The free range/organic con is just as active in the USA

It's not just in Australia where big business is conning consumers. Have a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbqyAemRlno&feature=player_embedded

Chicca's back home

I picked up Chicca from the vet yesterday and she's back on the farm. Looking a whole lot better.

Her temperature is back to normal and she has her appetite back.  We have to keep her inside for a few days until her course of antbiotics is finished (three tablets twice a day) but she doesn't mind as it's pretty wet and miserable outside now.

Quick trip to the vet

Chicca enjoys her 'spa'

We were just about to leave the farm this morning  to head off to Melbourne for an egg industry forum when we noticed that one of our dogs wasn't well.

Chicca didn't want to eat (highly unusual for her) and she seemed to have a high temperature so I rang our local vet straight away and arranged to take her in.

She had dropped heaps of weight (around 15 kgs). They kept her there for some tests and I didn't get back to the farm until midday so it was too late to head off to the city.

This was the forum at which the Australian Egg Corporation says it plans to unveil its new standard for 'free range' egg production - but that will happen whether I am there or not!

I should hear tonight if they went ahead with it, or whether the problems they have encountered made them delay the decision yet again.

More bodgy 'free range' applications to come

A planning application lodged with Mitchell Shire at Seymour in Victoria looks like one of the first applications for a 'free range' farm being set up under the proposed high density standards which the Australian Egg Corporation is still trying to establish.

Valley Park Farms has lodged a planning application for an 'intensive animal husbandry' facility but in its press releases, the company refers to it as a 'free range' egg farm. Free Range Farmers Association has lodged an objection and asked the Shire to consider the stocking density proposed on the farm.

It pointed out the requirements of The Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - Domestic Poultry  which allows a maximum stocking density on free range egg farms of 1500 birds per hectare. The total amount of land on which this development is proposed is 84.7 Ha - indicating an absolute maximum farm capacity of 127,000 chickens.

The proponents are suggesting 170,000 birds in a total of ten sheds.

The land will be divided into paddocks and the property will also have ancilliary shedding, roads, laneways, and the application includes a dwelling, which all reduce the amount of land on which the birds can roam to qualify as 'free range'.

FRFA also asked the Council to establish how much of the land will be accessed by the hens every day and impose a permit limit on the number of hens to meet the requirements of the Model Code. The stocking density proposed is likely to have serious off-site implications as a result of contaminated run-off.

The application is Planning Permit No P306142/10 To use and develop the land for intensive animal husbandry with caretaker's dwelling and to remove native vegetation. Goulburn Valley Highway, Seymour.

New solar hot water on the farm

We called Solahart to come and service the elderly solar hot water service on the farm cottage because it had stopped heating, They sent a plumber along and he fitted a new electric element but said it was pointless carrying out a service as the unit was useless. Not surprising really as we installed it nearly30 years ago. (Solahart still tried to charge us for a full service)

The newly installed Solahart unit

Anyway we got him back a week or so later to install a new system - or rather a second hand one as the casing had been damaged by hail and was an insurance write-off.

While he was here, I asked him to look at the solar unit on our main farmhouse - and that was a mistake.

The evacuated tube solar hot water system on our main house.
It's apparently the most efficient system there is -
but we are not convinced! 

It's an evacuated tube system which had a slight  water leak, so I always turned the water off to it unless we were using it for showers etc.  When he left, the leaks were worse than before he arrived, so I wish I had kept my mouth shut!!!

I'll now have to clamber around on the roof trying to reduce the leaks

As we are now heading into cold weather we need hot water - but we don't want to increase our energy consumption or our carbon footprint.

Get ready for the next round of financial turmoil

Most individuals and businesses don't spend a lot of time thinking about the global economy - after all that's what we pay our politicians and accountants for.

But the ramifications of corporate greed and political incompetence hits us all. Anyone with money in a superannuation fund, investments in the stock market, property, or simply in the business they are running, is vulnerable to problems in international financial markets.

The soaring price of gold is a stark indicator of a loss of confidence in currencies.

On Wednesday, November 3, 2010, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a second round of quantitative easing (QE2) to stimulate the economy. The plan was to purchase $600 billion of U.S. Treasury securities by the middle 2011. It was just after the November 2, 2010 General Election, and most of the world missed it because the election dominated the headlines.

