Page 6 - National Poultry Newspaper

Kate Warner returned to the farm in 2018 to join the family business. Photos: Georgie Mann In 2015, the family ventured into eggs as a way to look at succession.
Sustainability and transparency key to new free range egg venture
THE Warner family is adding eggs to their pro- duction basket and diver- sifying their Victorian farming enterprise with an eye to sustainability and transparency.
nursing, I came back to the farm in 2018 to join Mum and Dad – Jill and Robert – and my two brothers Ollie and Alex and their partners Milli and Jade.
tanks to catch rain from the roof.
As a less labour inten- sive operation compared to Caravan Eggs, the Warners can now supply two different price points while maintaining a qual- ity product.
Eggs team sell its eggs at regional markets from Warrnambool and Bal- larat to Geelong, as well as service independent grocers and butchers, while Green Eggs are sold in Melbourne markets and at some Woolworths.
quickly and easily on the spot and in the moment,” Kate said.
The transparency of the operation is beautifully and simply spelled out on the Warners’ various websites, showing healthy and happy chooks grazing amid the gums.
With two egg opera- tions – Caravan Eggs and Green Eggs – the family is addressing two ends of the free range market.
“We ventured into eggs in 2015 as a way to diver- sify the family operation from traditional farming, both for interest’s sake and also for a consistent cash flow rather than a seasonal cash flow.
The mini sheds are hooked behind tractors and towed to fresh pas- ture every three days, with the added benefit of the chickens helping to ferti- lise the grass they graze.
COVID-19 challenges traditional ways of op- erating
“We’re trying to use our packaging as well to talk to our consumers.
The family use Marem- ma dogs to protect and guard their flock – huge fluffy Italian herding dogs that are fiercely loyal and gorgeous, making for a very photogenic opera- tion.
If you’ve ever wondered about the journey of the free-range egg you fry in the morning, the Warner family is who to ask.
This works in harmony with the stock – 10,000 head of sheep and several hundred head of cattle – and cropping rotations.
The Warners bought the Green Eggs business in February 2020 – right be- fore COVID-19 and all of its challenges struck.
On average, the enter- prise sells 3600 dozen eggs across 12 markets a month.
“Caravan Eggs has the story written on the car- ton’s side and we’re work- ing on some packaging for Green Eggs to amplify that interaction.
The fourth and fifth generation farmers from Victoria were traditional beef, sheep and broada- cre farmers until six years ago, when a new idea was hatched.
“It was also a way to look at succession.” Expansion and diversi- fication
Producing and selling 17,000 dozen eggs a week amid lockdowns and staff shortages required all the producer’s creative nous.
“Since COVID-19, I have noticed a shift in our customers – wanting to know our story and where their food comes from,” Kate said.
“We’re trying to be re- ally transparent.
“We love what we do,” Kate said.
The Warners launched Caravan Eggs on the vol- canic plains of their main property Jaskro Park with only 450 chickens and a dream to provide truly free range eggs.
With demand for ‘open range’ eggs continuing to grow, the Warners looked at how they could diver- sify yet again.
“We used to employ backpackers at both Cara- van Eggs and Green Eggs, which was obviously impacted by border clo- sures,” Kate said.
“We love being able to connect directly with our customers at farmers’ markets and getting that immediate feedback.
“Leonie, who is in the office, touches base with every customer each week – keeping that communi- cation open for feedback, but also especially during COVID-19 to be a support and let them know we’re here.”
“We just want to be as sustainable and as trans- parent as we can be.
The operation has grown to 8000 birds, with up to 1000 chickens per cara- van.
“People ask a lot of questions and really enjoy interacting.
With three of their four children coming back to work on the land, it was time to expand into a new venture.
The family crafted spe- cial chook ‘caravans’, which are essentially mo- bile sheds.
“When Caravan Eggs needed a new egg grading facility, we decided to ex- pand further and bought an established free range enterprise at the Great Western,” Kate said.
“Since buying Green Eggs, we haven’t had a consistent period.
“It’s something our whole family has enjoyed, after doing mainstream production where you don’t really connect with the farmer.
“We call the birds ‘the girls’ and they really do rule the roost!”
First appeared in Aus- tralian Farmers Weekly e-newsletter.
Kate Warner said, “I’m a nurse by trade, but I knew I always wanted to come back to the farm.”
Each shed is entirely self-sufficient with solar panels to power the nest- ing systems and rainwater
“Green Eggs has been running for 15 years and is a much bigger operation with 35,000 chickens.”
“Every month has been different with new regula- tions or lockdowns, which has a flow on effect on the catering and pre-pack market.
“We can talk to the chef, we can talk to the shop owner who stocks the eggs.”
“After eight years of
Kate lives on Green Egg farm with her partner Jarrod and their seven- month-old daughter Ge- nevieve, located northeast of Great Western.
With a focus on prov- enance and transparency, the family use platforms such as Instagram to chat with their very engaged customer base.
“There’s no even distri- bution between the two – if there’s a lockdown, supermarket sales go up and catering goes down.
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The egg operation shares 1200 acres of rolling hills with a mob of sheep and enjoys expansive views of the Grampians and the Black Ranges.
“We can’t predict any- thing.”
“I think we’re so fortu- nate to have social media in this day and age, so we can share the pictures and the stories directly,
But the family has adapted.
When there aren’t any lockdowns, the Caravan
The Warners purchased ‘Green Eggs’ in early 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Industry gets gold star in AMS report
THE Australian Chicken Meat Federa- tion has updated its antimicrobial steward- ship report to include results of its’ inaugu- ral ‘Appropriateness of Use’ survey and has also published a sum- mary brochure – both are available from chicken.org.au
National antimicrobial resistance surveillance in chickens demonstrate that these AMS efforts are contributing to lev- els of AMR bacteria from Australian meat chickens that compare very favourably with overseas results.
als, and this is evident in the updated industry position statement on antibiotics.
meat alone, through the Australian Animal In- dustries’ antimicrobial stewardship research, development and exten- sion strategy.
These efforts progress further the industry’s commitment to adher- ing to AMS principles, particularly in relation to disease prevention.
For more information, visit the ACMF website – chicken.org.au
ACMF executive di- rector Dr Vivien Kite is pleased with the re- sults and says that the chicken meat industry should be very proud of its efforts addressing antimicrobial resistance in Australia.
resources for humans and animals alike.”
The ACMF has coor- dinated an antimicro- bial usage survey of the six major Australian chicken companies with data collected since 2017.
The ACMF will con- tinue to support the in- dustry in these efforts by coordinating the na- tional use benchmark survey in meat chick- ens and breeders, the annual appropriateness of use survey, national AMR surveillance pro- jects, developing pro- jects to support refine- ment of those antimi- crobials that are used, and coordinating ac- tivities across the live- stock sectors to address AMS issues that are broader than chicken
“Industry takes its role preventing anti- microbial resistance development very seri- ously,” Dr Kite said.
The Australian chick- en meat industry has a long history of applying the principles of AMS well before formal stewardship was a prac- tice widely discussed and understood.
In 2021, the first ‘Ap- propriateness of Use’ survey was conducted and will now be repeat- ed annually to under- stand whether antibiotic usage is ‘appropriate’.
“We know we need to preserve the effective- ness of these precious
For over 40 years, the chicken meat industry has played an active role in reducing the risks of AMR for the benefit of both human and animal health.
The chicken industry is committed to contin- uing their efforts to re- duce, refine and replace the use of antimicrobi-
The ACMF has updated its antimicrobial stew- ardship report to include results of the inaugu- ral ‘Appropriateness of Use’ survey.
Page 6 – National Poultry Newspaper, October 2021
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