Inside this issue

• New £10m Linden Foods Facility to create 85 new jobs

• Pioneer inoculant range leads the way on Mountnorris dairy farm

• Sales and profits grow at Fane Valley

• Treetops Farm

• Fane Valley moves into Europe

• Corporate Service Manager Appointed

• Crop specialist appointed at Fane Valley Stores

Spring 2011

The facilities will bring new capabilities to Linden Foods operations in Ireland, allowing it to enhance its competitive position and lead the way in terms of new product development and innovation in the meat processing sector.

The new 5,740 sq m premises are located adjacent to the company’s main processing site and include an innovation centre incorporating a development kitchen as well as new preparation, production and dispatch areas. It is estimated that 85 new jobs over the next three years will be created as a direct result of the investment.

Linden Foods anticipates that as a result of the investment in the new facilities and in new product development the company will be

able to increase sales by 32%, most of which will be in markets outside Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the official opening Trevor Lockhart Chief Executive of Fane Valley said: “Linden Foods business strategy remains focussed on innovation. We are committed to providing our customers with a range of exciting new products that are well ahead of current trends within the food retailing sector.

This new facility, which includes a dedicated development kitchen where new recipes can be trialled and crafted, is the next natural step for the company’s growth and will allow us to bolster our position as market leader within the meat processing industry.”

New £10m Linden Foods Facility to create 85 new Jobs

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster officially opened Linden Foods new £10 million state-of-the-art retail packing and product development facility at Granville in Dungannon.

L-R Gerry Maguire MD Linden Foods, Arlene Foster Enterprise Minister, Trevor Lockhart Chief Executive Fane Valley and Elaine Willis Product Development Manger Linden Foods at the Opening of the Linden Foods retail packing facility.

Sales and profits grow at Fane ValleyFane Valley Co-op has reported improved results with group operating profits, before taxation, amounting to just over £4.8 million for the period ending September 30th 2010, from a turnover of £371 million. The equivalent figures for the previous year were a profit of £2.5 million generated from sales of £321 million.

Speaking at the Co-op’s Annual General Meeting, held recently in Newry, Group Chief Executive Trevor Lockhart confirmed that these results reflected the strength of the business model being pursued by Fane Valley.

He added: “Improved operating performance within Fane Valley Dairies, Fane Valley Stores and Linden Foods, in particular, contributed to the improved overall Group result.”

“Our strategic review of various group activities continued during 2009/10. This resulted in the closure of our van sales operation, based in Banbridge, and an agreement to sell our liquid milk processing business. As a result, impairment and closure costs of £650,000 and £950,000 respectively were incurred.”

Referring to the period beyond September 2010 Trevor Lockhart confirmed that continuing growth, development and investment have been recorded by the Group, across many of its operations.

“The new £18 million Fane Valley Feeds’ Bankmore mill was officially opened at the beginning of October 2010 representing the end of 7 years of project evaluation, design and building. Under a new divisional management structure and the brand name of Fane Valley Feeds the opening also marked the beginning of a new period of growth and development for the Society as it seeks to build its presence in this market place. We are already seeing growth in our tonnage underpinned by a further strengthening of our sales and technical support resources.

www.fanevalley.com

LR – Robin Irvine MD Fane Valley Feeds, William McConnell Chairman Fane Valley Co-op, David Caffell Chief Executive Agricultural Industries and Trevor Lockhart Chief Executive Fane Valley Co-op

LR – Robin Irvine MD Fane Valley Feeds welcomes , David Caffell Chief Executive Agricultural Industries to the Fane Valley AGM.

“Adjacent to Bankmore Mill the new Fane Valley retail store, which opened for business in March 2010, has had a very encouraging start providing a much appreciated service to the farming community in the West. In February 2011 we have also acquired the agri-supply business of RW Robertson & Co. in Lisbane near Comber, Co.Down bringing the total number of Fane Valley Stores outlets to eight”continued Trevor Lockhart.

Commenting on developments within Fane Valley’s redmeat business Trevor Lockhart said “Recent months have also seen the opening of Linden Foods’ new retail packing centre at Granville Industrial Estate.”

Referring to 2011, Trevor Lockhart explained, “The main challenge in the current year is the rapidly rising price of commodities which will see production costs through feed, fertiliser and energy increase for all our livestock sectors. Processing costs are also rising particularly in the areas of energy, transportation, packaging and labour.”

“These costs will ultimately have to be recovered from the marketplace. But history tells us there is always a lag effect, in terms of this actually happening.”

“In 2011 Fane Valley will also seek to consolidate the investments it has made over the past two years and to increase the level of utilisation of the enhanced capacity it now possesses, while continually pursuing cost efficiencies across the business. Overall we remain confident about the prospects for Fane Valley and the wider agri-food industry.” concluded Trevor Lockhart.

