Yesterday was Earth Day, an annual event to demonstrate support for protecting the environment. It was first held in 1970 and includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org.
Here at Freeranger Eggs, we treat every day as Earth Day and run the farm in a fully sustainable manner. Check out our website: www.freeranger.com.au
Mix water, sugar and yeast together in a small bowl. Set aside to activate for 5 minutes or until foamy.
Place flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Add the foamy yeast mixture and the oil. Process to combine, then knead the dough before placing in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for approximately 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Briefly knead the dough then divide into 4 portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion into a thin circle or oval and transfer to lightly oiled baking trays; cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 225°C.
Arrange bacon in rings on the bases and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and break an egg into the centre of each pizza (the bacon should form an edge to hold the eggs in place). Bake for 8 minutes.
Scatter with kale and bake for 2-3 minutes more until the eggs are cooked and the crust is golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.
Steady rain overnight continues this morning (30mm) and looks like it will keep going for most of the day. It will be a great opportunity for indoor activities like baking and jam making.
The rain is great for pasture growth and the veggie garden. An added benefit is that it has improved air quality by eliminating smoke from the mindless planned burns by the CFA and the State Government’s Forest Fire Management team of pyromaniacs.
At least 5% of egg laying hens in the United States are reported to be infected with avian influenza; The infection, which affects hens in 29 states is cutting production and will result in increased mortality.
Following reports of large-scale deception by some egg businesses, Australian Eggs is hosting a webinar at 11.30am on Tuesday 14 June to launch its new egg industry traceability tool. All egg farmers are invited to take part to learn more about the tool and how it can be implemented on farm. Many free-range egg producers warned some years ago that egg stamping, and labelling requirements imposed by politicians were inadequate to meet customer expectations and the requirements of consumer law.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change demonstrates the importance of the farming techniques and lifestyle choices we have undertaken at Freeranger Eggs
the report concentrates primarily on mitigation or reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. the world’s leading climate scientists identify pathways to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, it says that we can’t just leave the issues for Governments to solve – we all must play our part in reducing our impact on the natural environment
Check our website to see many of the steps we have taken, www.freeranger.com.au
The US financial analytical and data business, Bloomberg, says that consolidation in the egg industry is driving small farmers out of business.
Deadly avian influenza is spreading across the U.S. and is hitting commercial egg farms, forcing farmers to kill millions of hens. Feeding the birds is also costly, with grain prices high, partly due to supply chain shortages caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, the U.S. industry is shifting to producing mostly cage-free eggs
Economies of scale mean that the higher costs have little effect on major corporate producers such as Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. producer, which has 20% of the market. It’s been buying smaller operators in recent years. The company is spending $82 million on acquisitions to increase its cage-free operations. Similar cost pressures are being experienced here and the big corporates are planning major expansions – particularly as politicians trashed labeling standards, allowing intensive production to be described as 'free range'.
Check out our website www.freeranger.com.au to see why our eggs are so tasty and why the farm has a carbon-neutral footprint. Freeranger Eggs is one of only a handful of real free-range poultry farms in Australia. Genuine free-range eggs will never be found in a major supermarket. Labels are meaningless on eggs in stupidmarkets.
Combine a cup of water and a cup of milk in a medium saucepan and warm over low heat until about 100 degrees F Remove from heat and after cooling, sprinkle 2tsp dried yeast and 1tsp sugar and a pinch of flour over the surface of the liquid. Set aside without stirring, until foamy and rising up the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
Whisk 6 cups of flour, ½ cup of sugar, 2 tsp salt, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½tsp cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and stir in the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon to make a thick, shaggy, and slightly sticky dough. Stir in 1 cup currants. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes. Shape into a ball.
Brush the inside of a large bowl with butter. Put dough in bowl, turning to coat lightly with butter. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour 30 minutes. To form the rolls: Butter a 9 by 14-inch baking pan. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16 by 8 inches. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, about 2 ounces each.
place them in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Remove the plastic wrap and brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg. Bake rolls at 375 until golden brown and puffy, about 25 mins. For the glaze: Stir together icing sugar, milk, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Transfer icing to a zip-lock bag or pastry bag and make a small cut in the corner of the bag. Ice buns with a thick cross on the warm buns.
Despite all the chaos in modern life caused by bureaucratic bungling, having less income than needed, inadequate health services etc politicians are now spending time discussing the extension of daylight saving so we don’t have the inconvenience of adjusting our clocks twice a year. Politicians really have a fixation with population control rather than letting people get on with their lives. Now they want to expand their roles as time thieves.