For those of us who aren't sure what 'quantitative easing' means, here's Wikipedia's definition:

Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by some central banks to stimulate their economy when conventional monetary policy has become ineffective. The central bank buys government bonds and other financial assets, with new money that the bank creates electronically, in order to increase the money supply and the excess reserves of the banking system.

This allowed the U.S. Government to authorise the Treasury Department to print money. No real currency has actually been printed, but the Federal Reserve has been able to electronically credit each commercial bank, allowing them to buy maturing U.S. bonds and treasury notes as part of their liquidity reserves. The Federal Reserve started this even before the financial meltdown of 2008, a policy which is plunging the US (and the rest of the world) into a financial disaster which is likely to last for decades..

As well as the $600 billion quantitative easing announced last November, the Federal Reserve announced that it was "reinvesting" an additional $250 billion to $300 billion from the proceeds of its mortgage portfolio in U.S. Treasury securities - a total injection of about $900 billion.

If at some stage, the Federal Reserve concludes that the U.S. economy is not growing fast enough, and decides more quantitative easing is needed, a third round may begin and then we can all kiss economic stability goodbye! Many economists believe that the Federal Reserve is already out-of-control and that the global economic system is heading for disaster.

The sad thing is that the Federal Reserve seems to believe that the policy has been working.

Accumulated problems within the U.S. economy after many years of neglect, inaction and excessive spending on pointless wars, have now been aggravated by turmoil in the Middle East and natural disasters on a scale which is mind-boggling.

From November 2008 to March 2010, the Federal Reserve bought more than $1.7 trillion in mortgage backed securities and treasury bonds. Through its quantitative easing policy, it created a portfolio of U.S. bonds and notes purchased from banks totalling more than $2.5 trillion by the March 2011. Some critics see the rising price of oil and other commodities as indicators of broader price increases which are set to spiral out of control as the U.S. risks heading into hyper-inflation territory..

Some believe that the Federal Reserve strategy may have helped stabilise the economy in the short-term, but unemployment still remains high (8.8% at the end of March 2011). Monthly U.S. home sales are still close to record low levels. New construction is also at historic lows. Banks tightened their credit criteria and have not been not lending much. As at January 2011, American banks had excess reserves of $1 trillion as customers borrowed less and  bankrupcy rates increased.

Foreign countries are balking at U.S. government's quantitative easy policies, and the U.S. will either have to start paying higher interest rates on government debt in order to attract enough investors, or the Federal Reserve will just have to drop all pretence and permanently start buying up most of the debt. Either way, the financial world will never be the same.

Webcam view of 'free range' egg production

Major egg producer, Sunny Queen has set up a webcam to show hens on one of its 'free range' farms.
The site can be accessed at:
 http://www.sunnyqueen.com.au/eggcam/

Unfortunately the quality is not good enough to see whether or not the birds are de-beaked or beak trimmed, but because of the scale of the company and its operations, they almost certainly are beak trimmed.
Sunny Queen is represented on the board of the Australian Egg Corporation which is trying to push through a new standard to define 'free range' egg production to allow up to 20,000 birds per hectare.
I bet Sunny Queen won't be too keen to show the results of a stocking density like that.

Jinma - worst tractors in the world?

I think it's a bit rough to call the Chinese Jinma tractors the worst in the world. They certainly don't measure up to a Case, John Deere, Fendt - or even a Fiat. But they don't cost that much either.

In this world, the best you can hope for is generally to get what you pay for.
I've had quite a few different tractors on the farm and as a basic workhorse, my Jinma 354 is OK (for a cheapie). The biggest problem with our unit was the hydraulics. They didn't work properly from day one. The controller for the front end loader was replaced a couple of weeks after delivery because of a manufacturing fault, fluid leaks continued unabatedfor three years.
We used at least $100 of hydraulic fluid every year because of leaks in the system. Mechanics who come to fix it say 'Oh it's Chinese. That's what they do.'
Then at last we mnaged to get it fixed. Apart from the cost of the leaking hydraulics, the only other big gripe was the rear hydraulic lift but that has now also been fixed.  The front end loader works great I must admit that a few choice words have passed my lips about my Jinma - but then I think .... I should have paid $50,000 for a tractor instead of $20,000.
It does a great job  pulling our mobile chicken sheds around the paddocks - and as that's its primary purpose, it scrapes by as 'not the worst tractor in the world.'

