Free range: What's in a name?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In recent times this age-old argument has taken on a slightly different meaning when it comes to the egg production industry. Which should come first, the welfare of the chicken or the quantity of eggs?

By KIANNA DOUTHAT

On a farm in Grantville, not far from Phillip Island in southeastern Victoria, hundreds of chickens are released from their barn at the first ray of morning light.

For the rest of the day they are free to roam the lush, grassy meadows. They flap their wings, stretch their legs and prune their feathers without restriction. It is a far cry from the tiny cages that are still used to house battery hens at other farms.

In Werribee, on  the other side of Melbourne, there is another egg farm. There  are no green pastures, there is little room to move and there is no natural light. The hens are kept inside a large shed, stacked in rows with five birds to a cage.

Many are missing feathers from rubbing against the wire. All are missing their beak tips, which have been trimmed to prevent cannibalism among their cell mates. They are completely closed off from the world.

Both of these methods of farming are completely legal in Australia, and both methods of farming have their fair share of supporters.

However,  recently the world of egg farming has  seen a change of pace and it is a revolution that has animal activists cheering. Many farms are doing away with their cages and turning back to their roots as traditional, free-range farms.

Phil Westwood, from Freeranger Eggs in Grantville, is one of those farmers. He believes eggs should not be produced at the expense of the hens’ wellbeing, and he’s not the only one.

After increasing pressure from the public and animal welfare organisations, McDonald’s fast food chain announced last month they would swap caged eggs for barn laid or free range by 2017. Less than a week later Subway Australia also announced they would stop using caged eggs in their products within the next 12 to 18 months.

Animal welfare groups such as the RSPCA and Animals Australia have long been campaigning to have cages removed from all areas of livestock farming.

RSPCA Australia CEO Heather Neil says Subway’s decision is proof that society is waking up to the cruelty of cage farming.

“This announcement, which swiftly follows McDonald’s Australia’s cage-free commitment, highlights the importance of this issue to Australian consumers and the quick service industry. Subway’s announcement to switch to cage-free eggs across all stores is further proof Australians want to see hens out of cages once and for all,” Ms Neil said, in a press release.

The news comes after the Coles supermarket chain announced in January it had sold the last of the caged eggs produced under the Coles brand name.

Then Woolworths took it one step further by declaring that it planned to phase out all caged eggs from its stores by December 2018.

This shift towards free range eggs has largely been due to public demand for better living conditions for hens. Internet petitions and social media campaigns have been the driving force behind many of the decisions made by major egg retailers. However farmer Phil Westwood believes happy chooks are just one of many advantages of going free range.

“It’s a combination of food value and animal welfare,” Mr Westwood says.

“We think, and our customers think, that the eggs taste better. The chooks are out eating the things that chooks normally eat – grass, worms, spiders, anything they can catch, you name it. Whereas when they’re in sheds or in cages they can only eat the food that is provided to them, which is pellets and manufactured stuff. So we think that we end up with a better product.”

But happy chooks and good quality eggs come at a price. Free range eggs cost more to produce than cage eggs because the overhead costs are greater.

Keeping free range hens is also more labour intensive for farmers, and the hens don’t produce as many eggs. Free range eggs, therefore, retail at a much higher price, one which not everyone can afford.

Melbourne resident Damian Lenane, 33,  says people should be free to choose the eggs  they can afford. He believes animal welfare is not the most important issue for many people, particularly those who are struggling financially.

“I am privileged enough at the moment to be able to afford the choice between cage and free-range eggs, but not everyone has that choice,” says Mr Lenane says.

“If someone is struggling financially, then they might choose to purchase home brand products or cheaper labels. It is these people who would most likely not be able to afford to buy free range.”

Free-range eggs currently cost as much as $4 more per dozen. However, as free range production continues to become more competitive among farmers, the price eggs will decrease.

Victorian Farmers Federation Egg Group president Brian Ahmed has  worked  in the egg industry for  more than 45 years. In this time he has seen many changes and he has made many of his own at his business LT’s Egg Farm in Werribee.

“We started off as free-range farmers, that’s how everyone was back in late '60s. Then we moved into a barn system and we now run a cage production system,” Mr Ahmed says.

“The reason we went to cage farming is you produce a cheaper egg because you get higher production, and the reason this all happens is because you lower your mortality rate.”

Being outside can come at a cost to the hens’ physical health. Chooks housed in sheds are protected from predators such as foxes and from weather extremes.

However, these natural dangers are not the major concern for the RSPCA. They, along with many others, believe animals kept in cages are denied two of their most basic animal rights: freedom from discomfort and the freedom to express normal behaviour.

Mr Ahmed strongly argues that birds are no less happy in a cage.

“We have the science to prove that the stress levels are the same in caged, barn and free range. There’s very little difference. Yes I agree that in an open environment they’ve got the room to move and opportunity to express their natural emotions, but I don’t believe any bird is less happy in one system or another,” Mr Ahmed says.

The one  point both parties agree on is that if farmers stop using cages, it will not necessarily mean better conditions for hens.

The problem is that "cage-free" doesn't necessarily mean the birds have much room to move, farmer Mr Westwood says.

“The difficulty with what the supermarkets have announced is that they’re going ‘cage free’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean free range. That can still be huge volume production,” he says.

“With a real free-range farm you simply don’t have enough eggs to meet the supermarkets' demands. So they’re going to be buying eggs from farms that still have their chooks in sheds, but not actually in cages.”

Mr Ahmed also believes chickens in farming facilities may be no better off. He says most people have a fantasy view about how free-range farming actually operates.

“Most people perceive free range to be this little barn in the middle of a paddock with a hundred chooks running around sun-baking, under the trees enjoying a pina colada or something.”

“If you want the volume of eggs to supply the Australian public it will need to be a commercially run free-range farm. It will need to be large barns with a lot of birds, housed far more intensively than you imagine on that little farm.”

Mr Ahmed also wants the public and animal rights activists to know that farmers who run cage production systems are not doing it at the expense of their animals.

“We’re not cruel farmers. No one is,”  Mr Ahmed says.

“The No.1 priority of all farmers is the welfare of their birds and that’s the most important thing.”