The answer is very simple – scrap daylight saving and maintain uniform time throughout the year. If people want more daylight at the end of their working day, Start work earlier, instead of working 9 to 5. work from 8am to 4pm - problem solved. Our hens don't need watches to tell them when to start laying eggs. Activity on the farm is dictated by the natural cycles of daylight and seasons – not by the arbitrary decisions of inept politicians and fat-cat bureaucrats. The lost hour of morning light makes it difficult for farmers to get crops to market and livestock adjusted to changes in schedules.
Increasing world grain prices following retaliation by Russia against western sanctions will almost certainly add to living costs in many countries. It will force up the price of many foods including eggs and meat. Egg prices are already rising in some states because local weather conditions hit grain yields.
summer crops such as corn could be severely affected with only about half the normal area planted because of the fighting.
There are many simple egg dishes which can be served as snacks on the Labour Day holiday. Pancakes with various toppings can be a good start.
How about Chinese Egg Tarts. Using shortcrust or puff pastry, cut the pastry to fit into each mold. Fill the tart bases with beaten eggs and a little butter.
Bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes, then 10 minutes at180 degrees C.
Free-range eggs could soon start disappearing from supermarket shelves in the UK because of restrictions imposed last November to stop the spread of avian influenza, Farmers say the move could ruin them.
Bird flu restrictions were strengthened on November 29, when a housing order was brought in. Since then, farmers have been required to keep their birds indoors.
If the housing order remains in place after March 21, it will mean birds have been kept inside for more than 16 weeks, preventing their eggs from being sold as free-range.
Unless restrictions are lifted, free range egg producers will need to add
stickers to their packaging explaining why the eggs are now classed
as barn eggs.
Jane Howorth from the British Hen Welfare Trust said: "Although it might seem a little contrary to be buying a free-range egg from a hen that hasn't been free-ranging, it's all the more important that we do still support those British free-range farmers that have invested in that system. It's the best welfare for the birds. Keep buying those eggs because soon, in a few weeks' time, hopefully the migration season will have gone and it will all be back outside again, hens having a nice time scratching around," she added. If such restrictions were imposed here, genuine free-range producers would be decimated but there would be little impact on eggs in supermarkets because all eggs sold there are from intensive farms, even those labelled 'free-range'.
Our Isa Browns are really enjoying themselves following the last couple days of rain which laid the dust and made it easy to scratch for worms.
The farm NBN service wasn't working all day today, so we had no internet or phone. Thankfully it's working now, which is not as bad as the last time when we also lost power as a result of storm damage and spent many days without communication.
Unreliable telecommunications services following the construction of the National Broadband Network and the forced removal of landline telephones are a threat to Australia’s economy as well as lives. Not only is the whole system vulnerable to deliberate cyber attacks, it is often crashed by technical and weather-related issues. When the internet is down, home and business telephones as well as computer services and electronic payment systems stop working. It is understandable for major outages to happen during catastrophic storms or bushfires but even occasional fixed wireless maintenance work on a tower many miles away shuts down all communications here in Grantville and Glen Forbes. Lives are at risk when an emergency arises during a communications failure. Perhaps the Government feels secure in the knowledge that even when phone and internet work, emergency services are unable to find us because bureaucrats changed the physical address of our property from Grantville to Glen Forbes even though there is no access to us from Glen Forbes.
Pancake Day is celebrated on March 1 this year (Tuesday). A thin flat cake prepared with a batter made with eggs, milk flour, and oil or butter, the pancake and its variations are found in almost every culture.
this batter breakfast staple dates back more than 30,000 years and may be the oldest breakfast food. With toppings, you can make it sweet or savoury.
It will be only a matter of time before we have another round of Avian Influenza in Australia once residents return home from overseas and tourists are allowed in. Waves of avian influenza in China, other Asian countries,the US, the UK and Europe have a greater risk of spreading to humans because of a high number of variants, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has said. The Director General Monique Eliot announced that “the situation is more difficult and more risky because we see more variants emerge, which make them harder to follow."
"Eventually the risk is that it mutates or that it mixes with a human flu virus that can be transmitted between humans then suddenly it takes on a new dimension, "she added.
More than 15 countries have current infections.The last avian influenza outbreak here, in 2020 disrupted the industry because of the widespread practice of moving eggs and staff between corporate egg businesses. There were nseven previous outbreaks between 1076 and 1997. As we have advised previously Factory farms have been incubating the next outbreak of Avian Influenza in this country since Ministers approved an intensive stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare. They put the entire Australian egg industry at risk. Such high densities allow any disease outbreak to spread rapidly. One gram of droppings from a chicken infected with bird flu contains enough viruses to infect the entire flock.It also promotes the spread of other problems, such as salmonella.
