STALLHOLDER OF THE MONTH: WESEGGS
Our newest stallholder, Wes, was nine years old when he discovered his love of chickens. “I wanted some extra pocket money and my Pop suggested I get a few chickens. So I bought ten chickens and sold the eggs to family and friends. I called my little business 'WesEggs'.”
Wes loved everything about running the business - teaching himself everything from budgeting and business planning to even studying the entire life cycle of a chicken. It didn’t take him long to work out how to get the best quality egg from his chickens; it was pretty easy to figure out that happy, healthy chickens laid the best tasting and highest quality eggs.
By the time Wes took a break from WesEggs at 18 years old, he had over fifty chickens on his Mum and Dad's property in Leopold! Wes said “it was always my dream to take WesEggs to a commercial level once I was able to.”
When Wes met his partner Mandy, who was raised on a farm, they decided to make WesEggs their own and live out a nine-year-old boy’s dream. Just over five years ago they purchased their farm in Maude, which is perfectly suited for pasture raised chickens and to provide a healthy lifestyle for their four growing boys.
“Our biggest priority (after the boys!) is the health and happiness of our chickens. That means we farm low stocking densities, and have four Maremma dogs to help protect our girls from any predators. We've designed and manufactured our own sheds, which are unique. They are designed specifically to suit our local conditions, providing increased protection from the elements, as well as being able hold their own water supply and are powered purely by solar. These sheds are moved onto fresh pasture every week to ensure the birds have regular access to a new smorgasbord of bugs, grubs and new ground to scratch around on.”
Wes and Mandy are super excited to be a part of the Market. “We really are looking forward to sharing our eggs with our local community and meeting more local people - make sure you come by our stall and say hi!”
Learn more here.