think probably the big topic that the people have been talking about has been bird flu, obviously. And I think we've been talking quite a bit about bird flu and over the past couple of months and the situation here. But actually, if we cast our minds back to the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, and it was really quite a tumultuous time, wasn't it?
00:02:32
Tom Willings
We've got quite a short memory, haven't we, I suppose, as ah as an industry. I guess we have to in order to keep going. There'll be a lot of people who've endured torrid times year after year after year. Yes, right now may not be one of those times, bird flu aside, but otherwise we're probably blessed to have a slightly shorter memory. um But yeah, you're absolutely right. We, in the last couple of months, have been talking about just how um appalling the the outlook has been for the 25-26 season. But we've very quickly forgotten that our birds remain housed long into 2025.
00:03:09
Tom Willings
twenty twenty five you know I think it was was it May, 15th of May, that that we let birds out.
00:03:14
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:03:15
Tom Willings
um and ah And they're straight back in from 31st of October, if my memory serves, or 6th of November it it extended. If you remember, we had a
00:03:24
Jake Davies
it
00:03:25
Tom Willings
um we had a kind of an interim measure of um three quarters of england in ah in a housing order which were at the time you and i commented on as being slightly strange and and that was extended for england at least um ah only a week later and now here we are and uh yeah a little bit more equivalence but it's
00:03:43
Jake Davies
So for some birds in in the country, they've only been outside really for just over six months of the year.
00:03:49
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:03:50
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:03:50
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:03:51
Jake Davies
Yeah. And last year, I,
00:03:51
Tom Willings
With inevitable consumer questions that come you know follow that, why am I paying a premium for a free range product when the birds never go outside or or don't have access to go outside? You can you can understand from a consumer point of view, um several years down the track since the the first housing order, um you know I say first, but of this prolonged repetitive process,
00:04:17
Tom Willings
period of time kate it came in, there was all sorts of concern about what the consumer reaction would be. and and And I would contest that working in the supply chain at that point, that there really wasn't a consumer reaction.
00:04:28
Tom Willings
There was shelf front messaging and and um ah and and real endeavour showed to inform people as to and why it was necessary, why it was proportionate, how it was equivalent to what was going on in terms of the human response to the pandemic at the time.
00:04:35
Jake Davies
Hmm.
00:04:45
Tom Willings
and um and And there weren't really any dissenting voices. i think patients might be slightly more frayed with the with the consumers and possibly with the retailers as well.
00:04:57
Jake Davies
Hmm.
00:04:58
Tom Willings
But yeah, you couldn't talk about this year without without bird flu, unfortunately, probably being the headline.
00:04:58
Jake Davies
Hmm.
00:05:03
Jake Davies
Yeah. and it And it impacted as well some of the developments that were going on as the country was transitioning or certainly at a retail level towards cage free.
Impact on Poultry Production
00:05:15
Jake Davies
And obviously one of the big um the big farms that was impacted was Griffiths's. That was in January 2025. yeah.
00:05:21
Tom Willings
Very early on. Yeah.
00:05:23
Jake Davies
yeah yeah
00:05:24
Tom Willings
1.3 million birds. That's between laying hens and, and pull it, but at a stroke, you know, mathematically it's something around 3% of the laying flock, just, just gone and, and, and in barn systems.
00:05:33
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:05:37
Tom Willings
So, um, you know, uh, immediately putting, putting that transition from cage into barn under extraordinary pressure from, from, and from a national point of view.
00:05:49
Jake Davies
yeah Yeah, yeah. and And so we saw a bit of a wobble, didn't we? I think in the in the summer with Iceland, I think, signalled that they they were actually going to drop there their cage-free commitment.
00:06:01
Jake Davies
um But then within a couple of weeks...
00:06:03
Tom Willings
Didn't last long, did it?
00:06:05
Jake Davies
well, you know what happened? Joanna Lumley got involved. And
00:06:07
Tom Willings
Yeah, Compassion and Well Farming got their friends out.
00:06:10
Jake Davies
yeah when Joanna starts talking, people start listening, don't they? I mean, I certainly start listening. Yeah. Yeah, so it was a little bit like the hokey-cokey. They were out, but then but then they're back in again. So, yes, ah quite where we'll be come 2026 after the end of this winter, I don't know.