Corporate Services Manager AppointedMr Paul Johnston has been appointed to

the role of Corporate Services Manager.

Paul, who lives in Bangor, Co.Down,

graduated from Herriot-Watt University

in 1982 with a degree in Accountancy

and Computer Science and qualified as

an accountant with Deloitte Haskins +

Sells. He spent 4 years as a company

accountant with Charles Tennant & Co.

(NI) Ltd and then Haulage Services Ltd.

In 1993 he joined Milltown Livestock

& Meat Co. Ltd as Financial Controller

a role he continued to hold in Linden

Foods following the merger of Granville

Meats and Milltown in 1998.

In 2000 he was appointed Financial

Director of Linden Foods a post he held

for 6 years. Following a period working

as an interim manager on various

assignments he has most recently been

employed as Finance Director with

O’Kane Poultry Ltd.

Through his various roles Paul brings

with him considerable experience of

corporate services including human

resources, health & safety, risk

management, group strategy and

business improvement.

Industry News Fane Valley Acquires RW Robertson and Company

The acquisition of RW Robertson’s on the

28th February 2011, an agricultural supplies

business, specialising in animal feed, fertiliser,

agro-chemicals and animal health products is

a natural development for Fane Valley Stores,

with its existing 7 retail branches across

Northern Ireland.

Trevor Lockhart, Chief Executive at Fane

Valley, believes RW Robertson customers will

benefit from the Fane Valley commitment and

investment in the business. “This is a logical

extension to our current trading boundary

and provides Fane Valley with an exciting

opportunity to provide competitively priced

products and high standards of service to a

wider base of farmers and customers in the

North Down area.”

He added, “Development plans are already

well underway at the Lisbane site, near

Comber were a new retail store will be

operational within weeks. The new retail

area will offer customers a much wider range

of animal health products, hardware, tools,

clothing, footwear, milking parlour equipment,

dairy hygiene products and the complete Fane

Valley Feeds range, which includes dairy, beef,

sheep, pig, poultry and equine feeds, available

in 25kg or 500kg bags.”

Fane Valley’s commitment and investment in farming and the rural sector has been reinforced by the acquisition of the agricultural supplies business RW Robertson and Company, Lisbane Co. Down. The newly acquired business will trade as Fane Valley Stores.

Pioneer inoculant range leads the way on Mountnorris dairy farm

Keith explains “Herd output is currently standing at around 30 litres per head per day. We have been committed to home mixing for a considerable period of time with the ration fed to the cows featuring grass silage, whole crop and home produced crimped wheat.Our core objective is to feed the cows well on the most cost effective basis possible.”

Keith went on to point out that the production of high quality grass silage underpins the performance achieved by the cows. “We take four cuts of silage each year, aiming to harvest the grass at the most nutritious stage of growth. In 2010 we took our first cut on May 10th and followed on at 6 weekly intervals thereafter. We traditionally apply Pioneer 1188 inoculant to all the grass silage produced on the farm,” he further explained.

Father and Son Mervyn & Keith Agnew milk 400 cows outside Mountnorris in Co Armagh. The herd is currently averaging 9700 litres at 3.9% butterfat and 3.3% protein.

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Pioneer 1188 is a grass silage inoculant containing four strains of Lactobacillus plantarum and two strains of Enterococcus faecium. The multi-strain approach provides farmers with that much sought after critical sense of insurance they look for when deciding their silage additive policy.

The inoculant serves to deliver a 20% reduction of in-silo losses, a 46% reduction of ammonia content, a 3.5% increase in digestibility and a 50% increase of rumen microbial protein. Trials and on farm experience here in Northern Ireland have also confirmed an extra 1.5 litres of milk per day. Fane Valley Feeds has been appointed as the sole distributor for Pioneer in Northern Ireland. For further details contact your local Fane Valley Representative.

L-R Keith Agnew Mountnorris with Fane Valley Feeds Ruminant Nutritionist Dr Hazel Gilmore and Neil Agnew Fane Valley Feeds Sales Representative

It is home to 420 cows, managed by Roy McCrea and his sons Richard and Mark. “Over the past number of years we have invested heavily in developing the infrastructure of the farm. This has included installing a 50 point rotary milking parlour. The cows are currently averaging around 7,500 litres at 3.99% butterfat and 3.34% protein. Our aim is to push output per cow up to 8,000 litres and with the extra heifers coming through we should have overall cow numbers at 500 within the foreseeable future.” Explained Roy.