World Egg Day in October

Every year on the second Friday in October, it's World Egg Day, a campaign developed by the International Egg Commission to promote the consumption of eggs.This year it's October 14 and there will be a range of events here in Australia as well as around the rest of the world.
Here's the link for more info:
http://www.thinkegg.com/worldeggday.asp#
Now that medical researchers have come to their senses and recognised that eggs are good for us (even the Heart Foundation has given eggs the tick of approval), eggs are being included as part of a healthy diet.
My favorites are poached and scrambled, but I like eggs any way - as long as they are free range.The nutritional value and taste are far superior to eggs produced on factory farms. Those intensive facilities which call themselves 'free range' but debeak (or beak trim) their birds should also be classed as factory farms, because the hens cannot forage properly. They can generally only eat feed provided for them in pans or trays - so the eggs they lay are nutritionally identical to cage laid eggs where the chickens can only eat that same food. Genuine free range birds with full beaks are able to supplement their diet by eating worms, spiders, grasshoppers etc  - all the things they are supposed to eat and which add to the nutritional value of their eggs.

Here's one Chinese treat you could try to celebrate World Egg Day: Thousand Year Eggs Take a dozen or so raw chook eggs and add a few ingredients, including ash, salt, clay and lime. Then, bury the whole eggs in the ground (a pot filled with soil will do) for a thousand years or so (the recipe calls for 100 days). Then, dig them up and munch away. Both the white and yolk will have a grayish, dark colour. The yolk will have a green hue or tint. Some find the grayish green yolk unattractive (I can't think why).
I'll defnitely pass on that. But if anyone wants to give it a go, please let me know how you went!!!

Chefs have great difficulty finding real free range eggs

There's an excellent article about the difficulty in finding real free range eggs by chef Sebastian Carosi, published in the US newspaper, Rappahannock News.
Here's some of his article.

Good eggs are hard to come by — harder than you may think. It seems you can find chicken and eggs labeled “organic” and “free range” in just about any grocery store these days, packaged in bucolic images of rolling green hills and red barns. That is almost never the reality, even among these supposedly humane alternatives.
A chicken fed organic feed in a confinement barn with a tiny dirt yard does not represent ethical or sustainable farming. With this said, I guess that it all depends on how lazy the farmer is . . .
If said farmer does not let his barnyard birds out of the coop until noon, chances are the hens’ laying boxes will be full of quality eggs. But, if said chickens are let out to pasture, the said “lazy farmer” must start the process of finding and gathering all of the eggs that the hens have deposited around the yard, and carefully get them to the barn or kitchen to wash.
Pastured eggs are seasonal — the hens lay less as the days get shorter. In industrial confined egg operations they use artificial lights and a horrible practice called forced molting to overcome this. That means that starting in October, egg production declines and by November, may be half what it is in the summer. However, while the ladies are resting and not earning their keep, they are eating even more expensive grains because of the cold weather. That’s another reason why pastured eggs cost more.

Not everything he says is entirely accurate - for example our hens are never locked up in their sheds and yet the vast majority of them lay their eggs in nest boxes. We don't have to find the eggs in the 'yard' (or paddock in our case) and we never need to wash our eggs -because they aren't dirty.
You can read the rest at:
http://www.rappnews.com/2011/04/21/add-freedom-to-your-eggs/14499/

We have asked the William Angliss catering school in Melbourne to consider including farm visits to different egg production facilities so budding chefs can understand the different production systems and see why the qualityof eggs varies.

Feeding the world

There's nothing new under the sun. The world's major corporations are trying to tell us that genetically modified plants, artificial fertilisers, pesticides and factory farming techniques are essential if we are to feed the world in the coming decades.

We are told that the population explosion means that we must embrace ever-more intensive practices.

Possibly one of the first population explosions experienced in our relatively modern world happened after the agrarian revolution in England.