00:06:31
Jake Davies
Because as you say, that the impact of that um AI hit on on the Griffiths business, you can't you can't replace that.
00:06:40
Tom Willings
Mm. Yeah.
00:06:40
Jake Davies
You certainly can't replace that in 12 months. So I think there'll be a lot of decisions to be made.
00:06:47
Tom Willings
the this you know There are still large retail orientated businesses who still have production yet to convert. So, you know, their plans haven't changed. The the execution of those plans have been possibly delayed or interrupted by either bird flu or other operational reasons around access to farms, et cetera, or even equipment. But, you know,
00:07:14
Tom Willings
Yeah, there there is still an unwinding of of of colony cage and inter barn production yet to take place that I suspect will go on throughout 2026 as well. where Where it'll all end up, i i I would imagine that in the very, very long term, um you know there'll be a legislative change and European wide, not just UK, but you know beyond these shores as well. um Housed production will not mean cage production.
00:07:44
Jake Davies
But yeah, as you say, how long that will take, who knows?
00:07:47
Tom Willings
yeah indeed
00:07:47
Jake Davies
Because there's there's not exactly a a surplus of eggs, are they? Not in this country or or on the European continent either.
00:07:54
Tom Willings
and that doesn't look like that's going to change for for a whole host of different different reasons but you know you look at um you look at the dutch system whether they're
Broiler Production Achievements
00:08:02
Tom Willings
paying farmers to come out of production whether that's a good deal for farmers or not is a is a subject for another podcast but um you know there there is the expectation that there's another five or six million laying hens to come out of that national flock in 26 that's an equivalent number to to those that have been removed in 25 so you're talking perhaps a in total 25 reduction to to the the dutch laying flock which has big implications for all sorts of other markets because they're a huge net exporter i think they're about three
00:08:34
Jake Davies
They've always been a big exporter, haven't they? Of all sorts of products.
00:08:36
Tom Willings
Yeah, three, 300% self-sufficient, lot of their production going into, going into Germany. Um, but some of it coming this way as well.
00:08:46
Jake Davies
So maybe if we could just move on then from eggs and dip our toe into what the year has been like for broiler production. I thought I wanted to start off really by saying that it's been an incredibly strong year when it comes to physical performance, which is generally measured by EPEF. And 2025 saw for the first time a broiler crop in the UK hit 500 EPEF.
00:09:12
Jake Davies
which is quite an amazing achievement. um I think I looked it it was um Edward Caldecott, who was growing for Pilgrims Europe. But he certainly, he might have been the first, he certainly wasn't the last, and there have been a number of other crops which have gone over 500. And...
00:09:26
Jake Davies
and Obviously, most of these birds, the vast majority of these birds are Ross 308s and Aviagen is almost playing catch up, I think, with the genetics. they Initially, they launched their 400 club when a 400 EPF was was a bit of a pipe dream for people and seen as an aspiration. Well, now 400.
00:09:45
Jake Davies
four hundred
00:09:45
Tom Willings
How long ago was that Tom?
00:09:48
Jake Davies
oh youre Well, it wasn't that long ago.
00:09:48
Tom Willings
Roughly.
00:09:50
Jake Davies
I think it might have only been 10 years ago or something like that.
00:09:53
Tom Willings
Okay. Okay.
00:09:54
Jake Davies
and um not Maybe not even that. but But now 400, quite frankly, is is the average. and And a lot of people, if they're getting 400, they'd be quite disappointed. ah And so there was a 450 club, and but then that was increased to the 470 club this year as well as as performance went on. and i've And I've been informed by some fairly reliable sources that probably the bar is going to have to go up again in terms of the you know the uh the gold standard when whereby when people hit this this standard of epf avugen give them a give them a certificate and a bit of a reward and a bit of recognition um so i wonder whether that is going to go up to up to 500 potentially in the future of or 490 maybe yeah
00:10:36
Tom Willings
It's got a much better ring to it, hasn't it? A 500 club versus a 470 club.
00:10:40
Jake Davies
yeah
00:10:40
Tom Willings
ah The equivalent in in the world of eggs would be, um you know, the Joyce and Hill, the Hendrix genetics and distributor over here have got their 500 club, their 500 eggs in a cycle, which their DeKalb White is ah is ah is achieving.
