In the 1880 census for Wales, Evelyn Williams’ profession is listed as ‘poultry merchant’, notable in itself because at that point in history the status of married women is mostly recorded as spouse.
What is also remarkable though is that 150 years later poultry endures as the principal enterprise for her ancestors, a business that is largely driven by women.
Three generations
“Mama very much instilled in us that if you want to be successful you have to go out there to where the customer is, don’t wait for them to come to you.”
Beth
Cuckoo Mill Farm at Pelcomb Bridge, Pembrokeshire has had all three generations of the Davies family involved in the running of the business – Margaret, fondly known as ‘Mama’, her son and daughter-in-law, Martin and Julie, and their daughters, Emily and Beth.
The S. G. Davies & Sons partnership is farmed across two farms with Martin’s brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Ann, together with sons, Danny and Joe, running the dairy, arable and dairy livestock import business at Good Hook Farm.
The beginnings of the enterprise
Their poultry enterprise has its origins in a gift of two turkey hens and a stag made to Mama by her father-in-law in the summer of 1958.
He had initially handed her a hen to prepare for the family’s Christmas meal that year but being enterprising she kept the hen to lay for the next season.
Unbeknown to her, he then took himself off to Haverfordwest Mart and bought not only a second hen for his daughter-in-law but a stag too.
The trio of birds took up residence at Cuckoo Mill and nature took its course with those hens producing poults and so Cuckoo Mill Farm Turkeys was founded.
Entrepreneurial spirit
Throughout the generations, the characteristic that has symbolised the women at Cuckoo Mill is their entrepreneurial spirit.
Emily and Beth play a key role in the poultry enterprise, but both have full time jobs and run their own businesses. Emily’s focus is on marketing and sales and Beth’s on Christmas farmers markets, logistics and helping with the rearing.
Emily is the UK Retail Executive for Hybu Cig Cymru and also operates a luxury glamping pod business, Riverside Pods, with her husband, Carwyn Rees, at his family’s caravan park near Llandovery, where they recently converted a barn into a wedding venue, Green Grove Barns, and also provide holiday accommodation in a converted racehorse lorry, Red Rum’s Retreat, at Angle on the Pembrokeshire coast.
Younger sister Beth also follows in Mama’s entrepreneurial spirit by welcoming guests to her own glamping and camping site, Moithan Meadow, in Martletwy, run with husband, Luke Watts; they farm a flock of pedigree and commercial sheep too. Beth is also Area Sales Manager for the Welsh food service company, Castell Howell Foods.
Backbone of the business
The sisters are also a driving force behind Cuckoo Mill but they and Martin insist that it is Julie who is the ‘backbone’ of the business. “Mum is the main motivator,” says Emily.
“She is a hugely capable woman who does a day’s work before most people get started for the day. Beth and I would go with her to collect the feathering staff before she took us to school, and she then spent the day processing the birds.”
Women in the business
Each generation of women has been inspired by the last, says Emily, but gives credit to her father too.
“He has always encouraged us. When you have parents behind you who encourage you, it makes anything seem possible.
“Cuckoo Mill was very much the springboard for our careers, we put the hours in at an early age and what we learned growing up opened doors for us.”
Among the sisters’ earliest memories are the arrival of the day-old Christmas poults in July – they would help to transfer them from the boxes they had been transported in and place them inside traditional brooding rings to get the young birds off to a good start.
They also recall the thrill of earning their own money as extra pairs of hands when Cuckoo Mill opened the farm gate for three days in the run-up to Christmas Day to greet customers collecting their Christmas turkey orders.
Annual collection event
That annual collection event, which takes place on 22nd, 23rd and 24th December, is a highlight in the year for the whole family.
Customers are welcomed by ‘elves’ managing the traffic and parking, there is a Santa’s grotto, ponies in the stables, and hot punch and Welsh cakes to enjoy.
Many customers are descendants of the families Mama sold turkeys to. “We get quite emotional about that, we’ve been serving many families for over 50 years,” says Beth.
Some customers come from as far afield as London, combining it with a weekend break in Pembrokeshire.
Bird breeds
The birds are the traditional white turkey produced by a British hatchery. Different breeds are reared to achieve a variety of weights to be processed at their full maturity, ensuring a high degree of eating quality.
Stags are processed for the catering trade throughout December but retailing poultry is a year-round business for the Davieses, who supply the catering trade, independent butchers and direct to the public at farmers’ markets.
Farmers’ markets are a very important outlet for their sales. “It is completely customer facing, customers are buying directly from the family,” says Beth.
“It gives us an opportunity to build up a rapport with our customers, we get to know them and they us, nothing about this business is transactional. People buy from people.
“Mama very much instilled in us that if you want to be successful you have to go out there to where the customer is, don’t wait for them to come to you.”
Christmas markets
Throughout November and December there is a Christmas theme to the markets the Davieses sell from - Haverfordwest, Aberystwyth, Uplands and Mumbles.
“It’s a big chunk of our business, it is a very successful route to market,” says Beth.
Whole turkeys are still the most popular buy, but the family has also seen an increase in added value products.
“We have to make sure that we move with what customer demand is but nothing ever replaces the whole turkey,” says Emily.
Christmas 2021
Christmas 2021 was one of the most challenging periods for the business, a year when Wales’ First Minister announced a lockdown on the night before the farm was due to open its doors to customers to collect their orders.
But the family went into ‘don’t panic’ mode and got through the situation with people still able to collect their turkeys in allocated time slots.
“A lot of people wanted their turkeys cut in half that year because the lockdown meant there would be fewer people around their table on Christmas Day,” Emily recalls.
It is that customer service and ‘can do’ attitude that has earned them a strong customer following.
Mama is now 86 and enjoys life at a more leisurely pace.
“She likes to hear where we are with orders, when we start processing for Christmas, she is our listening ear and voice of support,” says Emily.
Staffing
Although processing is still done in the traditional way with hand-finishing, the business has moved on from dry plucking to wet plucking and using bowl plucking machines, and this is less labour intensive.
A requirement for fewer staff is one that has been important for the business post-Brexit as labour availability has been a major challenge since the UK left the European Union, says Martin.
“The biggest limitation for our business was the UK ending that relationship with Europe,” he admits.
“For 20 years we had several Eastern European families coming here to work with us for a whole month, many became family friends, and they sourced their own friends and family to come and work here too, people with a tremendous work ethic. It has been very difficult for us to get enough workers since Brexit.”
In the run-up to Christmas, up to 20 staff are needed every day to keep pace with orders.
When the family sit down to their own meal on Christmas Day – turkey of course – they do so in the knowledge that families across Pembrokeshire and beyond will be gathering around their own tables to tuck into their own Cuckoo Mill bird.
“We are so grateful to every family who put their trust in us by choosing to buy their Christmas turkey from Cuckoo Mill Farm,” says Emily. “We have been a part of so many families’ traditions for generations now and it’s a huge privilege to continue to serve our customers.”