Thomas Malthus (1766 – 1834), a British economist was the first to point out that the advent of scientific agriculture had not solved all mankind's problems, indeed it only increased them.

While new methods allowed food production to increase in arithmetical progression (where the increase is measured by addition), population increased in a geometrical progression (where the increase is measured by multiplication).

His worst predictions were realised by 1792, which was the last time there was a surplus of English wheat for export.

Ever since, Great Britain has been a food importer. Successive British governments tried to hold the empire together to ensure food security, but everyone is aware that England is an island and if anything happens to stop imports of food, the population faces starvation.

Our Australian politicians are even less bright. They don't seem to worry much about food security. Their priorities have been about fighting wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan - anywhere really. After all it's not them who put their lives on the line. 

Let's get back to the village community, where we produce what we need to support ourselves.

If you'd like to see more of Thomas Malthus' views, have a look at:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/thomas-malthus-theory-of-population.html

RSPCA standard not much better than the Egg Corp

The RSCPA's free range egg standards are almost as much of a consumer con as the current standards of the Egg Corp Assured program and the new standards being proposed by the Australian Egg Corporation.

At least the RSPCA imposes a maximum outdoor stocking density of 2,500 hens per hectare, if a rotational grazing system is able to maintain fodder cover.

The AECL acknowledges that under its current system, some farms are running up to 50,000 chickens per hectare.

Under the new version of the Egg Corporation standards, it proposes to limit stocking density to a maximum of 20,000 birds per hectare.

Both the AECL and the RSPCA allow beak trimming of birds.

The standards of the Free Range Farmers Association limit outdoor stocking density to 750 birds per hectare and beak trimming or de-beaking is prohibited.

The Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry only allows beak trimming as a last resort if other management methods have failed to prevent feather pecking or cannibalism in a flock. It imposes a maximum outdoor stocking density of 1500 birds per hectare, but does allow a higher level if pasture growth can be maintained. It doesn't specify an upper limit and it's that loophole which is exploited by some intensive farms and allows them to get away with massive overstocking. No-one enforces the requirements.

Losing top soil

Last year, the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service estimated that the rate of soil erosion on agricultural land averaged only 5.2 tons per acre per year in Iowa and 3.9 tons per acre per year across the Corn Belt. On the surface, this data was reassuring, because it suggested erosion was within the so-called “sustainable rate.” But a more precise look udertaken through a project run by Iowa State University shows that these statewide or regional estimates are masking the serious damage that occurs when larger storms hit.
“When a storm hits vulnerable or poorly protected soil, fields lose more soil in a single day than is supposed to be sustainable for the whole year, or even decades,” said the University's program head. “If we had the same kind of information for other intensive corn-growing states, the picture would be the same or worse. Alarm bells should be going off across the Corn Belt.”
Farmers are planting fencerow-to-fencerow in response to high crop prices that are likely here to stay. Misguided mandates for corn ethanol production add fuel to the fire, and flawed government farm and insurance subsidies clear the way for all-out production with little regard for what happens to the soil, water and wildlife habitat.
We don't get subsidies in Australia, but there is no reason to believe that things are any better here.
More details at:
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20110413_soil-erosion-in-corn-belt-much-worse

What's really in an egg?

Quite apart from the colouring additives that most egg farms use in the feed they give to their hens, now farms are being urged to add a fly control agent, cyromazine to the feed. It is recommended to use it every day for four to six weeks, then break for a similar period before starting the cycle again.

There is a three day withholding period for meat birds, so they should not be fed the additive for three days prior to slaughter (which is usually when they are around six weeks old). But there is no withholding period for eggs!

Interestingly, manure from hens which have fed this insecticide, should not be spread on land used for growing vegetables at rates greater than four tonnes per hectare.

Hmmmm.

Milking the cash cow

We agree totally with comments by Paul Kerin from the Melbourne Business School on the reaction of some suppliers (especially the factory egg farmers and the Australian Egg Corporation) to the supermarket price war.
His comments can be seen here:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/milking-the-cash-cow-20110404-1cym0.html

Aust Egg Corp is a bigger threat to farmers than the supermarkets

Free range farmers throughout Australia have lodged a submission with the Senate Inquiry into supermarket discounting. We reckon that the big players who are complaining about Coles' decision to cut their margins  on home brand eggs are only whingeing because of their own greed.