He continued:“The fresh calvers are kept indoors to ensure they reach and maintain peak yields. However, we aim to produce as much milk as possible from grazed grass.”

Realising these objectives will be secured on the back of advice from Fane Valley Feeds nutritionist Dr Hazel Gilmore.

“The current TMR supplies maintenance plus 30 litres and cows are then topped up in the parlour feeding to yield to maintain

both production and condition, eliminating negative energy balance which can have detrimental effects on both fertility and health” explains Hazel.

“Silages are regularly assessed to ensure the concentrates offered fully complement the forage component of the ration. All the concentrates are manufactured at the new Fane Valley Feeds’ mill in Omagh.

Despite the continuing pressure on all input costs, the milk to feed price ratio in Northern Ireland remains very positive. As a result, there is an opportunity for farmers to feed cows well and, as a consequence produce more milk per cow.”

Hazel concluded:“The McCrea family are building the future of their business on a very important principle: putting the needs of the cows first at all times. At Fane Valley Feeds we are delighted to be part of this initiative and would welcome the opportunity of working on such a basis with dairy farmers across Northern Ireland.”

Treetops Farm - A growing success storyFane Valley Feeds is at the heart of a development programme, currently driving forward one of Co.Londonderry’s most progressive dairy farming businesses. Treetops Farm is located on the outskirts of Claudy.

www.fanevalley.com

Crops Specialist Appointed at Fane Valley Stores

Trevor Neville has recently joined the

Fane Valley Stores team as a Crops

Specialist. Having previously worked

for North Down Grain and Albatross

Fertilisers, Trevor has spent the past

four years working as a self-employed

agronomist in the Co Down area.

Fane Valley Stores will now offer

customer’s a crop walking service and

specialist on-farm advice on the latest

range of agrochemicals, fertilisers

and seed varieties (grass and cereal)

available from our agricultural store

network”.

For further details contact Trevor Neville

on 07919491596.

Industry News

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The team at Treetops Farm discussing silage quality with Hazel Gilmore and Sam Ritchie of Fane Valley Feeds

Fane Valley Co-operative Society Ltd

Alexander Road, Armagh BT61 7JJ

T: 028 3752 2344

F: 028 3752 7876

E: info@fanevalley.com

Omagh T: 028 8224 3221

Newry T: 028 3026 2305

Armagh T: 028 3752 0229

Altnamachin T: 028 3087 8402

Augher T: 028 8554 9330

Banbridge T: 028 4062 8778

Comber T: 028 9754 1087

Lane Ends T: 028 3755 1223

Omagh T: 028 8225 5350

Portadown T: 028 3839 4900

Banbridge T: 028 4066 2742

www.fanevalley.com

Irish Country Meats, part of Slaney Foods (our Linden Foods joint venture in RoI) has announced the acquisition of A.Lonhienne sprl with its registered offices and processing facility at Rue de Droixhe, Liege, Belgium.

A Lonhienne sprl was founded by Alphonse Lonhienne in 1979 and has remained in family ownership for the intervening years. The company processes a full range of carcass, primal deboned and shelf ready retail packed lamb products, providing direct employment for 45 people with annual sales of #25 million. Lonhienne’s unique proposition as a highly specialised single specie processor coupled with a focus on quality and service has earned the company a justified reputation for excellence in the Belgian marketplace. The business will continue to trade as Lonhienne (the lamb specialist) as a subsidiary of Irish Country Meats.

This development which merges two of Europe’s leading lamb specialist processing entities presents the opportunity to create a platform of excellence and specialisation in the European lamb sector. Through Linden Foods it also represents Fane Valley’s first investment and involvement in a business in mainland Europe.

Fane Valley Moves into Europe

Grass tetany is one of the most common non-infectious causes of sudden death in Irish cattle. Each spring we see an increase in the incidence of hypomagnesaemic tetany and this corresponds with the turnout of cattle.

The increase in disease we see in spring occurs because rapidly growing spring grasses (especially ryegrasses) are very low in Magnesium. The application of fertilisers can further reduce magnesium levels due to increased grass growth rates and also because potassium directly inhibits uptake of Magnesium by the grass. Scouring animals will absorb less Magnesium and stress as a result of cold wet weather will also lower plasma Magnesium levels.

Opti-MAG 3 boli are indicated for use in adult cattle as an aid in the maintenance of magnesium intake during the high risk periods associated with the grazing of rapidly growing grass, by the provision of a slow release depot of magnesium.

If you give 2 Opti-MAG 3 boluses, it will provide approximately 6g of magnesium per day.Contact Your local Fane Valley Store for further information

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Granville Industrial Estate, Dungannon

028 877 500 50Mon-Fri 8am-4.30pm Saturday 9am-12noon

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