Mr Boyd George 26.02.25

Wednesday 26th February 2025: Mr Boyd George, Moypark

The speaker on Wednesday 28th February was Mr Boyd George from “Moypark” with a very interesting talk about the poultry industry.  Mr George began by reminding his audience of the place of poultry in our culture and history by quoting passages of scripture in which God’s care for his children is likened to a hen “gathering her chicks under her wings”.  Today the industry exists on a vast scale across several countries and continents and globally generates millions of tonnes of meat and eggs per year. Statistics abounded in his presentation:
• The United Kingdom is largely self-sufficient in broiler meat producing 2.4 million tonnes per annum.
• The industry is truly intensive: broilers take only seven weeks from hatching to table
• Moypark [Europe] processes 6 million broilers per week, most going to supermarkets and fast-food outlets such as KFC and McDonald’s
• the UK industry is worth £4.2 billion per annum
• Northern Ireland with a population of 2 million people annually produces enough meat and eggs for 10 million people
Mr Boyd’s talk emphasised the biosecurity measures taken to ensure that what the customer buys is safe to eat. He went on to explain how breeding programmes are aimed at meeting customer preferences. This prompted one member to liken Moypark to the old Sun Newspaper, being all about birds with big breasts and shapely legs. This brought to a good-natured conclusion a fascinating talk about an industry of which many had only passing knowledge.