Here's part of the submission from FREPAA Inc.

The Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia Inc., is a national body directly representing free range egg farmers in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Our members are required to meet all State and Federal legislative requirements and the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry provides the basis for minimum animal welfare compliance.

Each State affiliate maintains its own standards and auditing procedures.

Our members are concerned that current complaints by the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd. over the actions of Coles Supermarket in cutting the price of its home brand 'free range' eggs have been designed to divert attention from AECL's own actions.

It is disingenuous for the egg corporation to claim that price cutting by Coles will damage the industry and reduce consumer choice.

The free range egg industry is under far more serious threat from AECL's plans to introduce new standards to allow intensively farmed eggs to be labelled as 'free range'.

A new set of standards has been developed which ignores the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry and all international standards. It seeks to allow an increase in farm stocking densities from1500 birds per hectare to 20,000 hens per hectare and to approve the automatic de-beaking or beak trimming of hens.

If this proposed standard is approved, it will open the door for intensive poultry farms to mislead consumers by labelling their eggs as 'free range'. They are keen to do this as it will enable them to charge a premium without incurring significantly higher costs.

This threat is far more serious for the industry throughout Australia than any decision by a supermarket to reduce the price of a home brand product.

There is no compulsion on AECL members or other egg producers to supply eggs for the generic lines marketed by Coles, Woolworths or any retailer. It is clearly an option for egg producers to follow the lead set by Fosters and refuse to supply their product if they are unhappy with the price for which their goods are being sold.

Discerning egg buyers are already suspicious of eggs sold in supermarkets and they are aware that it is extremely unlikely that any eggs sold for $4.00 a dozen could really be what consumers understand as 'free range'.

The proposal by the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd to adopt a new standard has the potential to damage the credibility of egg farmers and is likely to destroy consumer confidence in an industry which has already undergone major problems with egg substitution and deliberate mislabelling.

Fight over the name Egg Standards Australia

This could be the new logo and trade mark for the updated version of the Australian Egg Corporation's quality assurance program.
AECL claimed that all the paperwork was with the ACCC, but that was denied by the ACCC. There have been a number of objections to the proposed name and trade mark application and all the paperwork is still with IP Australia which says it is unlikely to make any decision before 2012.
It seems that Standards Australia will not be happy with the proposed name as it clearly implies that the standard has been developed by Standards Australia when it really is just an industry proposal cobbled together by a private company - the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd.
In its latest newsletter, AECL says that the new standards, logo and trade mark should be ready for approval by the Board in April (next month) and will be revealed to AECL members in May.
We somehow doubt that timeframe will be met. All previous deadlines have been missed and if this application isn't processed until next year, it will be back to the drawing board for the AECL!

Big Berkley died today

Goodbye Berkley

Our beautiful big Berkley died today in one of the chook paddocks. He was the biggest of our Maremmas and was such a good natured dog.
He was around nine years old which is getting on for a Maremma. We were given him when he was around 15 months old because he had outgrown his suburban home. He weighed just on 60 kilos when we picked him up and could hardly walk because he was so fat.
He soon got into shape and had great fun chasing around with the other dogs and watching for foxes. But all he every really wanted to do was come in the house and stretch out in front of the open fire!
He had great eyesight and enjoyed gazing up at passenger jets cruising across the sky. It was just as much fun jumping up and grabbing some eucalyptus leaves as he walked down the drive with us.
Even though he had slimmed down, he was still a big dog and it took around three hours to dig a hole big enough for him.
Goodbye mate.We will miss you.

Egg Corp still can't get its new standard up

The Australian Egg Corp wanted to get its new bodgy egg standard up and running by December 2010 - then it was January 2011, then February/March - now the latest missive from Egg Corp says it won't be revealed to members until May!
Could it be that they have encountered massive problems getting the standard past its own Technical Advisory Committee? They may also be having problems with Standards Australia as well as JAS-ANZ and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Long may it last.
This is the latest info sent out to Egg Corp members:

The TAC met for two days last week with the aim of finalising the content of the proposed egg QA Standard. Due to the volume of discussion and critique of the current content by TAC members, this task was not completed as hoped. Therefore, the TAC is required to meet for another sitting in April to complete the task bestowed upon them.



