topic Re: Free-range eggs in Community Spirit

Free-range eggs

davidc4430 — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 04:55:48 GMT

How to know what you're getting for your money

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-01/free-range-eggs-how-to-know-what-youre-getting-for-your-money/8762716

Re: Free-range eggs

imastawka — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 05:10:37 GMT

I'm pleased to see the brand I buy meets the recommended model code of

1500 chooks per hectare

https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/meat-fish-and-eggs/eggs/articles/what-free-range-eggs-meet-the-model-code

Nice to see you back, David

Re: Free-range eggs

bushies.girl — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 05:19:57 GMT

Mine come straight off the farm, def free range, have seen the chooks roaming around the property

Re: Free-range eggs

imastawka — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 05:27:21 GMT

Best way to get 'em Bushie.

Re: Free-range eggs

mloreason — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 08:59:14 GMT

I only ever buy free range eggs. I like the thought of chooks happily wandering around in hectares of beautiful green grass. My husband reckons my interpretation of free range is way off. lol

Re: Free-range eggs

chameleon54 — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 23:03:24 GMT

Hi Dave, nice to see you back.

A neighbour to my small hills farm had 60 acres that he ran 500 chooks on, selling the eggs at local farmers markets etc. These where genuinly free range....................... The council shut him down................... It seems you are allowed to graze sheep, cows or alpacas, have olive orchards, vineyards, plant crops with heavy tractors, keep bees etc., run a dairy, but not have 500 free range chooks.

Re: Free-range eggs

mloreason — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 08:01:04 GMT

Stupid council.

Re: Free-range eggs

bushies.girl — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 08:09:12 GMT

Am surprised he didnt apply to his council for a permit before he started farming his chooks, pretty sure they are in a different category to sheep, cattle etc.

Re: Free-range eggs

chameleon54 — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 10:15:09 GMT

@bushies.girl wrote:
Am surprised he didnt apply to his council for a permit before he started farming his chooks, pretty sure they are in a different category to sheep, cattle etc.

It started as a small hobby. He ran a few chooks and sold the eggs from an esky out front of his house. They sold, he got more chooks, which laid more eggs and they sold too. Within 18 months he had 500 chooks and was selling eggs as quick as the chooks laid them. He decided he would semi retire and legitimize his chook venture, so he APPLIED TO THE COUNCIL for a permit. It was at this point that they shut him down.

No-one had complained. The chooks just used to wander over a large area of paddock, guarded by a Mareema dog. I actually liked to see them scratching amongst the trees and grass. In the evening he would feed them grain and they would come to their enclosure and roost for the night. It wasn't hurting anyone. They didn't smell, no dust, no noise. .......Just bureaucracy gone mad.

Re: Free-range eggs

davidc4430 — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 10:26:57 GMT

its reaching the point where we need a permit to sneeze.

cant wait for the govt to start chaging us a fee to breathe.

Re: Free-range eggs

tasfleur — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 10:36:29 GMT

"cant wait for the govt to start charging us a fee to breathe"

Can't argue with that David, so don't hold your breath! ...

Re: Free-range eggs

janeababe — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 05:54:30 GMT

@mloreason wrote:
I only ever buy free range eggs. I like the thought of chooks happily wandering around in hectares of beautiful green grass. My husband reckons my interpretation of free range is way off. lol

Unfortunately, your hubby is right.
I buy free range eggs or cage free eggs. However, and quite disappointingly, I also realise that the eggs I buy are from chooks who have probably never stepped foot on a blade of grass either.

chicken farming..........
concrete flooring, hosed out weekly if they're lucky

Re: Free-range eggs

chameleon54 — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 09:31:10 GMT

The pork industry has made some major changes for the better in the last decade or so. Pigs used to be kept in crowded pens on concrete floors all of their short lives. Now on many farms, the growers are housed in giant igloo type structures. ( eco shelters )

The walls are often made from large rectangular hay bales weighing 3/4 tonne and the earthen floors are kept knee deep in straw. The pigs can burrow in the straw and dirt and are stocked at fairly low densities. When the growers are removed, front end loaders scoop up the straw and side wall bales which are then composted for fertiliser. New, fresh hay bales and straw go into the shelter and the system starts again.

I have visited these piggeries a couple of times and have been very impressed with the way the pigs enjoy their surroundings. Its a vast improvement on the old style cement and steel sheds.