Of the current 1,568 human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9), 33 have reported mutations in a gene indicating a change to high pathogenicity in poultry. These 33 cases were from Taiwan, China and Mongolia.
With 10mm of rain overnight and so far today, the farm is looking good and the chickens, sheep and other animals are grazing happily. The sheep have done well and a few went off to market this week. Egg production is excellent although it's never enough to keep up with demand. we only have enough eggs to supply regular customers which means we have to say "No" to people who rock up wanting eggs for themselves, their shop or restaurant.
While lamb is regarded as traditional fare on Australia Day, eggs can also feature. How about starting the day with pancakes or muffins!
Pancakes are great for breakfast anytime. Just about anything can be added to vary the taste. Lemon and honey or maple syrup is an option. Berries and cream is another With Shrove Tuesday approaching, here’s a simple recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons white sugar (leave out for savoury pancakes)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or a knob of butter
A scientist says that an invasive weed could be used as a protein source for animal or human food.
gorse bushes that have invaded many landscapes could produce enough protein to feed millions of people, according to the leader of a Scottish government research programme.
The suggestion by Prof Wendy Russell, at the University of Aberdeen, comes from research on the protein content of invasive plants that are currently sprayed with toxic herbicides or burned to keep them under control.
Gorse contains 17% protein she said “Gorse was fed to cattle at times when crops failed in the past, so we think protein from these plants could be used as animal food. If protein isolates are produced in the correct way, so to be safe, they could be considered as human food in the future.”
“The whole point about gorse is it is actively being removed from marginal lands – it’s something we can gain protein from at no extra cost,” she said. Gorse is widespread trhroughout Australia.
Recent media interest in keeping backyard poultry, has prompted strong growth in the numbers kept as backyard flocks. With estimates of up to 2.2 million backyard hens, Australian Eggs has taken steps to remind consumers to be aware of the animal and human health risks associated with the practice and is encouraging biosecurity education.
Australian Eggs’ Managing Director, Rowan McMonnies, said backyard poultry keeping presents risks for animal and human health. Backyard owners need to understand the responsibilities. Mr McMonnies said “People need to realise that once you’re a suburban ‘egg farmer’ there are important biosecurity risks to protect against.
“Diseases spread quickly and widely and potential transfer from backyard to commercial flocks can put food security for the broader community at risk.
“It’s understandable that people think backyard farming is clean and natural but these set-ups can pose significant problems because of how accessible they are to wild animals.
Ten things backyard poultry owners may practice to reduce biosecurity risks:
Always wash hands after handling chickens or eggs.
Keep chickens away from ponds and rivers as water birds are known carriers of avian influenza.
Ensure that wild birds cannot access the chickens’ feed or water. Diseases can be easily transmitted to poultry by contamination of feed or water.
Keep other animals like domestic geese or turkeys, and even cats and dogs, well away as they can bring disease to chickens.
Use safe water sources such as town water, good quality bore water or sanitised surface water for chickens to drink.
Provide a secure rodent-proof enclosure for poultry as rats and mice are known carriers of disease.
Any kitchen scraps fed to chickens should be fresh. When spoiled, any animal products in scraps may carry dangerous bacteria.
Check hens regularly for anything unusual such as coughing, diarrhoea or swollen eyes.
If a chicken is showing signs of sickness, isolate the sick animal from others and seek veterinary advice.
Call Animal Health Australia’s 24-hour emergency animal disease watch hotline on 1800 675 888 if there are unusual symptoms or signs of serious disease.
Legitimate freerange farmers meet all handling and labelling requirements which increases production costs. It has always been seen as unfair that backyard producers who sell eggs are not required to meet the same regulatory imposts. Phil Westwood of Freeranger Eggs said “It’s great for people to produce eggs for their own consumption, but if they sell the eggs, they should meet the same food safety and packaging laws imposed on the rest of us.”
more than half a million egg-laying chickens at Moshav Margaliot, a communal farm in Israel are being culled to contain an outbreak of avian influenza and minimise the risk to humans. The farm provides 7% of all eggs consumed in Israel. Recent outbreaks have occurred in various countries and it is hoped that the virus does reach Australia this time.
The last avian influenza outbreak here disrupted the industry because of the widespread practice of moving eggs and staff between corporate properties.
Consumer demand for freerange eggs has been increasing all over the world and Australia is no exception.
