Traditional free range farming
Freeranger Eggs was set up as a sustainable farm to demonstrate that a commercial farming business can work without compromising the environmental and ecological values of the land as well as meeting strict animal welfare standards. The farm has been established as a traditional mixed farm, running sheep and cattle as well as free range hens.
It is being used to showcase sustainable farming principles and provides a practical example of land use which can operate commercially as well as provide good environmental outcomes. Workshops and practical farm sessions are held for students, farmers and others in the community. Our low flock numbers provide easy management and eliminate the need for beak trimming or de-beaking which is conducted on most farms. We run our flocks at less than half the density of most other 'free range' farms in Victoria. None of our processes is automated to reduce power inputs. Eggs are collected by hand several time each day and taken to the grading room where they are candled (passed over a light to check for imperfections) graded for size and then packed into cartons or onto trays ready for delivery. They are usually in the cool room within an hour of being laid to guarantee top quality. Our production, grading, packing and storage processes meet all the requirements of our HACCP-based Food Safety Program. Each flock of hens has several feeding bins and watering points which are checked at least twice a day to ensure that feed and water are constantly available. Our mobile sheds are moved around their paddocks on a weekly cycle to ensure that grass cover is maintained and that muddy conditions are avoided. If the areas around sheds become dirty, it's likely that mud on the feet of the hens will transfer to the nesting area and could contaminate the eggs. With proper management and clean nest boxes, eggs should not be dirty. At Freeranger Eggs there is no need for eggs to be washed – any slight marks on the shells are removed by a light buffing with an abrasive pad. Our hens have 24 hour access to pasture if they wish, and some sleep outside in the grass or in trees or bushes – protected from predators by their guardian dogs. Eight Maremmas protect our hens. We have developed a regular customer base in our region and we deliver our eggs to retail outlets, restaurants and direct to home delivery customers as well as attending Farmers' Markets. It is important to us that eggs are delivered within a day or two of being laid and we have a strict policy that no eggs will be sold by us if they are more than a week old even though eggs which are stored correctly have a shelf life of at least four weeks. |
BEAK TRIMMING - OR DE-BEAKING
This operation was developed to prevent
feather pecking and cannibalism amongst chickens in intensive production systems (cages). Despite industry denials, it has also been conducted on most of the hens destined for so-called 'free range' farms. The majority of eggs labelled as 'free range' in Australia are laid by hens on intensive farms and which have been beak trimmed. Beak trimming is usually carried out at hatcheries when the chicks are days old. The Australian Egg Corporation turns a blind eye to provisions of the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry, which stipulates that beak trimming should be a last resort for chickens which are claimed to be 'free range'. To meet the standards of the Code, farmers are required to try other methods to eliminate feather pecking and cannibalism – such as adopting effective animal husbandry techniques and selecting more suitable, less aggressive breeds, rather than high producing hens developed for the cage industry. But the reality is that intensive 'free range' farms use chickens which have been beak trimmed as a matter of course. There has been no attempt to try any other options. Beak trimming is is not conducted on hens at Freeranger Eggs which operates with a very low stocking density of 300 - 500 hens per hectare compared with the Model Code which allows up to 1500. That maximum density is generally ignored by farms which are approved by the Australian Egg Corporation. James Kellaway, the AECL Managing Director, acknowledged that some of its approved farms had been running up to 40,000 or more birds per hectare. To address that problem, AECL tried to push through a new 'free range' standard which would have allowed intensive farms to label their eggs as 'free range' even though the hens were to be beak trimmed as a matter of course, were run at a density of up to 20,000 birds per hectare and they were to be locked in sheds until 25 weeks old (even though they start to lay at about 17 weeks). This requirement in the AECL's Egg Standards Australia was designed to ensure that young hens were 'acclimatised' to life in a shed very early on and they would never venture out into the great 'outdoors'. That proposal was ridiculed and rejected by the ACCC and the Egg Corp withdrew. It is now supporting the Coles supermarket free range standard of 10,000 hens per hectare so effectively has handed over its industry role to a grocer! There has been a great deal of research around the world on beak trimming and here is a video of a discussion in the UK at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association: http://www.theranger.co.uk/Videos/Dr-Laura-Dixon-Beak-Trimming-Update-at-BFREPA-Conference-2013_102.html |
Laser beak trimming at day old
This is how chicks are beaked-trimmed in modern hatcheries. The day-old birds are placed in a carousel and the tips of the beaks are automatically removed. The process is probably more humane that the hot blade system pictured above which is still used in Australia - but it is a completely unecessary process for birds which are supposed to be 'free range'.
Many of the chickens bred for the egg industry have aggressive tendancies, because the only attributes which matter to the industrial egg producers are the number of eggs each birds lays and the minimal consumption of feed.
Other breeds are available which are far less aggressive - but which probably don't lay quite as many eggs.
Many of the chickens bred for the egg industry have aggressive tendancies, because the only attributes which matter to the industrial egg producers are the number of eggs each birds lays and the minimal consumption of feed.
Other breeds are available which are far less aggressive - but which probably don't lay quite as many eggs.
