National Agriculture Day - November 20

 There are almost 88,000 farm businesses in Australia today and things are looking bright. 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. 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. Prepare your own planning application, rather than employ a consultant.

Contact us at freeranger@dcsi.net.au

For more details, follow us on Facebook or read posts on this Blog.

Our eBook costs $245 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

Poultry welfare claims

 Big, corporate egg producers often try to justify intensive production systems by suggesting that cage-free or free range flocks have lower welfare standards than their cage or barn systems. At a recent industry gathering, a US professor claimed that hens outdoors face increased exposure to multiple ectoparasites including red mites and lice. She said that the complex environments and greater contact with wild birds in these systems create ideal conditions for parasites to establish and spread, causing significant economic losses and welfare problems for producers. She says the outdoor hens are being exposed to a wider range of ectoparasites. with greater contact with wild birds, give parasites a chance to establish themselves. What she and the big producers ignore is that crowded conditions for hens, or any animals is far more likely to create parasite or infection problems. Sunlight is a great sanitiser and an open air lifestyle has its own health benefits.

Freeranger Farm at the heart of massive wildlife and bushland linkages

 Friends of the Earth Melbourne has announced that 2,155 hectares of land has been added to the Brataualung Forest Park in the Strzelecki Ranges. The land was promised by the State Government back in 2008 as part of a deal to link existing reserves at Gunyah Gunyah to Tarra Bulga National Park. The Governor of Victoria signed the gazettal of land into law on the 8th of October 2026. This a major part of the wildlife corridor stretching down to Westernport. The wildlife corridor mapped in the Regional Sand Extraction Strategy , Lang Lang to Grantville. Which was gazetted in 1995 is an essential part of this biolink. Key movers in the success were identified as Susi Zent from Friends of Gippsland Bush and Anne Westwood from Friends of Bass Valley Bush and Freeranger Eggs, Grantville.

The Freeranger property provides the only link between the Grantville Narure Conservation Reserve and the Bass River – a vital part of the regional corridor. Bass Coast Shire Council has been a major hurdle in the protection of native vegetation and wildlife because Councillors have a complete lack of understanding of these issues. They did not bother to read the sand Extraction Strategy so they don't realise that it is a powerful tool to protect native vegetation in the vital wildlife corridor. It was the result of huge community input as well as consultations with industry and Government Departments. Research produced full flora and fauna species lists for the interest area. Correspondence with the Shire revealed that councillors deluded themselves into believing the sand strategy enables sand extraction when it actually enables the protection of the woodland wildlife corridor. Bass Coast Councillors have ignored the sand extraction strategy even though it was required to be incorporated into the Shire Planning Scheme.

daylight saving farce tomorrow - dumb politicians

 Clocks return to daylight saving at 3am tomorrow when we say hello to daylight saving time. There's no hope of politicians putting an end to the farce of fiddling with our clocks. The changes impact on farmers and their animals for no good reason.

Egg Values driven by the Sun

 In the same way we humans need sunshine to thrive, chickens need it too. UltraViolet rays from the sun provide essential Vitamin D to people animals and plants.Sunshine plays an important roles in the life and health of a chicken.They are programmed to head into their coop to sleep when the sun is going down. Diminishing hours of daylight in autumn and winter signals to a chicken that it's time to start the annual moult and they have a rest period for a few weeks or months without laying eggs.At some times of year yolk colour will not be as vibrant as usual.  It is usual  for  green feed to disappear from  paddocks with the heat of summer or the cold of winter. The carotenes in green grass help to produce vibrant, bright yolks. To fool their customers, most egg producers put manufactured colouring additives in their poultry feed to maintain an illusion. We refuse to adulterate the food we give our hens. So always expect variations in yolk colour. Be suspicious if the yolk colour is always the same (even within a one dozen egg pack)

Top 15 egg blogs in the world

 We received this today " your blog Free Range Eggs has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 15 Egg Blogs on the web (2026 Edition).

https://bloggers.feedspot.com/egg_blogs/ Feedspot is an RSS Reader that lets you subscribe to blogs, news sites, and any website you want to keep up with.

Stocking density affects bird health and egg quality

 Australian studies revealed the absurdity of intensive free range standards approved by politicians. It showed that free-range chickens spend more time outside when there are fewer hens per hectare and greater outside space available, according to research by the University of New England and CSIRO in conjunction with the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre.

Dr Dana Campbell from the School of Environmental and Rural Science says greater consumer interest in animal welfare is driving change in the laying hen industry in Australia with an increase in free-range farms.

Six small flocks of 150 ISA brown hens were tracked by researchers using radio-frequency identification tracking technology that identified individual hens by their microchipped leg bands.

Each flock had access to one of three different outdoor stocking densities, the first was 2000 hens per hectare, the second 10 000 hens/ha and the third 20 000 hens/ha.

“Hens with the lowest outdoor stocking density of 2000 hens per hectare spent more time outdoors, while  hens housed at the highest stocking density of 20 000 hens/ha spent the least time outside,” Dr Campbell said.

The study found that on average about half the hens were outside simultaneously, using all available areas of the range. This study was probably the first which dealt with genuine free range poultry. Most other researchers confined their work to large industrial-scale flocks, because big business es generally fund the research. the most recent version of the Poultry Model Code was approved by the Primary Industries Ministerial Council and printed in 2002, it was a development of an earlier version. There has been no science or research behind high density free range proposals (other than the certainty of increased profits. No scientific review of production processes has been undertaken to demonstrate that the standards contained within the current voluntary Model Code are no longer applicable to the industry. The stocking density of 1500 hens per hectare for free range hens was developed by applying well established principles of agronomy. The issue of the upper limit on the long term stocking rate was debated strongly at the time, following pressure from local Councils and the EPA about how some farms were operating. Experience was taken into account of people who had farmed free range layers in the 1950’s and 60's, when all egg production was based on free range principles. Hens were often run under citrus trees It was recognised that for an operation to be sustainable, the stocking rate had to be low - less than 300 birds/acre (750/hectare). It was agreed that such a system should be regarded as Free Range egg production and the hens were to have access to the range during daylight hours. There was some dispute by new entrants to the industry who believed that they could design pasture rotation systems around their sheds that would allow higher rates. So it was decided to take an empirical approach and work out what the maximum stocking rate could be to avoid the measurable negative impacts of nutrient run off and soil degradation and still be theoretically possible to maintain pasture cover and avoid the issue of dust. Some argued that as most hens were in sheds at night and may be locked in for part of the day so that only a portion of the hens actually entered the range area at any one time, the impact was lessened. The dairy industry was very big at that time and local agronomists had data on the effects of applying very high rates of poultry manure on irrigated pasture. The agronomists studied the data on the maximum nutrient uptake a well maintained irrigated pasture could support and also avoid the problems of salinity build up observed in the dairy pastures. The stocking rate was calculated and a stocking density of up to 600 birds/acre (1500/hectare) was regarded as the maximum possible for long term sustainability. Those currently involved in free range egg production agree that the fundamental elements of the Model Code, or other regulations introduced by Governments should be: a maximum stocking density of 1500 hens per hectare; stocking density must be reduced in conditions where pasture or other vegetative cover cannot be maintained at the maximum stocking density.. Access to quality feed and fresh pasture has been shown to improve nutrient values. 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 authority 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​