Free Range Farmers Association Standards
Farm Accreditation Standard
FREE RANGE EGGS
Rev 7 – December 2010 – AG1143 review issue.
In extension to the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry - Version 4 and AG1143 dpi
Preface – This document defines the FRFA Inc. accreditation requirements
Part A - HOUSING
1. Hens must have permanent access to weatherproof housing with either slatted, mesh or deep litter floors that contain sufficient perches to enable normal roosting for all birds.
2. Stocking density in housing shall not exceed 15 kg per square metre of useable area.
3. Maximum flock numbers per house shall not exceed 1,000 hens.
Part B - FEEDING
1. The use of growth promotants and hormones is not permitted.
2. Clean dry feed comprising only natural products, grains and natural sources of vitamins and minerals must be used. If meat by-products are included in the diet they must be heat treated. No manufactured colouring additives are be included in the feed.
Part C - FREE RANGE RUN.
1. The maximum stocking density must be sustainable and in any case not exceed 750 hens per hectare.
2. Hens must have unrestricted access to the free-range run during daylight hours.
3.The area where the hens are permitted to range shall have adequate shade/wind/predator protection and be capable of long-term sustainability with adequate natural ground cover. If vegetation disappears under adverse seasonal conditions then alternative natural range is to be implemented until ground cover can be re-established and/or supplementary green feed must be provided
Part D - HUSBANDRY PRACTICES.
1. All bird mutilation practices are unnecessary at the allowed stocking densities and are prohibited. (Beak trimming, etc)
2. Under extreme temperature conditions the hens must have access to cool drinking water and other “keep cool” types of environmental relief.
Part E - GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.
1. All accredited farms must be able to demonstrate compliance with all State and National regulations regarding egg collection, cleaning, candling, packaging, labelling, storage and transport. In particular, farms must comply with temperature and hygiene provisions of the Shell Egg Code and Food Safety Victoria.
2. Audit trail records are mandatory for all eggs stored, sold and/or interchanged between accredited farms. This association does not allow packaged/unpackaged hen eggs produced by other systems and unaccredited members to be brought onto, held or distributed by its accredited farms.
3. Age dated vaccination certificates are required to Victorian Regulations.
Maintain egg quality
A Haugh unit device for measuring the albumen.
If an egg is broken onto a flat surface and the albumen (white) is watery and spreads-out, most people believe that this indicates that the egg is stale. The height of the albumen and the weight of the egg are used to calculate a value in Haugh units on a scale of 0 to 110. The theory with this measuring system is, the lower the value, the staler the egg.
A minimum Haugh unit measurement of 60 is desirable for whole eggs sold to domestic consumers. Eggs leaving the farm should average between 75 and 85 Haugh units and many farms conduct random testing to ensure quality.
Although watery whites are mainly regarded as an indication of the increasing age of the egg, the problem is made worse by high storage temperature and low humidity. Also, as birds age, the Haugh unit value of their eggs has been recorded as decreasing by about 1.5 to 2 units per month of lay. Some birds consistently produce eggs with watery whites (Haugh units less than 30) later in lay, which is one reason that most commercial farms only keep their birds for one laying season.
Here are some steps to minimise the problems of watery whites:
Keep your flock age as low as economically possible; Collect eggs several times each day and store at correct temperature – less than 20ºC;
Grade, pack and despatch eggs to your customers as quickly as possible; During grading, remove all eggs with rough, porous shells and/or large aircells;
Consider fitting a humidifier in your coolroom to maintain storage humidity at 70 - 80%; Maintain good disease control, particularly with correct vaccinations;
Ensure there are no fungal toxins in feed (don't use wet or mouldy feed); Eliminate rough handling of eggs during collection and transport; Pack eggs on filler flats or in cartons with the air cell (blunt end) upwards.
A minimum Haugh unit measurement of 60 is desirable for whole eggs sold to domestic consumers. Eggs leaving the farm should average between 75 and 85 Haugh units and many farms conduct random testing to ensure quality.
Although watery whites are mainly regarded as an indication of the increasing age of the egg, the problem is made worse by high storage temperature and low humidity. Also, as birds age, the Haugh unit value of their eggs has been recorded as decreasing by about 1.5 to 2 units per month of lay. Some birds consistently produce eggs with watery whites (Haugh units less than 30) later in lay, which is one reason that most commercial farms only keep their birds for one laying season.
Here are some steps to minimise the problems of watery whites:
Keep your flock age as low as economically possible; Collect eggs several times each day and store at correct temperature – less than 20ºC;
Grade, pack and despatch eggs to your customers as quickly as possible; During grading, remove all eggs with rough, porous shells and/or large aircells;
Consider fitting a humidifier in your coolroom to maintain storage humidity at 70 - 80%; Maintain good disease control, particularly with correct vaccinations;
Ensure there are no fungal toxins in feed (don't use wet or mouldy feed); Eliminate rough handling of eggs during collection and transport; Pack eggs on filler flats or in cartons with the air cell (blunt end) upwards.
