Great interest in how to set up a free range farm

 

Anyone thinking about making a career or lifestyle change could do well to consider free range farming.

Strong consumer demand for free range eggs has created a shortage of eggs and generated interest all over australia in how to start a free range egg business.

A good starting point is reading the eBook on starting a free range farm available on the Freeranger Eggs website: www.freeranger.com.au . Detailed information is available about things like selecting the right breeds, shed requirements, food safety, egg packaging and labelling.

When you decide to set up a free range egg farm, take the time to plan it properly. Find out the zoning of the land and talk to your local Council planning department about their requirements. It’s also worth contacting the State Department of Agriculture. You can access on-line resources . Once that is sorted, talk to the Council Environmental Health Department about any specific requirements they have before you get underway. It’s not difficult as long as you have thought through your plans. A mistake made by many people is buying everything new to set up the farm. Start off by making use of things you already have such as sheds and equipment. Buying expensive chicken caravans with automatic nest boxes and feeders will give you a crippling debt burden and endless pain – so make do with what you have until you are ready to take another step.It’s essential to choose the right type of hens. Docile birds with calm temperaments and which are prolific layers are what’s needed. We have found ISABrown’s to be ideal. The Freeranger Eggs farm management plan takes a three pillars approach to how the farm operates. Animal welfare is one pillar, but equally important are land sustainability and food safety. Growth is not a part of our philosophy. We need to encourage people to set up more farms, not upscale existing egg businesses. We believe that will support more people working the land fairly and will ensure long-term food security. One key element for success is to limit spending, If you have a big mortgage and lease payments on vehicles and equipment, it will be hard to stay in business. Regular financial payments will be a drain on resources when there is a drop in revenue for whatever reason.Pricing will always be important if you aim to produce top quality eggs. Work out your costings and don’t try to compete on price because bigger producers will always undercut you, Academic researchers often produce theories and reports designed to demonstrate what 'free range' means in the egg industry. Celebrity chefs usually confine themselves to mistaken comments that bright yolk colour defines whether or not an egg is free range. Yolk colour varies, depending on the hen’s diet. If the yolk colour is always a bright, golden almost orange colour, the hens have almost certainly been fed colouring additives. Academic findings are usually based on carefully arranged criteria set by an organisation which funded the research and expects specific outcomes. Far better to rely on the experience of those in the industry actually running free range egg farms. Some people are fixated on the issue of animal welfare and they lose sight of matters like food safety and land sustainability. Outdoor stocking density is a key example. Academics found it easy to come up with results from research on small scale or short term projects to demonstrate that stocking densities had little or no impact on hen welfare. But it has been impossible for them to demonstrate that high densities have no detrimental impact on pasture quality, pollution of waterways, groundwater and the long term productivity of the land as a result of excessive nutrient loads. The maximum sustainable stocking density for poultry was established at 1500 hens per hectare to minimise land degredation and ensure the long-term viability of the land.

Laying hens, like most if not all other animals, perform best when they are able to follow their natural behaviour. They clearly need shelter, food and water but they also need to wander around freely to forage, scratch, dust bathe and interact socially with others in the flock.

There is growing evidence that eggs from hens raised on pasture have nutritional benefits over the factory farm versions.

In 1974, the British Journal of Nutrition found that pastured eggs had 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 than eggs from factory farm hens.

In 1988, Artemis Simopoulos, co-author of The Omega Diet, found pastured eggs in Greece contained 13 times more Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids than U.S. commercial eggs. A 1998 study in Animal Feed Science and Technology found that pastured eggs had higher Omega 3 and vitamin E than eggs from caged hens.

A 1999 study by Barb Gorski at Pennsylvania State University found that eggs from pastured birds had 10 percent less fat, 34 percent less cholesterol, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the Omega 3 compared to the standard USDA data.

In 2003, another study at Pennsylvania State University found that pastured eggs had three times more Omega 3, 220 % more vitamin E and 62 % more vitamin A than eggs from caged hens.

26 billion chickens in the world

 The global chicken population has reached 26 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The number has almost doubled since the year 2000. Most are confined in sheds, whether for meat or egg production.

Aussie Govt may order free range farms to close

 

The Australian Government may be preparing to order the closure of many small scale free range egg farms as a knee-jerk response to further cases of avian influenza, It splurged $22 nillion to increase the national vaccine stockpile. Health Minister Mark Butler warned that there was no room for complacency, even though human infections with avian influenza were rare.