00:10:53
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:10:56
Tom Willings
From what I can tell, pretty much every flock that goes down is ah is is on track for that.
00:10:59
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:11:01
Tom Willings
But I don't think they'd get quite as much mileage out of the out of the certificates if it was the 471 Club or whatever it is that would have you to come
00:11:07
Jake Davies
No. noy No, but it's been it's been a huge success really, this um this initiative by Aviagen, because broiler growers tend to be pretty competitive individuals. you know they They enjoy doing it because they enjoy having seven crops a year and always trying to do better than they did the last time. so um Yeah, certainly it's been ah it's been a great year when it comes to to broiler performance.
00:11:30
Jake Davies
It's also been a good year for for prices. I think really wherever you are producing broilers, whether you're producing for an integrator or whether you're on the wholesale market, prices have been good. And then on top of that as well,
00:11:42
Jake Davies
Feed prices have also really trickled down. i mean, they but they were weren't in a bad place at the start of 2025, but they probably dropped by 20 or 25 pounds per tonne over the course of the year, which has further helped the margins that that that people are getting.
00:11:52
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:11:59
Tom Willings
I was looking at some egg margins, um, in the last couple of weeks and you know, I've been, I've been out of the egg supply chain for three years and the margins, the gross margin margin over feed that that farms are earning today is higher than the total top line revenue that they were making while I was, while I was in the chain.
00:12:20
Jake Davies
Wow.
00:12:22
Tom Willings
It's, it's extraordinary.
00:12:25
Jake Davies
And I think there was, in the middle of the year, people were a little bit worried, weren't they, that egg prices were going were going to cool off slightly.
00:12:26
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:12:30
Jake Davies
But there certainly hasn't been a certainly hasn't been a big nosedive, has there? it's its It has remained fairly strong.
00:12:37
Tom Willings
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, they've been going up in the course of the last three months. There have been increases paid back to to farmers outside of, or in fact, as you've already mentioned with falling feed price against the the the cost of production metric that is you know roundly used, which would be just feed cost.
00:12:42
Jake Davies
Hmm.
00:12:56
Jake Davies
I don't
00:12:56
Tom Willings
And so yeah, going in the opposite direction, price is up while costs down.
Feed Sector Changes in Broiler Industry
00:13:03
Tom Willings
All good for margin.
00:13:03
Jake Davies
turn Yeah, in terms of structural changes in the broiler sector, the the big news really was was the Hook Two Sisters joint venture divorce where PD Hook and and Two Sisters broke up their joint venture that have been going for a good number of years. um And that's really reinvigorated both of those businesses individually.
00:13:25
Jake Davies
PD Hook have have come out and said that that they want to build a new hatchery in the west of the country. m And to agriculture, which has, I guess, historically just been a milling business, but now is ah is an integration and agricultural integration in its own right is is is really pushing on. And there's some quite big structural changes as well in terms of the feed sector and who's supplying who to agriculture, acquired two mills from um from four farmers.
00:13:53
Jake Davies
at the start of the year as well. And so they're using that to yeah to feed their own farms now that they've that they've got supplying into two sisters. So yeah, lots and lots of change in the feed sector as well. it quite an interesting thing to to keep an eye on going forward.
Egg Industry Mergers and Acquisitions
00:14:08
Jake Davies
And there's also been quite a lot... Yeah, so was going to say,
00:14:08
Tom Willings
and and the same it trues in the egg industry the the egg industry has been littered with you know merger and acquisition news a lot of it in the in in the middle of the year but if i try and sort of cast my mind back to to to quarter one or um you know perhaps it was april i think uh there was ah an italian investment into um relatively small processed egg business called two chicks so um that's a
00:14:33
Tom Willings
a brand name that you might see on the supermarket shelf with a Tetra pack of, of, uh, of egg white or, or a egg white blend.
00:14:39
Jake Davies
Mm-hmm.
00:14:42
Tom Willings
Um, so yeah, Eurovo bought that business. Um, and then yeah, middle of the year, what we had? We had a ah joint venture announcement with, uh, with Griffiths and French business Urident.