Free Range Eggs ARE More Nutritious
Research in various parts of the world has shown that eggs laid by hens which have been raised on pasture are more nutritious than eggs laid by hens in cages of barns where the only feed they have is the ration they are given. Hens which are fully beaked and able to forage properly pick up all sorts of tasty morsels in their paddock. More studies need to be done, but there is growing evidence that eggs from hens raised on pasture have nutritional benefits over the factory farm versions. In 1974, the British Journal of Nutrition found that pastured eggs had 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 than eggs from factory farm hens. In 1988, Artemis Simopoulos, co-author of The Omega Diet, found pastured eggs in Greece contained 13 times more Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids than U.S. commercial eggs. A 1998 study published in the journal, Animal Feed Science and Technology, found that pastured eggs had higher Omega 3 and vitamin E than eggs from caged hens.A 1999 study by Barb Gorski at Pennsylvania State University found that eggs from pastured birds had 10 percent less fat, 34 percent less cholesterol, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the levels of Omega 3 compared to the standard USDA data. In 2003, Heather Karsten at Pennsylvania State University found that pastured eggs had three times more Omega 3, 220 percent more vitamin E and 62 percent more vitamin A than eggs from caged hens.In 2007, the US magazine Mother Earth News analysed eggs from 14 free range flocks and compared the results to nutritional data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for commercial eggs, the kind found in most supermarkets.
The free range eggs had:
- 1⁄3 less cholesterol
- 1⁄4 less saturated fat
- 2⁄3 more vitamin A
- 2 times more Omega 3 fatty acids
- 3 times more vitamin E
- 7 times more beta carotene
But be careful when buying 'free-range' eggs. In Australia, as long as hens have 'access to an outdoor run' producers are able call their eggs free-range. What this usually means is that there is a small opening where hens could go outside, regardless of whether or not they ever do. In most cases a better description would be 'cage-free eggs'.Often you can visibly tell the difference, but yolk colour is not always a good guide. The yolks of eggs laid by hens raised on pasture are generally a rich orange colour from the beta-carotene in the plants (as long as there is plenty of green feed in the paddocks). However, eggs from a genuine free range farm will vary in yolk colour – depending on the time of year and the amount of green feed available. If the yolk colour is always the same, you can be sure that colouring additives are included in the hens' feed.Click here to see the latest results of US research.
The free range eggs had:
- 1⁄3 less cholesterol
- 1⁄4 less saturated fat
- 2⁄3 more vitamin A
- 2 times more Omega 3 fatty acids
- 3 times more vitamin E
- 7 times more beta carotene
But be careful when buying 'free-range' eggs. In Australia, as long as hens have 'access to an outdoor run' producers are able call their eggs free-range. What this usually means is that there is a small opening where hens could go outside, regardless of whether or not they ever do. In most cases a better description would be 'cage-free eggs'.Often you can visibly tell the difference, but yolk colour is not always a good guide. The yolks of eggs laid by hens raised on pasture are generally a rich orange colour from the beta-carotene in the plants (as long as there is plenty of green feed in the paddocks). However, eggs from a genuine free range farm will vary in yolk colour – depending on the time of year and the amount of green feed available. If the yolk colour is always the same, you can be sure that colouring additives are included in the hens' feed.Click here to see the latest results of US research.
FRFA Quality Assurance and Food Safety Program
INTRODUCTION TO THE QA AND FOOD SAFETY PROGRAM
The Quality Assurance program covering egg production and food safety for members of the Free Range Farmers Association Inc. should be read in conjunction with the Association's Standards.
Member farms comply with those standards as well as meeting all requirements of relevant State and Federal regulations and the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry Version 4.
The combination of this program and the FRFA Standards ensures that best practice is maintained on member farms – particularly regarding food safety for consumers, farm sustainability, animal husbandry practices and animal welfare.
The Free Range Farmers Association has established this egg quality assurance program to demonstrate that genuine free range egg producers can operate commercially and ethically, while meeting consumer expectations and the highest production standards. Each farm is audited to this program by a third party auditor. Egg farms that are audited to this program are accepted as full members of the Association and are authorised to display the FRFA logo.
The Model Code allows a stocking density of 1500 hens per hectare but this Association requires a maximum outdoor stocking density on accredited farms of 750 birds per hectare, and the maximum number of birds within each shed is limited to 1000.
Stocking density must allow pasture cover to be maintained in the paddocks where the hens range, and needs to be monitored having regard to local
climatic conditions.
It is prohibited for our members to have de-beaked or beak trimmed birds.
Feed and water must be available each day to all birds in each flock. Adequate feed and water points must be checked daily.
Water must be potable quality – either a reticulated town water supply or, if a dam or tank supply is used, it must be sanitised and records kept.
If all feed is not grown on farm, feed should be from a Feed Safe accredited supplier.
This Food Safety Program is based on the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) system designed to identify potential hazards and allow
the development of control processes at every step in the production cycle.
HACCP has been developed as more than a food safety system, it is applied to areas such as bird welfare, environmental sustainability, on-farm biosecurity and occupational health and safety issues.
