Freeranger Eggs is all about producing genuine free range eggs as well as educating consumers and other farmers

Freeranger Eggs is a multi- platform business. Our main activity is operating a sustainable farm producing free range eggs for customers in our local area. We use our website, blog and facebook page as educational tools to provide clear information to consumers – and also to encourage the establishment of other low density farms, Free range eggs are a niche market in a boutique industry and industrial-scale producers should not use the term ‘free range’. Our eBook on setting up a free range farm is available through our website and we are preparing a series of webinars to reach as many people as possible.

Pakenham Gazette - On the Land

The Freeranger Eggs farm featured in this week's Pakenham Gazette in the On the Land section. This sort of article does us far more good than features in metropolitan papers - or on radio and tv - because we only sell locally.
We don't travel for hours doing the rounds of city markets as do many many of our colleagues in the egg industry.
They make a mockery of the pretence that they are selling 'local' food. I suppose they can always claim that it's local somewhere!

A comparision of egg production costs

Research has been published by the International Egg Commission, dealing with production costs in various egg production systems around the world.

Peter van Horne, an economist and economic analyst with the IEC said that the combination of high feed prices, legislation and especially the conventional cage ban in Europe has put the production costs of eggs at an all-time high. Costs differ per country, but enriched cages and aviary systems have significantly higher costs. A market bonus is necessary to compensate.

The conclusion is that enriched cages produce eggs at the lowest costs. Production costs in aviaries are higher compared to enriched cages (a cost increase of 22% compared with the old conventional cages). It says this means that a higher price must be achieved to keep the income for poultry farmers at a consistent level. Other alternative housing systems, like free range and organic, have higher production costs than enriched cages and aviaries. Eggs produced in these systems need an even higher bonus from the market to compensate the farmer for the additional costs.

I wonder how much that research cost!!!
More details here:
http://www.worldpoultry.net/Layers/Eggs/2013/10/Production-costs-of-eggs-at-record-high-level-1315811W/

Have a look at this video

Here's a short video about farm production
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos&feature=player_embedded

Chook farming - the way it was

I came across these two old short films about egg farming, posted on YouTube. An interesting look at
'the good old days' ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22KP21aEhm0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRq2-kyxaB4

The latest Organic con

It's amazing what people can get away with. There's one egg farmer who is selling his own version of 'organic' eggs at over $9 a dozen – and people in Melbourne are falling over themselves to buy them.
He has come up with a sham organisation which accredits member farms. The organisation acknowledges the National Organic Standard 2008 (a new version of the Standard dated July 2009 should be approved this year) – but there is no process to ensure that member farms meet those standards.
Inspections are undertaken by other members of the group who have no qualifications or experience in conducting audits or inspections. It's just a back-slapping exercise to con gullible consumers into paying more for 'organic' eggs. And it looks like he is getting away with it because of slack controls over the certification process.
There are seven approved organic certification bodies in Australia (and that's part of the probem). They are: National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia Ltd; Australian Certified Organic; Bio-Dynamic Research Institute; Organic Growers of Australia; Safe Food Queensland; The Organic Food Chain Pty Ltd and Tasmanian Organic-Dynamic Producers.
They all have tight inspection criteria, meet international standards and the whole system is overseen by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).
All very tightly controlled to maintain the integrity of the organic status of the food produced.
The only trouble is that AQIS only imposes the rules for exports. It doesn't care what happens in the domestic market – so any clown can set up an organic certification system to squeeze extra dollars out of consumers without the costs of meeting real organic standards.
If it wasn't so serious it would be a joke!

About to start on new front fence

We had five packs of three rail red gum fencing delivered today to replace our old front fence. I picked up a pair of timber gates last week so I'll be starting to put it up within a couple of days.

New tips are being put on my post hole digger and once that's finished I'll be ready to roll.

The old fence has been pulled out progressively over the past few weeks. The picture shows what it will look like when finished - at the moment it's just a bunch of pallets wrapped in plastic!

It should only take a couple of days to complete but I won't be able to work on it for more than three of fours hours a day (because of all those other farm chores) so it will probably be at least a week before it's done.

