Silverhill Duck has announced plans to expand its operations and is currently seeking new growers.
Speaking to Agriland, managing director of Silverhill Duck, Micheál Briody said: “We are seeking additional growers and our plan is to get sheds fitted out and into production in the next 3-6 months.”
He said that farmers based in the Republic of Ireland who currently have poultry houses, and who are interested in switching to producing duck, are most suitable.
The poultry shed should be an approximately 20,000ft² unit that is higher than 8ft at the eaves in order to be suitable for the conversion.
Houses that fit this description or have been used to produce other poultry such as broilers, turkeys and layers will all be suitable.
Silverhill Duck
“There are a lot of poultry units that are not at full capacity around the country. If the eaves of the house is higher than 8ft, the house is suitable for ducks. If it is lower than that, we can’t do anything, and we’re looking for around a 20,000ft² unit,” Briody continued.
“We are looking for growers who are willing to switch to ducks.
“We will fit the house out; there are some different things such as feeders, and drinkers. We will view the shed. The payback is quite good, especially on a conversion.”
Silverhill has said it is seeking long-term partnerships, as the demand for duck continues to grow across all markets.
“We are hoping to get market access to Malaysia in the next few months. Work is being done on market access to Saudi Arabia; we’re already in the United Arab Emirates and we’re supplying business class on A number of airlines. This is all new business that has happened in the past few months,” Briody added.
“We are known in the marketplace as producing the best duck in the world and because we have a premium product, we can command a premium price. We [export] 75%.
“We have opened up new markets in the Middle East and Asia and we’re processing close to 80,000 ducks/week but the demand is for over 100,000 ducks/week.
“These markets are taking off faster than we anticipated. We are in the planning process of a new plant and we are confident we will get it across the line,” he stated.
The plan is to increase the output from the existing plant to allow Silverhill to cater for the extra capacity until such time as it gets its new plant up and running.
To be eligible, the new growers can be located anywhere in the Republic of Ireland.
Farmers who are interested is forming a partnership with Silverhill can contact the company directly.