It allows a farm operator to monitor the quality of the eggs produced, farm sustainability and helps to maintain consumer confidence in the industry.
Each farm needs to show evidence that effective procedures are in place.
Natural behaviours for laying hens requires the ability to roam widely in search of insects, dust bathe, wing flap and socialise with other hens. Because hens on our accredited farms are not mutilated in any way they are able to follow their natural instincts.
The free range system incorporates natural poultry keeping methods. It is land based to ensure that the hens are happy, healthy and free with a limited stocking density to provide both land and environmental sustainability.
The Quality Assurance program covering egg production and food safety for members of the Free Range Farmers Association Inc. should be read in conjunction with the Association's Standards.
Member farms comply with those standards as well as meeting all requirements of relevant State and Federal regulations and the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Domestic Poultry Version 4.
The combination of this program and the FRFA Standards ensures that best practice is maintained on member farms – particularly regarding food safety for consumers, farm sustainability, animal husbandry practices and animal welfare.
The Free Range Farmers Association has established this egg quality assurance program to demonstrate that genuine free range egg producers can operate commercially and ethically, while meeting consumer expectations and the highest production standards. Each farm is audited to this program by a third party auditor. Egg farms that are audited to this program are accepted as full members of the Association and are authorised to display the FRFA logo.
The Model Code allows a stocking density of 1500 hens per hectare but this Association requires a maximum outdoor stocking density on accredited farms of 750 birds per hectare, and the maximum number of birds within each shed is limited to 1000.
Stocking density must allow pasture cover to be maintained in the paddocks where the hens range, and needs to be monitored having regard to local
climatic conditions.
It is prohibited for our members to have de-beaked or beak trimmed birds.
Feed and water must be available each day to all birds in each flock. Adequate feed and water points must be checked daily.
Water must be potable quality – either a reticulated town water supply or, if a dam or tank supply is used, it must be sanitised and records kept.
If all feed is not grown on farm, feed should be from a Feed Safe accredited supplier.
This Food Safety Program is based on the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) system designed to identify potential hazards and allow
the development of control processes at every step in the production cycle.
HACCP has been developed as more than a food safety system, it is applied to areas such as bird welfare, environmental sustainability, on-farm biosecurity and occupational health and safety issues.
It allows a farm operator to monitor the quality of the eggs produced, farm sustainability and helps to maintain consumer confidence in the industry.
Each farm needs to show evidence that effective procedures are in place.
Natural behaviours for laying hens requires the ability to roam widely in search of insects, dust bathe, wing flap and socialise with other hens. Because hens on our accredited farms are not mutilated in any way they are able to follow their natural instincts.
The free range system incorporates natural poultry keeping methods. It is land based to ensure that the hens are happy, healthy and free with a limited stocking density to provide both land and environmental sustainability.
We think it's important for the term 'free range' to have a legal definition
We think that consumers have a right to know what they are buying. Buyers clearly should have a choice and if they want to buy cage eggs that's fine. But those of you who want to buy free range are entitled to know exactly what you are getting for your money.
Consumer research has shown that most buyers of free range eggs expect the hens to have all-day access to pasture with a stocking density of less than 1500 birds per hectare and the hens must not be de-beaked or beak trimmed.
We believe that the definition of 'free range' for the egg industry should include those three key points if it is to meet consumer expectations.
Commercial farms can operate within those guidelines - our members demonstrate that every day. But the Australian Egg Corporation has revealed that some 'free range' farms have a stocking density of 40,000 birds per hectare. Beak trimming is also widely practiced to combat feather pecking and cannibalism which are a consequence of high density stocking rates.
Consumer research has shown that most buyers of free range eggs expect the hens to have all-day access to pasture with a stocking density of less than 1500 birds per hectare and the hens must not be de-beaked or beak trimmed.
We believe that the definition of 'free range' for the egg industry should include those three key points if it is to meet consumer expectations.
Commercial farms can operate within those guidelines - our members demonstrate that every day. But the Australian Egg Corporation has revealed that some 'free range' farms have a stocking density of 40,000 birds per hectare. Beak trimming is also widely practiced to combat feather pecking and cannibalism which are a consequence of high density stocking rates.
Chicken health issues:
Intestinal bacteria are only a problem when they are unbalanced
All chickens (indeed all animals - even those of us who are human) have bacteria thriving within their intenstines. They are part of the natural living process. But they became a major animal husbandry problem if the bugs multiply out of control and can result in mortalities and major production losses. Here's a report about some of the issues:
http://www.zootecnicainternational.com/article-archive/nutrition/57-normal-intestinal-bacteria-flora-and-its-impact-on-bird-health-.html
There's heaps more info on that site about bird welfare, rearing pullets and infectious diseases.
http://www.zootecnicainternational.com/article-archive/nutrition/57-normal-intestinal-bacteria-flora-and-its-impact-on-bird-health-.html
There's heaps more info on that site about bird welfare, rearing pullets and infectious diseases.
