Be more self-sufficient

 Current food and fuel shortages caused by war in Middle East has brought home to many people the benefits of self-sufficiency, Grow your own food.

Australia’s food is mainly produced in rural areas and consumed in our cities, where most of the population lives. To chase sales, many food producers create high production by following intensive growing systems. However, top quality food is usually provided by low-volume producers following traditional farming methods with limited or no chemical inputs.The Freeranger Eggs farm at Grantville in Australia is an example of sustainable farming. The 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. Anne and Phil Westwood have encouraged similar free range farms to be set up around Australia.

The concept is to minimise the environmental footprint of egg production whilst maximising quality for consumers. Small scale production results in better animal health by effective disease control compared with intensive animal husbandry . It also allows the eggs to reach consumers far more quickly than industrial systems where eggs spend weeks or even months in warehouses.

Eggs to order

 Eggs laid on our family farm are supplied to customers within a day or two. You'll never find fresher eggs. As the hens are raised on pasture with a natural diet and total free-range access 24/7, there are no tastier eggs. You will never find our eggs in a supermarket. the eggs are laid to order, and we only supply local regular customers.Order by phone or email. At times we also have hens available for people who want their own fresh eggs .  As a result of our farming methods, the farm has a very low carbon footprint  making our eggs better than carbon neutral,they are carbon negative. our farm received international recognition in 2012 when we won the Energy Globe award for Australia. The International Energy Globe Awards (the World  Awards for Sustainability) have been presented annually in Austria since 1999 to recognise projects that 'make careful and economical use of resources and employ alternative energy sources.' ​ Demand for our eggs is always greater than the supply available so  new customers need to order in advance.Each week we are beset by IT firms offering SEO services which they claim will boost our sales. Clearly that is impossible as we already sell everything we produce and have no spare eggs looking for  intermittent customers.

More farms needed close to townships

 

Free range farms need to be set up close to townships so customers aren't forced  to travel far to buy fresh produce.if you’ve ever thought about setting up your own free range farm, wait no longer. Our eBook on establishing a free range egg farm is available at any time. At a cost of just $245. It is a low-cost way of providing all the ideas and tools needed to establish your egg business and will help you prepare your own application to your local Shire to set up a free range farm. There's no need to engage a costly consultant to write the application for you. Free range egg production is a niche market which is why genuine free range eggs are never found in supermarkets Once payment is made, the eBook will be emailed as a Portable Document File (PDF). send payment to our  Bendigo Bank account.P &A Westwood BSB 633 000 Account 153356233

Set up your own free range farm

 Strong consumer demand for genuine free range eggs has generated a big increase in the number of people thinking about starting their own free range egg business. A good starting point is reading an eBook on starting a free range farm available from us at Freeranger Eggs. Detailed information is available about things like shed requirements, food safety, egg packaging and labelling. When deciding to set up a free range egg farm, take the time to plan it properly. With the right zoning of your land, keeping chickens may be an as-of-right use. Find out the zoning of the land and talk to your local Council planning department about their requirements. Planning authorities have guidelines which allow applicants and planners to meet requirements for establishing a low density mobile outdoor poultry farm with a capacity of no more than 5000 birds.

A development plan needs to contain the information that planners expect from a planning application. It outlines the way in which the facility will be sited, built and managed to meet the objectives and standards of the guidelines. Prepare your own planning application, rather than employ a consultant : Contact us freeranger@dcsi.net.au

Small is Best

 Demand for free range eggs is not just booming in Australia. Americans are also turning their backs on factory-farmed eggs. A report by Watt Poultry says the number of small egg farms registering with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has surged according to the FDA’s consumer safety officer,Gerardo Ramirez. On January 26 he told the United Egg Producers food safety committee that small egg farms now outnumber large operations (farms with 50,000 or more hens) by more than three to one. He said that small producers accounted for 634 of the 749 new farm registrations in 2025, representing 85% of growth in the sector.

Point of lay Isa Brown pullets available

 Until more free range farms are established, the best idea for lovers of good food is to have their own chickens. Point of lay Isa Brown chickens. 20 weeks old and fully vaccinated against all common illnesses, will be available in April at our Grantville farm for $35 each. Email or call Freeranger Eggs to place orders. Freeranger@dcsi.net.au 0356788483

The Freeranger website could be back on line

 

We are still evaluating whether or not our website freeranger.com.au will be re-instated. It has been great tool for letting people gain an insight into how a genuine free range farm operates, but as all our sales are local and customers are able to see for themselves, it could be regarded as  a needless expense for a small business.

Regular customers will be aware that our website has been invisible since our domain name was hi-jacked by someone wanting to use it to promote outdoor clothing. We notified the domain name registration body and now we may be able to reinstate our website. They have just notified us “We have investigated your complaint and determined that the domain name registration is in breach of auDA policy. As a result, the domain licence has been placed under a 30 day suspension. Following that, once a 14 day period has expired, the domain name will be permanently removed from the registry and will become available for registration.” If we go ahead and pay the registration cost, we will need to find a hosting service. We will be very wary as we have already been burned by two Internet Service Providers, Swoop Broadband and Ventra IP over this debacle. Our blog and Facebook page enabled us to maintain an on-line presence with no hosting fees.