Shoppers in this country bought 525 million dozen eggs in 1920/21 and for the first time more than 50% were labelled as freerange. Sounds great, but most people buy eggs in supermarkets which only stock eggs from intensive production systems.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made a great attempt to stamp out the practice of egg substitution by obtaining convictions in the Federal Court for deceptive practices. Several penalties for $300,000 were imposed and one totalled $1,000,000 including costs. However, profits are so large that all those operators are still in business. The reality is that by doing nothing but simply adding the words ‘free range’ to their labels can boost each company's net profit by around $2.5 million a year, So. For them, paying occasional fines is just another cost of doing business.In its various judgments, the Federal Court found that to be clasasified as freerange, hens must be allowed to move freely on an open range and not confined to barns.
Pullet eggs make excellent hors d’ouvres at this time of year (or any other time for that matter) Just one example:devilled eggs make grest snacks.Pulleteggs are the small eggs from young hens(pullets) when they start to lay.
Food safety is important for any food producer and an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) at egg laying facilities in 2019 presented a new challenge to the industry. Australian Eggs says that to improve the industry, producers need to know where eggs are moving to and from so that in the event of an outbreak, farms can protect themselves and the rest of the industry.
Australian Eggs has developed a traceability tool – Egg Trace -to record egg movements and reduce the scale of any disease outbreaks. Egg Trace has been directed towards helping small to medium farms that may not already have effective traceability or a user-friendly method to track eggs on and from farm. A much better and far simpler solution would be to not transfer eggs between operators, But, of course that won’t happen because big operations haveto buy-in eggs from all over the country to meet contracts with stupidmarkets.
To maintain animal health and good lay rates, laying hens need a minimum protein content in their feed of about 17%.Cereal grains like wheat, barley, sorghum and maize are the main energy sources used by Australian poultry farmers. Protein and its constituent amino acids are mainly provided by vegetable sources such as soybean, canola, peas, other legumes and sunflowers, but animal by products, are often used. Some vegetable protein sources may be unbalanced in amino acids, but soybean is regarded as the best. Animal by-products like meat meal, meat-and-bone meal, blood meal, fish meal and feather meal are higher in protein content and their amino acids are more balanced than those of plant sources. Which is why they are included in poultry diets by virtually all intensive egg producers. A good reason not to buy eggs in stupidmarkets.fresh pumpkin seeds are amongst the best high-protein feeds available for a flock(30%).
Stable weather and strong demand are perfect conditions for egg production. When chickens enjoy warm, sunny days with good pasture, they happily lay plenty of eggs. Coupled with what is hopefully a return to sanity by our State Government in ending lockdowns and permitting freedom to travel, we are once again being allowed to earn a living.Good layers such as Isa Browns lay an egg a day for a total of around 300 eggs a year. we still have a few hens available as backyard layers contact us to arrange a time for you to pick them up.
Foxes seem to be increasing in numbers and are now a constant threat on the farm, despite the protection of our Maremma guardian dogs.
in rural areas of Victoria, there are said to be between 1 and 4 foxes per square kilometre. I think we have more than our fair share here in West Gippsland.
Chickens make a tasty meal, if they can catch them. But foxes also dine on a variety of native wildlife including many species of birds, bandicoots, growling grass frogs and swamp skinks. Hopefully we can get some shooters in to reduce predator numbers.
An American website has published an article on the benefits of eating eggs. Here is part of the piece published by Mashed.com.
An egg contains almost every nutrient needed by humans and can be considered a superfood. Although eggs are high in cholesterol, they can raise levels of HDL(high-density lipoprotein) which is ”good" cholesterol. This has been found to decrease the chance of stroke and heart disease in some people. The amount of nutrients in an egg dramatically depends on the diet and environment of the hens producing them.
supermarket eggs usually come from caged chickens fed a vegetarian diet. Because this is not their natural diet, it results in a less nutritious egg.
eggs of free-range
hens that are allowed to forage for their food have much higher
amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as more vitamins and
nutrients
Another benefit of eggs from freerange chickens is
that they are less likely to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella infections are more likely to occur
in chickens that are subjected to conditions of industrial egg farms. Free-range chickens are less
likely to be infected by a salmonella outbreak because they aren't
packed into cages or sheds with other hens where the bacteria can
spread more easily. Consumers are increasingly more concerned
with where their food comes from, and they prefer buying eggs laid by
happier, healthier chickens.
France has a big surplus of freerange eggs as producers have changed to non-cage production systems but shoppers have gone back to buying cheaper battery eggs.
The London Times reports that sales of organic and free-range eggs have dropped more than 3 per cent this year in France, Europe’s biggest egg producer. Since lockdown restrictions were lifted, people have been less vigilant about the type they are eating in processed food and in canteens, bistros and sandwich bars.
