The Year Round: Chicken shed heat exchanger may save half oil bill

As always, this is not to suit the tree huggers: it is economic sense that tempted me to buy a heat exchanger for one of our chicken sheds.

In principle, it recovers 80 per cent of the heat expelled from the shed during the time when the heaters are running.

Even at the very early stages of the birds' life cycle, a minimum amount of fresh air has to be introduced, achieved by sucking out the stale air with fans.

This stale air could be at 30 degrees Centigrade and the fresh air drawn in to replace it could be at freezing point.

This system will use the hot expelled air to heat up the fresh incoming air using a similar system to a car radiator, with the cold air running through hundreds of small pipes, heated by the expelled air running round the outside of them.

Time will tell, but we envisage about 50 per cent savings in heating oil and improved conditions in the sheds. If it works out, it will make sense to fit more – if not, I've wasted my money.

Peter is flat out putting on fertiliser and sprays, in between cleaning out the 230th crop of chickens.

It's a fantastic time of year with everything coming to life and the weather improving. Crops have now taken off and in four months will go from 2-inch high to harvest.

Already the flower buds are apparent on the oilseed rape.

The SPS forms were completed online and for once I must congratulate DEFRA for producing a good-to-use programme.

The job was done in minutes – the best-paid minutes in farming just sat in the office.

Pity we can't earn a respectable amount for growing the actual crops.