“The Australian government’s investment increases the number of pandemic flu vaccines we have in storage,” Butler said. The planning is being led by The interim Australian Centre for Disease Control which says it is focused on ensuring Australia is prepared for any potential case of H5N1 avian influenza. Despite a lack of any evidence, politicians and bureaucrats spread claims that avian influenza outbreaks start on properties where the hens are outdoors. The reality is that most of the outbreaks in Australia started on intensive businesses with hens in cages or barns. Infections are often brought in by staff returning from overseas and working multiple shifts at different locations.Chickens on low-density free range farms are generally healthier than those kept in cages or locked in barns because they have sunlight and fresh air and are not overcrowded. There will be dire consequences if politicians panic and order all hens to be locked up. It will cut production and will result in a high level of mortality through cannibalism as free range birds have full beaks and are likely to attack other if they are closely confined in large numbers.

The 'Chicken or the Egg' Scientist says the egg came first

 The question about chickens and eggs which humans have been asking almost since time began, may have finally been answered by scientists who say they’ve discovered that the egg came first.

Humans have bred chickens for at least 10,000 years ago, but one expert has spoken about the existence of eggs as being much older. Luis Villazon is a science and technology educator who trained in zoology. He says "Eggs are much older than chickens. "Dinosaurs laid eggs, the fish that first crawled out of the sea laid eggs, and the weird articulated monsters that swam in the warm shallow seas of the Cambrian Period 500 million years ago also laid eggs.”while these aren’t chicken eggs, “the egg definitely came first", he said. Mr Villazon added that the chicken as we know it today was first bred as a result of the red jungle fowl of Southeast Asia being “hyrbridised” with grey jungle fowl.

“At some point in evolutionary history when there were no chickens, two birds that were almost-but-not-quite chickens mated and laid an egg that hatched into the first chicken." Mr Villazon concluded.

Sunshine great for humans - and chickens

 scientists  confirm that eggs from chickens wandering freely outdoors  contain higher levels of Vitamin D. Research in the US from 2014 shows  that hens spending most their time outdoors produce eggs with as much as three to six times more Vitamin D than eggs from barn or caged hens. Vitamin D3 is said to support bone strength and boost the body’s immunity levels. Other nutrient levels are also higher as a result of the more natural diet. The benefits include protein, vitamin B12, vitamin B2 iodine and selenium. You’ll also find vitamin A, calcium, phosphorous, folate, biotin, choline, thiamine and pantothenic acid inside the shells. They contain beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and little damaging cholesterol.

World Egg Day on Friday

 

World Egg Day is on Friday (Oct11). It is a global celebration of the highly nutritious and delicious egg! There is no other food that provides as many nutritional benefits as nature’s powerhouse.

Since starting in Vienna in 1996, World Egg Day has been celebrated in over 40 countries around the world on the second Friday in October every year.

Another egg shortage in Australia

 Australia has a national egg shortage because slack management procedures on intensive egg production facilities allowed avian influenza to spread like wildfire, resulting in the culling of more than a million egg laying hens. Many buyers have been unable to get eggs from their usual sources, such as supermakets, so they turn to small producers like us without understanding that we can’t quickly ramp up production just because they suddenly say they want our eggs. As with many free range farms, our eggs are laid to order and we have no spare eggs at the end of each day.

Maintaining egg production on a free range farm is often challenging.Like many real farms, we are affected by daily weather patterns and the seasons.To consistently lay eggs, hens need about 14 hours of daylight and 8 hours of darkness when they're roosting. Once less than 12 hours of daylight is available, egg productions slows down considerably if not ceases completely. Some people think colder weather causes the decrease in egg-laying, but even chickens in warm climates produce fewer eggs once daylight hours decline. Big producers maintain egg laying numbers by installing lights in sheds to trick the hens into keeping on eating and laying eggs. This issue is the reason for the development of intensive farming systems. Big production and bigger profits was the reason for companies changing to intensive farming with hens locked in climate-controlled sheds.

 Big producers maintain egg laying numbers by installing lights in sheds to trick the hens into keeping on eating and laying eggs. We prefer to allow our hens to follow their normal rythmns of life.