We had to miss out on going to the Inverloch Farmers' Market last Sunday because we didn't have enough eggs and it's going to tough finding enough eggs for Churchill Island Farmers' Market this Saturday. I understand that one of our Aussie 'celebrity chefs' Iain Hewitson will be there so I hope we can get enough eggs together.

Why hens stop laying

One question that we are frequently asked at Farmers' Markets by small-scale chicken owners is "Why have my hens stopped laying?"
The most common causes of decreased egg production include: lack of enough daylight, improper nutrition, disease, increasing age and stress.
Decreasing day light
Hens need around 14 hours of daylight to sustain top egg production. During winter, once daylight drops below 12 hours, production can decrease and may stop altogether – depending on location. To prevent this, some farms install lights in sheds to maintain light for 12 - 14 hours a day and trick the birds into thinking its still daytime (so they keep eating). That's not a farming practice that we think is appropriate.
Improper nutrition
Laying hens require a completely balanced ration to sustain maximum egg production. Improper nutrition can easily affect the lay rate.
This is why it's so important to give laying hens a constant supply of nutritionally balanced food containing 17% - 19% protein with good levels of energy and calcium. Avoid feeding many scraps as these can create a dietary imbalance - they dilute the essential ingredients if they form a significant part of the hens' diet.
An unbalanced diet can cause problems like prolapse. Prolapse is caused when the bird is too fat or an egg is too large and the bird's reproductive tract is expelled with the egg. Prolapse is often fatal.
Having oyster shell or another source of calcium always available is also a good idea to ensure strong egg shells. It can either be mixed in with the feed or made available to the hens in separate feeders.
A common problem is not ensuring there is a constant source of fresh water. Provide adequate watering points so the birds always have fresh water and make sure it's cool on hot days.
Disease
Disease problems can occur under the best of conditions and there are many diseases which affect laying birds. Only buy hens which are fully vaccinated against the common diseases likely in your area. Things like Egg Drop Syndrome and Infectious Bronchitis can hit your flock hard. Often one of the first signs of disease is a drop in egg production. Other symptoms of disease include dull and listless appearance, watery eyes and nostrils, coughing, molting, lameness and mortality in the flock. If you suspect a disease, contact a vet for help and get an accurate diagnosis before starting treatment.
Old Hens
Most hens lay efficiently for two laying cycles. However, after two or three years, there is likely to be a decline in productivity. This varies greatly from bird to bird. Once they start, good layers will keep laying for about 60 weeks in their first cycle and then perhaps 50 weeks in the second cycle. Between those cycles they will moult for a few weeks. As they get older the hens will moult more often and the shell quality will suffer – resulting in more breakages and wrinkled shells.
Stress
The birds don't like any change, so stresses caused by things like being moved, handled roughly, changes in environmental conditions or fright can contribute to a decline in egg production. Common stresses include:
Getting too hot, or too cold. Chickens can't handle high temperatures (over 40 degrees centigrade) or damp, cold and drafty conditions.
Handling or moving. Once the laying flock is in place, limit any unnecessary moving or handling. Introducing new birds may disrupt the pecking order and cause some temporary social stress in your flock as well as possibly introducing disease.
Parasites. Make sure you have adequate controls in place for external or internal parasites there are natural things you can use if you don't want to use chemicals.
Fright.
Limit the movement of children, strange dogs, livestock and vehicles around your flock as well as loud noises which can frighten the hens.
Predators such as foxes and eagles stress the birds and create a decrease in production.
Other factors which may cause a drop in your egg numbers are:
Predators and snakes consuming the eggs.
Egg-eating by hens in the flock.
Insufficient nest boxes can cause excessive egg breakage.
Hens hiding the eggs.

There's heaps more info in my ebook which can be found at http://www.freeranger.com.au/products.html

What is free range?

