Could you briefly introduce yourself and your farm?
My Name is John Haughey From Co Monaghan. I run 2  poultry Houses  growing 80,000 Broiler chickens for western Brand per cycle with an average of 7 cycles per year. I plan to build a third poultry unit in the near future which will bring my bird numbers up to 120,000 per cycle. I have been growing chickens for 8 years now. 

What challenges were you facing on your farm, and why was it important to solve it?
I was facing Rising Electricity prices each year which was eating into my profit and cash flow every 2 months and was going to continue to increase in price. 

Which Good Practice did you use to tackle this challenge?
I decided to invest in solar panels with the help of the 60% TAMS* grant. I installed a 31 KW solar system with 20KW of battery storage and I have the advantage of Exporting Electricity back to the grid that I’m not using from the solar panels on my poultry farm. 

What changed on your farm after applying this Good Practice”?

My Electricity bills reduced by nearly half and in summer weather with full sun my poultry houses can run on solar alone most days. 

What advice would you give to other broiler farmers dealing with a similar issue?
Invest in renewable energy. It can also reduce your carbon footprint and emissions. TAMS gives a range of grants for Renewable energy. There are green loans available from your banks with low interest rates to help fund this.

_{* TAMS is a government support scheme for farmers in Ireland. The funding comes from CAP. This is the third tranche of TAMS in Ireland, with a huge number of farmers upgrading their farms to be environmentally sustainable, safer and less labour intensive.}