Anyone can help to meet growing demand for freerange eggs by setting up their own farm. More genuine free range farms are needed to give consumers a real choice. Ideally,every township in the country should have a nearby egg farm instead of requirng eggs to be trucked across the country to a stupidmarket.
Our politicians changed the Australian free range standard to allow intensive producers to sell eggs with misleading free-range labels. Egg cartons must display stocking densities, but as there’s no actual requirement for the chickens to go outside, the labels are meaningless. Changes to the freerange definition protects big producers from prosecution under Australian Consumer Law.The ACCC had been so successful with various prosecutions in the Federal Court that corporate egg producers demanded protection.
High stocking densities are more stressful for the chicken. Hens display some aggressive behaviours such as pecking, bullying and even cannibalism as they fight it out to maintain their hierarchy in cramped conditions, making way for justifications for widespread beak-trimming and de-beaking.10,000 hens per hectare is not sustainable or responsible farming.A laying hen produces half a cubic metre of manure a year. So, a stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare means that farmers who follow that advice see their land covered with 5000 cubic metres of manure per hectare every year. High levels of ammonia, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in hen manure can destroy soil health and leach into the ground, leading to contamination of waterways. labelling requirements and standards for free range egg production introduced by poiticians in 2018 destroyed any remaining consumer confidence in the Australian egg industry.
The standard allowed intensive production systems to be classified as free range and protects intensive producers from prosecution under Australian Consumer Law. We still have an eBook available to help you set up your own genuine freerange egg farm. Full details are on our website