Buyers of free range eggs are often confused by reports in the press about what a free range egg really is.
From consumer research carried out at Farmers' Markets, a definition that most buyers seem to accept is: 'Free-range chickens are able to spend most of their time outdoors. They should not be de-beaked. The hens should not be confined to small areas. True free-range flocks are generally fed and watered outside'.
This encourages the birds to spend most of their time outdoors and keeps the laying sheds cleaner and drier. If fences confine the birds to small areas, the farm shouldn't be described as free-range, and neither should those where feed and water is only provided in sheds to keep the birds inside.
The egg industry view is that the term 'free range' applies to any poultry with access to an outdoor area, no matter how few birds actually go outside and how uninviting their outdoor yard is.
What's the problem with a yard egg system?
It comes down to the amount of manure the land can handle, and the geometry of chicken yards. An acre of grass can handle about four tonnes of chicken manure per year. That's the output of up to 100 chickens. So, unless you want to kill off the grass and pollute the area with runoff, the limit is around 100 outdoor chickens per acre – unless you remove the manure.
What's worse is that the droppings are never evenly distributed across the yard. The manure is concentrated near the chicken house. This kills off all plant life near the chicken shed (if its a fixed shed) even if the chickens don't destroy the grass sod by scratching.
100 hens per acre equates to about 400 square feet per hen. Hens also don't like to travel long distances. They'll go 100 - 200 metres from the hen houses in good weather, if properly encouraged by outdoor feeders, waterers, vegetation and shade.

How the Europeans manage 400 hens per acre in their 'free-range' flocks.

EU regulations allow 400 hens per acre but require that the yards remain green. If that many hens actually went outdoors, the grass would be destroyed in no time. The manure load of 400 outdoor hens is unsustainable on one acre, killing the grass, producing high nutrient runoff levels, and a muddy yard unless the nutrients are removed from the ground. But as the hens spend most of their time indoors, the grass can remain green. It's similar in Australia where the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry sets out a maximum stocking density of 1500 birds per hectare. The Code doesn't limit flock sizes, so large farms have been established with sheds containing tens of thousands of birds – and they can be classified as 'free-range' as long as they have 'access' to an outdoor run.
Chickens eat and drink many times during a day, so their movements can be managed by careful placement of feeders and waterers. The basic scam in Australia (and in Europe) involves putting the feeders and waterers as far from the outside doors as possible, installing only a few small doors. A few hens will wander around outside, providing window dressing for gullible observers, but most hens stay indoors.
The reality is that most 'free-range' hens are really confined in barns surrounded by nice lawns. To produce the coloured yolks associated with free-range flocks, many producers add special colouring ingredients to the feed. Some of these additives are claimed to be 'natural' but nearly all are produced in laboratories by men in white coats. If the hens eat grass, other green vegetation and a corn-based ration, the yolks will be a vibrant golden colour. But yolk colour in eggs from real free range farms will vary depending on the time year and the availability of green feed. If yolk colour never varies, you can be sure that colouring additives are being fed to the hens. Another indicator that shows that the flocks aren't free range at all is if the hens are de-beaked. With true free-range flocks, feather-picking and cannibalism are rare. Those behavioral problems are caused by intensive farming, confinement, poor flock management or choice of birds. Which is why the majority of Australia's 'free-range' commercial flocks are beak-trimmed as a matter of course.
It's disappointing that the RSPCA encourages the de-beaking of birds by accepting royalty payments for the barn laid and 'free range' eggs which it accredits.
Some of the big producers even claim, after doing everything to discourage the hens from ever venturing outside, that 'chickens don't like to go outdoors.' Everyone who has ever had a small flock knows that chickens will spend most of their time outdoors if the weather isn't too bad and feed and water are provided outside.
The regulations have been written for major operators who want to transfer large-scale factory farming techniques to a version of 'free range' farming which maximises profits by allowing the businesses to charge a premium for eggs which should be classified as 'cage-free' rather than 'free range'.
So how do you do it right?
Traditional free-range egg production is just part of a diversified farm. It enables a farm to make full use of the nutrients from the chicken manure. And it adds to the sustainability of the farming operation.
Many free range farms use portable hen houses, either on wheels or on skids. They can be moved around with a tractor to prevent the ground around the houses becoming muddy. This is the traditional approach. There is a trend towards using mobile electric poultry netting combined with frequent shed moves probably every 1-3 days. Moving the sheds is labour intensive but it helps to maintain pasture growth. With low stocking density, even if the houses are left in place for several weeks at a time, a scattering of bare rectangles every now and then on the pasture is not significant. The grass will regrow over the season. By feeding the hens outdoors and moving the feeders regularly, it's possible to get most of the effect of moving the houses, but with less effort.
It's clearly much more labour-intensive than the pretend 'free-range' techniques most big operators use, so it's not worth doing unless prices are substantially higher than for eggs produced by other methods – which is why the big producers don't want a legal definition of 'free range' to prohibit de-beaking and limit flock sizes.
It's often possible to get away with infrequent house moves as the manure under a chicken house becomes drier and less obnoxious the longer the house sits in one place. For the first few days a house is in a new spot, the manure can be wet and smelly. If the house has been in one place for a month, the manure is quite dry and there is no smell. Moving the houses too frequently seems to maximize the wetness and smell. Some operators have trays under the sheds to catch the manure and allow it to be spread where it is required rather than simply dropping through to the ground under the chicken house.
On clay soil, the mud problem makes it important to keep a solid turf at all times. Permanent pasture is the simplest way of achieving this, though a crop rotation with grasses or clover as one phase will also work. On sandy or gravely soils, cultivating the soil does not lead to an instant mud problem, so keeping the chickens among growing crops is a viable alternative.
Chickens love shade. It keeps them cool, out of the wind, and protects them from eagles, hawks and owls. Plantings of things like Kangaroo Apples, corn, kale, and sunflowers are suitable in the range areas, and native grasses can help to boost protein levels (as well as being drought tolerant to maintain green feed for most of the year). Adding plants like purslane in the pasture can boost Omega 3 levels in the eggs.