As a guideline, currently it is anticipated that the egg QA Standard will be presented to the AECL Board at the April meeting for review. Pending a successful outcome, the Standard will then be launched to egg producers in May.


The egg standard program Rules are still with the ACCC hence the new name and logo for the Standard are yet to be confirmed and subsequently made available to egg producers.
 
It seems that AECL is trying adopt the name 'Egg Standards Australia' for its new QA program. It seems highly unlkely that such a name will be approved as it will clearly mislead consumers.

Eggs are one of the healthy foods

Eggs have received a bad reputation over the years. Every now and then they are declared to be a healthy, wholesome food and then they are blamed for raising cholesterol. Now, eggs are once again in vogue - which demonstrates that 'expert' advice depends on which 'expert' you listen to.

It's clear that eggs are not eggs. Free Range Eggs are not just any eggs. Free range eggs are enjoying greater attention now because customers realise that farmers like us, who raise the hens in the traditional way, allowing them to roam over pasture without confining them in sheds or cutting off their beaks so they can't forage properly, are producing food which meets their nutritional and ethical requirements.

There is now a heap of evidence about the health benefits of eating real free range eggs compared with the cage counterparts or eggs from the equivalent intensive 'free range' systems. As a result some factory farm operators, supported  by their industry bully (sorry body) are doing everything they can to close us all down.

Unfortunately there is also some mis-information out there suggesting that yolk colour is the only guide for genuine free range eggs. Some say: 'crack a free range egg in one bowl and a normal farm factory egg in another. Compare the appearances of the eggs to one another. The yolk of the free range egg is a deep vibrant yellow-orange colour whereas the factory egg is a wimpy yellow colour.'

It would be great if it was that simple. However it's all too easy to manipulate yolk colour. Chemical companies make  large profits from selling colouring additives to egg producers to ensure 'a deep vibrant yellow-orange colour' in the yolk. Probably all the cage and barn laid eggs produced in Australia are laid by hens which are fed colouring additives.

In the natural environment, the colour differentiation is due to the high beta carotene content in the free range yolk – over six times more than factory eggs, unless the feed includes colouring. Natural beta carotene, also known as vitamin A, is just one of many benefits free range eggs offer consumers. However, yolk colour should vary, depending on what the birds eat. If your egg yolks are always the same you are eating additives.

Vitamin D and E Benefits and More

The USDA has measured the nutrients in free range eggs and has found that the vitamin D levels were as much as six times higher than the average in factory eggs! Eggs are one of the few natural ways to obtain vitamin D through food sources. The vitamin E levels were almost four times the average of factory eggs. Vitamin D and vitamin E are both essential nutrients for optimal brain, heart, skin and immune system operation.

There are other benefits of free range eggs too. For instance, they have 33% less cholesterol than their factory farm egg counterparts. In addition, there is 25% less saturated fat and two times the average omega three fatty acids. Just eating two free ranges eggs could virtually satisfy the minimum daily requirements for vitamin D.

Another myth is that the viscosity of the egg white is always an indication of the freshness of an egg. It's true that a runny white is often an indication of staleness - but that's not always the case. Diet can have an impact on the albumen and so can the age of the hen.  As hens get older, the eggs whites can become more runny even when they have just been laid , which is one reason most farms get rid of their hens at the end of the first laying deason.

Why Free Range Eggs are Best

Free range chickens are allowed to roam freely eating insects and grass throughout the day.  They are constantly exposed to daily sunshine and fresh air.

When chickens are allowed to roam freely, their eggs are more nutritious because they are allowed to eat food with nutritional value like the green grass and bugs. This produces omega 3 rich eggs, plenty of vitamins and less cholesterol and saturated fat. The great news is that free range eggs have no more calories than the average factory farm egg but do have three or more times the nutritional value.

Factory farm hens do not have a varied diet. They can only eat what is provide in the farm's automatied system - the same day in and day out.