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.