The chooks were extra glad to see me this morning!

It's always hard getting deliveries of feed exactly when we need them. We have a six tonne silo and we usually need to fill it every six weeks or so. The time it lasts depends on how many hens we have on the farm and the weather (hens eat less in warmer weather).
If we order the feed too early, and it arrives the next day (as has happened in the past) there may not be room for it in the silo.
So when I think there's just a couple of days feed left in the silo, I order a delivery. The difficulty then is that the feed mill understandably wants to minimise its fuel costs (don't we all) by waiting 'til it has a full truck load for the area - which may be three, four or even five days away.
That's what happened this time. I had to go to our local feed store to buy ten bags of mixed grains to get the chooks through - needless-to-say they didn't much care for the change in diet.
So after the truck delivered this morning, I went round the farm filling up the feed bins in each paddock and the chooks thought I was Father Christmas!

New flock of pullets settling in

The new flock of 200 Isa Brown pullets are settling in well. They arrived yesterday and at first they weren't too sure about Bella - the Maremma whose job it is to protect them from marauding foxes, dogs, humans (if you can call them that) and birds of prey.
But within 12 hours or so the young hens were happily playing with her and inspecting her kennel.
The birds are well grown and I'm sure will start laying in week or so.

Getting ready for a new flock

A new flock of 200 point of lay hens is arriving next week and we've been making sure everything is ready for them on the farm.
Their mobile shed has been cleaned out and the electric mesh fences moved to ensure they have new pasture to roam on.
We never lock our chooks up so it's important that we move the sheds and fences fairly often to maintain pasture growth.
The new flock will maintain our overall numbers at around 800 as we have been selling off a flock of older birds to people who want hens for their backyards.

Freeranger Farm visits and field trips

We have just begun encouraging visits to the Freeranger Farm on Sunday afternoons. Each week we have enquiries about how we do things and there are always individuals and groups from all over the place, including schools, wanting to look at our farming methods and the way the farm has been designed to promote biodiversity as well as produce income.
Often we can meet people's needs during the week but if we can encourage most to visit on Sundays it will leave the rest of the week free to do all the things that have to be done around the property.
Many people have a virtual visit first on our website at http://www.freeranger.com.au/ - and then come for the real thing!
The visit needn't take long, but for those who want to wander through the native bush and take a look at the last remaining riparian forest on the Bass River, it will take a couple of hours or more.

Certified Organic Audits

As if I didn't have enough to do already, I have just taken part in a three day inspector training workshop with the the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia ( NASAA). I already carry out environmental audits for small businesses including farms, inspect members of the Free Farmers Association for compliance with their regulations and audit farms for the Australian Egg Corporation's 'Egg Corp Assured' program.
It seemed to be a natural progression to add organic audits to the mix and I'm looking forward to it even though time is a precious commodity.
It's hard being away from the farm for three days because there is always so much that needs to be done. I had to take the baby wombat with me - she is the only animal in our wildlife shelter at the moment. She needs around four feeds a day (mostly at night) and by taking her with me it meant that Anne had one less thing to do while I was away.
Our farm is running well and we are getting ready for the arrival of a new point of lay flock.