00:14:54
Tom Willings
We had, uh, Noble Foods acquiring Just Egg, uh, the processing business. and But the big news of that time was Bumblehole's sale to the Dutch company, the Hardeman Group. So part of the Hardeman Group is also a company called Queters, enormous production business based over there. As we've already mentioned, and the Netherlands, ah ah you know, a central point for the for the whole European market. So, yeah, an investment in the UK ah is a really interesting call.
00:15:24
Jake Davies
Hmm.
00:15:25
Jake Davies
That Hmm.
00:15:25
Tom Willings
um But then most most recently, um and and arguably biggest news of all, was the sale of ah of ah an egg packer Sunrise based in Leicestershire to a Latvian of all countries, Latvian business under the name Agrova.
00:15:42
Tom Willings
I think relatively recently formed business. Again, it's an umbrella over over two or three other companies. egg businesses. But but the I suppose four out of five of those moves involve European investment coming into the UK industry, which um I think well begs all sorts of questions.
00:16:04
Tom Willings
It's just very, very interesting. You know you think post our exit from the European Union on our little island, and we would be quite a difficult market to um to to break into, to access.
00:16:17
Tom Willings
And maybe that's the that's the argument.
00:16:17
Jake Davies
Well, it's never been more difficult to do business with Europe, has it? um I had to send package off to my dad for Christmas. He lives in France and he's over in France for Christmas.
00:16:30
Jake Davies
And I put together a parcel for him to send over and and I must have been in the post office about half an hour filling out the customs declaration. Bearing in mind as well, it's completely ruining the Christmas present because it has this customs declaration slapped on the front that says exactly what's inside it and how much I paid for it as well. um So, yeah.
00:16:49
Tom Willings
Spirit Christmas sacrificed on the on the altar of bureaucracy.
00:16:54
Jake Davies
Spirit of Brexit, yeah.
European Investments in UK Poultry
00:16:56
Tom Willings
Yeah,
00:16:56
Jake Davies
um But yeah it's happened as well in the meat sector, hasn't it, fairly recently, for those that aren't to aware.
00:16:57
Tom Willings
yeah.
00:17:04
Jake Davies
Gressingham Foods sold a majority stake in their business to to to French poultry giants, LDC, who already own Capestone, free range turkey and chicken producer in the UK based in in South Wales.
00:17:11
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:17:22
Jake Davies
So, yeah, that it's it's quite an interesting trend, isn't it?
00:17:26
Tom Willings
Yeah, ah it it is. I think for for LDC, their diversification into um you know relatively ah niche parts of the poultry industry in the UK is a very, very interesting call. Forgive me for saying it, and I've got good friends that work in both businesses, but...
00:17:47
Tom Willings
And, you know, when I think of Capestone and when I think of Gressingham, I think of just the turmoil that both businesses have suffered at the hands of the aforementioned bird flu. I hope LDC have got some um some support to bring to to the the poor guys operating on the floor in both West Wales and New And the eastern counties, because every year those guys seem to get seem to get absolutely hammered by by birth flu. But, yeah, Capestone and their premium outdoor chicken and and and turkey and and ungressing and Gressingham, their duck.
00:18:19
Tom Willings
And I'm sure both of those businesses will be kind of transformed by the enormous, absolutely vast. I mean, this is a business I think that's got about 8000 farms across 15 or 16 operating countries.
00:18:31
Jake Davies
yeah turnovers about six billion I think but I wonder you alluded to a little bit didn't you in terms of unlocking supply chains across Europe because now really
00:18:31
Tom Willings
They are huge. Yeah. Yeah. yeah' I would imagine they will transform those, um those those, those companies.
00:18:48
Jake Davies
What the situation with avian influenza has created is that it's very difficult sometimes to predict your outbreaks and your supply from certain certain parts of of the European continent. And is this partly European businesses trying to get more control and more flexibility, even with some of the barriers that we've got in terms of doing in business with Europe?
00:19:08
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:19:08
Tom Willings
i can't I can't speak with any knowledge on the meat sector for that. I leave i will leave that to to you. But I think on the egg side of things, I don't know that avian influenza would be a particular motive um for for investment in the yeah UK ah more than, we are ultimately are less than self-sufficient, 80, 85 maybe be self-sufficient. That's ah an estimate. But um yeah, that import that's coming in these businesses Certainly, you look at Hardeman, Eurovo, Euroden, they're all companies that that would love to have a good foothold in the UK market. And perhaps their their investment here is about creating a position of being sort of first among equals of those European-based businesses. But, you know, we are...
