The Montague family have been farming in Northern Ireland for 164 years, having been in the family name since 1860. The family egg-laying enterprise continues with this theme as Brendan Montague and his three sons Michael, Linus and Declan all share the workload of running the farm.

The farm is like most small rural-owned family farms with off-farm work being essential to sustain income and the Montagues are no different with Brendan now retired from the building trade, Michael working in the engineering industry, Declan running his own accountancy business and Linus looking after the day-to-day work with the hens.

The farm was traditionally a cattle farm with a small free-range shed built for 60 laying hens in 1954. With times moving on a fresh approach was considered to increase the laying hen enterprise to build a new shed and house 32,000 birds in multi-tier equipment. After much deliberation and thought plans were submitted, with planning approval given and groundworks commencing in 2016 the first flock of birds were housed on 31st August 2017.

Everyone plays an active role in running the farm taking care of husbandry, management, packing eggs, cleaning and enterprise administration. With peace of mind, if someone is ill or on holiday, each family member plays their role in ensuring the work continues and is completed to a satisfactory standard.

Vencomatic multi-tier equipment was installed at completion and has been working extremely well. The system has and continues to function without fault over these past seven years and as Declan told me, “I have no regrets purchasing the Vencomatic system”. Added at that time was a Printzen packer with it having packed sixty million eggs and no issues with breakdowns

As a small additional enterprise, an egg vending machine was purchased and sits conveniently at the end of the lane overlooking the farm. The egg vending machine was beneficial to the local community when Covid-19 restrictions were introduced. Local folk got fresh eggs, giving parents and children the added interest of seeing the fresh produce from a local farm and the ability to consume and bake during Lockdown.

The Montague family were exiting their egg supply contract in 2023 allowing them to consider alternative packers. With St. Ewe Free Range Eggs gaining a stronger presence in Northern Ireland the Montagues liked the family feel of the St. Ewe business, their transparent contract, genuine down-to-earth conversations and emphasis placed on the family as valued individuals not just a number. This for the Montague family made St. Ewe stand out, creating a feeling of trust to partner with, in the future for an egg supply contract.