What does free range mean - consumer survey

We'd like a few more responses to our survey on what free range egg buyers think they are buying. Earlier results have been collated and are published on this Blog, but we would like more input.
Recent egg substitution problems in the UK have shown that the problem is widespread. But in many parts of the world the real issue is that there is no real national definition of the term free range which means the same to you as it does to producers. It will help if we get a meaningful definition that means the same thing to everybody.
Please take a little time to respond with your thoughts about what “Free Range” means to you.
For example:
Do you think free range hens forage over pasture during most daylight hours?
Do you think there is a limit on the number of hens in one shed or on one area of land? If so how many hens and how large should the area of land be?
Do you think free range hens are de-beaked (or beak trimmed)?
Do you look for accreditation details on the label to ensure that the eggs you buy are really free range?
Is it OK to use lighting to extend daylight hours in free range sheds (to increase the numbers of eggs laid) ?
Do you buy free range eggs because: they taste better; more humane treatment of animals; or some other reason?
Where do you buy your free range eggs; from a supermarket, health food shop, local store, direct from a farm or do you have home delivery?
Please write as much or as little as you like on each topic and feel free to add any additional thoughts.
Email address: freeranger@dcsi.net.au
website: www.freeranger.com.au

Freeranger back to South Gippsland Farmers' Market

The South Gippsland Farmer's Market at Koonwarra was one of the first genuine farmers' markets in Victoria offering only produce direct from the farmer to the customer.
It's success has been a result of sticking with local producers and offering food that is always fresh and which has a regional variation to make the market unique.
Many markets in Victoria have stallholders from all over the State, which makes a mockery of any claims that the produce being offered is local to the area in which it is being sold. Often the same stalls sell products made in factories or in commercial kitchens from produce bought at normal wholesale fruit and vegetable markets - hardly what Farmers' Markets are supposed to be about.
The attraction of the real Farmers' Markets is the regional variation - there's no point in going if you can get the same stuff everywhere!
We were one of the original farm stalls when the market started at Koonwarra and we are returning for the Easter market held at Koonwarra on Saturday April 7.
We are very pleased to be coming back to Koonwarra because we always felt it was a great market. We unfortunately had to make a commercial decision to stop going to Koony because of eggs being brought in from interstate which reduced demand for the local product. There were also consumer health issues with illegal eggs being sold by backyard operators using secondhand cartons and with no food safety programs in place.
It looks like the situation has now been resolved.
We are also now selling our eggs at the Kongwak market on most Sundays.

Drought is still an Aussie Problem

The farm is still in the midst of drought. I've never seen the paddocks so dry and I'm just so thankful that we sold off most of our cattle eighteen months ago.
If we had tried to keep them, we would be in such financial strife because the end is still not in sight.
An uncle of my wife always used to say that he couldn't sleep at night unless he had three years of hay in the shed. So the problems we are having now are not new!
The drought keeps pushing up the cost of grain which means we have to increase the price of our free range eggs - but at some point it seems likely that we won't have any water for the hens or for us. Our tanks have around 40,000 litres left - so we are anxiously looking at the sky (and the barometer) for any signs of rain.

The size of eggs and value per kilogram

It's taken me a while to even think about this (and I have no idea why it took so long) but I've just worked out the relative value per kilo of the different size eggs our hens lay.
We offer six sizes of eggs starting with pullets eggs when a new flock begins to lay. They work out at $3.60 per kilo.
A 500 gram 10 pack (50 gram eggs) works out at $8 per kilo, a 700 g dozen pack is $7.80 a kilo, 770 g packs are $7.80 a kilo, 840 g packs are $7.70 a kilo and 950 g megga packs (some of these eggs are over 100 grams each) are $7.40 per kilo.
The pullets eggs obviously represent top value and we will pushing them at the Churchill Island Farmers' Market on Australia Day.
The protein content of eggs is 124 gram per kilo so it's the best value protein on the market.