POSTING A SUCCESS STORY AT MOLE VALLEY FARMERS

BY IAN HEDDEN, PRODUCT MANAGER

I often get asked ‘how do you secure enough stock for all of your stores?’ Well, being the UK’s largest procurer of round timber, it can, at times, be quite a challenge.

As a business Mole Valley Farmers buys in the region of 2 million fencing stakes, strainers and struts in a year. Distributing throughout our 56 stores nationwide, whether that is into an 8 acre site like South Molton, or the smallest Mole Country Stores, or even direct from sawmill to farm.

Consistency of supply, confidence in the product and manufacturer backing are some of the considerations for making ranging choices.

Our homegrown Shield products have been part of our range since 2014, at the very beginning of my career at Mole Valley Farmers, and with 12 million stakes in the ground since day one, we are very proud to be a part of this strategy.

With market volatility around European redwood UC4 supply coming through Belarus, it has never been more important to be at the very heart of homegrown British timbers, and British manufacturing.

The Russian conflict with Ukraine has had a massive impact for many products reaching the UK. The fact that Belarus, the leading supplying nation for redwood (pine) fencing materials, are allied to Russia has stopped all supply of these materials into the UK.

So by having an alternative market-leading homegrown product strategy in place, we are confident of a comprehensive and sustainable supply for many years to come.

Being as close as I am to the manufacturing process, the most critical element of performance for a homegrown spruce product is the conditioning of the product prior to treatment. Getting the correct moisture level is paramount, and this is achieved through kiln drying.

Prior to this process the product is incised (small incisions) at the ground contact area within the stake, this ensures that the sap wood element of the stake is correctly treated and ensuring it is meeting its 15 year, UC4 classification.

Added to that, we also have our unique 15-year warranty. We are confident that should a failure occur, we will refund the cost of the replacement product and make a contribution to the cost of reinstallation as well.

As a product manager, I need to ensure that all the correct manufacturing processes are met, that we have auditable standards and that the product hits our yards in tip-top condition to support all our customer types.

Confidence in homegrown spruce materials for fencing is at an all time high, the sales of this product reflects this, but I still believe there is confusion in the marketplace.

The treatment of choice, CCA (copper, chrome and arsenic) was outlawed back in 2006, this toxic product, while highly effective, was a nasty chemical. It was widely used in all timber treatment, so after it was banned the treatment industry developed a replacement, copper-based treatment.

Between 2006 and 2013 premature failures in fencing materials were causing the whole industry huge headaches, it was clear that the new treatment was not working and changes had to be made. While copper is still the main agent within today’s treatment, timber conditioning was quickly identified as the solution to treating spruce products.

So, in 2014 we launched Shield into the marketplace, and with over 12 million products in the ground today, we are extremely proud of its performance and confident that every product we sell, will meet the expectation of you, the customer and also to meet the standards set by the industry in BS8417. All of this is underpinned by a robust, efficient and sustainable supply chain.

The partnership with M&M timber allows us to work extremely closely, sharing data, and stringent forecasting with efficient vehicle movements. We achieve this by utilising stores deliveries and backloading raw materials for processing. This is a true partnership built on supporting you, our customers and members alike.

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