Page 4 - National Poultry Newspaper

Tom and wife Jo, with a little help from son David, operate an 8000-bird free range egg farm near Tenterfield in northern NSW.
How best to house happy hens
Cant Comment by BRENDON CANT
TENTERFIELD NSW egg producer and 2019 Nuffield Scholar Tom Moore believes Austral- ia’s smaller egg producers may need support to in- troduce housing systems that allow birds to exhibit more natural behaviours.
be the case,” he said. “European production systems prioritise bird wel- fare outcomes, which are usually mandated by non- government organisations such as Freedom Foods or
versal lessons for all farm- ing commodities.
And, farmers need to stay ahead of legislation and customers’ expectations.
accreditations, you’re not eligible to supply eggs to any of the supermarkets.”
Tom and Jo pack and grade their own eggs, and contract pack and grade for other producers.
Travelling to Europe in 2019 – including Germany, Netherlands, the UK and Ireland as part of his Nuf- field scholarship supported by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Founda- tion – highlighted the mas- sive changes to farming regulations that are on Aus- tralia’s horizon to Tom and that Australia will probably follow Europe’s stronger animal welfare
Tom said these accredita- tions are more onerous than Australia’s existing third- party audits and farmers would need support to comply including updating floor-based housing sys- tems and making aviary- reared started pullets avail- able.
To help manage the price they receive, they have grown a solid and diverse customer base of restau- rants, cafes and butcher shops.
“If not, why not and may- be change it – because if you are not proud of what you’re doing, you should probably be doing it dif- ferently.
“These are systems where the birds can jump or fly from one level to the next and there are feed and wa- ter available throughout the system,” he said.
“We need to find ways to get visitors to come and see our intensive livestock operations without com- promising biosecurity or animal safety as this ap- pears to be a great way of building trust with the consumer,” Tom said.
Consider what would be required to make the tran- sition to modern multi-tier laying equipment.
“Legislation and regula- tion will change without you, particularly if you aren’t looking.
“And then for the produc- er, you will generally get a lower stressed hen which gives you more and better quality eggs.”
Most poultry farms in Australia do not welcome visitors, but in Europe Tom was welcomed and saw things he never thought he would – from one mil- lion bird cage systems to commercial scale mobile houses.
There are so many op- tions available to the farm- er to suit local welfare re- quirements.
“It’s important that farm- ers try to have a voice to en- sure changes are feasible.”
Tom said visiting these farms showed animal wel- fare improvements could also benefit farmers’ bot- tom lines.
Getting it wrong or not being aware of new legisla- tion would be disastrous and incredibly expensive to fix after installation.
Tom and wife Jo started their free range egg busi- ness five years ago in Ten- terfield, purchasing the most common housing sys- tem for commercial scale free range in Australia – a floor-based system which sees hens stay at one level.
“People will say wel- fare improvements come at the cost of production or increased production costs – it doesn’t have to
Tom also visited other types of farms in Singa- pore, Philippines, Hong Kong, China and the US.
If close to a potential or growing market, starting out small is an option and a great diversification for an existing enterprise.
“As soon as we had the
He believes there are uni-
Do not consider putting floor reared birds into a multi-tier aviary.
Happy chickens make good layers at Moore Eggs home farm.
Delivering Specialist Agribusiness Public Relations Skills that will build your business, enhance your brand, promote your products and sell your services, all backed by unsurpassed professionalism, experience and track record.
Contact Brendon Cant
M 0417 930 536 E brendon@iinet.net.au
Technical Systems Australia or TSA is a leading Australian company dedicated to the supply, installation and service of agricultural equipment to Australian, New Zealand and Paci c markets for poultry (broilers and breeders), layer (free range and barn layer), quail (broiler and breeders), duck (broiler, breeder and layers), turkey (breeder and production), pig, agricultural, farming, aquaculture, horticulture and brewing industries plus many more.
• We pride ourselves on customer service and after sales support
• 86 years combined industry experience
• Full consulting, supply, shipping, installation, manufacturing, service and repairs
• Repair and maintenance on all equipment and spare parts
• Onsite service and breakdown.
scotty@tsa.tech david@tsa.tech www.tsa.tech
TSA proudly represents Agrotop sheds, the world leader in livestock turnkey packages and design in the region. We offer a free quote on all turnkey projects. We design each shed to the customer’s needs. Finance options available.
86 Beerburrum-Donnybrook Rd Donnybrook QLD 4511
(07) 5429 2028
0424 413 484 - 0488 007 583
“Birds have more free- dom in these sheds to ex- hibit more of their natural behaviours.
Look at as many systems as possible in a variety of different countries.
the RSPCA.
“In Europe, without those
“If you cannot set the price, which is common in farming, then you should constantly be looking at the costs – at least every week.”
“Margin creep will kill any business,” he said.
“It’s important for all farmers to look forward, read industry papers and newspapers, paying par- ticular attention to negative things people are saying,” Tom said.
“That was impetus to do a scholarship – to see what options were available and how people were success- fully using them in their business.”
Find a source of aviary reared pullets or start work- ing with the pullet rearer to consider the options for avi- ary rearing.
“Sometimes asking your- self if your farm is ready to have visitors within the next hour can be valuable.
The multi-tier aviary sys- tems in Europe deeply im- pressed Tom.
Whether it is barn or free range production, aviary style systems are more effi- cient than floor based hous- ing methods.
egg equipment with the hens in, we could see there must be a better way of housing the hens,” Tom said.
As well as legislation and customer-required accredi- tation, he observed Euro- pean producers worked to build connections with consumers, including visi- tor areas and viewing plat- forms.
Tom made the following recommendations in his Nuffield report for pro- spective aviary style egg producers.
Producer Ewald van der Kamp from Nordhorn Ger- many even had a success- ful ‘pick your own egg’ shed on the boundary of the farm for drive-by consumer sales.
Better yet, is there scope to rear your own birds?
Page 4 – National Poultry Newspaper, July 2021
www.poultrynews.com.au
Tom had a close look at a demonstration model of the Big Dutchman multi-tier aviary system when in Germany.
Ted Tyson from York in the UK transitioned from a flat-deck style colony system to this multi-tier sys- tem, where he found he could house more birds in the same shed and his hens laid better quality eggs for longer.