00:19:59
Tom Willings
um A country dependent on our supermarkets, maybe 75% of the eggs that we consume, whether that's all of our fresh eggs um or our ah processed egg, particularly where the egg is the you know the central ingredient, the halo ingredient, the identifiable ingredient.
00:20:16
Tom Willings
you know we We are um committed to buying to buying British. So you would have thought that that would be something that you know made the the European investor a little bit more sluggish about putting their money into into our market, particularly given that we're outside of the European Union now. Yes, there's all sorts of motions for equivalence and who knows where we will end up in the in the years to come. But um there's an enormous market within the EC that that they've got.
00:20:44
Tom Willings
um unfettered access to. So to me, it's a little bit of a surprise that they would look to put their money in here. That said, I've said so many times on on on these episodes and and elsewhere of the latent opportunity to grow this market. We we um quite significantly under eat eggs per capita.
00:21:07
Tom Willings
yeah We languish at sort of 200 per capita when ah um other countries across Europe, more typically a 220 to 250. So you know there is great growth potential if we can unlock a ah really healthy, innovative, competitive, um and specifically product based um you know potential.
00:21:15
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:21:30
Jake Davies
Yeah. Very good. So I think in terms of 2025, that was that's probably a pretty good roundup, really. I think.
00:21:38
Tom Willings
um I think you've missed one thing, Tom.
Charity Auction for Guest Editor
00:21:41
Tom Willings
will you Will you forgive me for saying, but um you know the big news of the last couple of weeks, surely, was the Southwest Chicken Association auction.
00:21:41
Jake Davies
What's that?
00:21:49
Jake Davies
Well, was just about to come on to that, Tom.
00:21:51
Tom Willings
I feared you'd forgotten.
00:21:51
Jake Davies
ah you this but This is what happens when we don't write a script properly for the for the podcast episode.
00:21:57
Tom Willings
Have we ever done that?
00:21:59
Jake Davies
ah yeah About twice, I think. I think about twice. And it was well worth it the two times that we've done it. But um yes, absolutely right. ah We auctioned off the chance to be guest editor on the poultry network podcast at the Southwest chicken association, uh, Christmas dinner on the 4th December.
00:22:18
Tom Willings
can i Can I intervene really, really quickly?
00:22:20
Jake Davies
Please do.
00:22:21
Tom Willings
Everybody should know that actually you were the auctioneer. Let's just paint a picture. You you were attending as ah as a guest to the conference and um knowing that a slot to guest edit your podcast, you elbowed out the host scheduled to auction off the prizes
00:22:30
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:22:42
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:22:43
Tom Willings
and nobbled Paddy Hook, took the microphone and then got got to work and did pretty well by all accounts.
00:22:49
Jake Davies
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Well, I've raised some money for charity.
00:22:52
Tom Willings
You've raised some money for charity.
00:22:54
Jake Davies
yet um So thank you to Robert Lanning, who purchased the prize. He paid £250 for it, which is which is brilliant. Thank you. This goes to ah air ambulance charities across the southwest.
00:23:09
Jake Davies
So it was it was a one prize as part of a larger auction. So I really did have my work cut out trying to get money out of out of people. There was a turkey, actually, that that sold for £100, which I think was an absolute bargain, given the continued state of avian influenza in the UK.
00:23:26
Jake Davies
But yes, so we look forward to welcoming Robert at some point in the new year and listening to what his ideas are and and setting up an episode with him. Yeah, thank you, Robert.
00:23:35
Tom Willings
Yeah, thank you, Robert. Thank you, Robert. And well done, Tom. Two and a half turkeys. The Poultry Network podcast equals two and a half turkeys. That's an equation I like the sound of. We're on the right side of the maths there.
00:23:47
Jake Davies
Very good. Well, it just remains for me to wish you a very, very happy Christmas, Tom.
00:23:53
Tom Willings
And the same to you, Tom, the same to you and yours and your sheep. And yeah, look forward to seeing you in the new year.
00:23:57
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:23:59
Tom Willings
And to all of our listeners, wherever you're spending Christmas, however you're celebrating the the festive period, we wish you a ah very merry and happy time and look forward to um to joining you again in 2026.
00:24:13
Tom Willings
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