yeah well the definition of free range is a little loose...but most true freerange farmers interpret it to mean that unless the animal is locked up at night to protect against predators they are free to range....and when locked up at night they are not caged as such but sheltered in a barn environment....so within the barn they can get up and move freely....to be freerange they also have to have access to natural light at will during the day....I breed large black English pigs that are rare breed...they graze like cattle and have no problem with sunburn that hybrid pigs have, they lay up plenty of fat and have bags of flavour, they breed and farrow naturally and are a true heritage breed......

Actually, contrary to what we've been told/believed, many experts are now saying that Cage Eggs are more humane as they ensure that the animal has its own space and is adequately fed and watered rather than having to compete with an entire "free range" barn of hens for space and sustenance. I can see what they're getting at too.

"Free range" doesn't equate to the verdant green fields conjured to mind by the film Chicken Run.

cage eggs can't be more humane....it's impossible, I would suggest the so called experts are engaged to write these findings for the industry.....having said that the barn laid and free range egg industry are not as natural as they should be......you are quite right....they have way to many birds per square metre, some barn birds never see the sun or outside pasture.....this is where there are people trying to get a code of practices for freerange..........

Cage birds have their beaks docked so they can't peck the bird in the adjoining cage, their feet curl up and when released from the cage cannot stand up, they are stressed and a high percentage lose their feathers and the life and production cycle is well below that of true freerange animals......

finally this is not just about how many eggs a bird can deliver it's also about the quality and the humane handling of the bird



Edited by batfink: 5/7/2013 09:54:07 AM

Real shame we were not eli gible for the solar rebate scheme, as our metering is at our front gate....even if I paid for private metering on the solar and fed it back into my house they would not accept my request

The irony of this post on the internet where the entire IT industry is a major contributor to green house gas emissions with the multitude of server rooms and the cooling required for those rooms.

The whole "paperless office" is a farce. Ok, we won't kill any trees and use less paper. Instead we'll use more electricity that uses fossil fuels and server rooms and high powered air-conditioning :lol:

well the safest cleanest form of electricity is nuclear, however everyone goes into fear meltdown when the word is mentioned......

fair comment about the paperless office.......the best result for the environment and the planet is for each individual to make a small change instead of imposing tax's and trading schemes to make us feel good about it......humans don't want to be inconvenienced.....or put out......

pun intended?

I was under the impression that the difference between caged and free range chickens was the amount of chickens per square metre. Thought I saw a 60minute-style report on it - doesn't matter if they get out of the cage or not.

Btw I've been to a "free-range" chicken farm and can confirm there is fark all "free" about it. I'd rather be in a cage tbh

Spot on on both counts.

IIRC 75% of Apple's servers are solar powered

I wasn't put out, the carbon tax has been financially beneficial

And they still couldn't balance the books.

cage birds live their existence a cage the size of a milk crate.........simple.....

barbaric & cruel

Lughable isn't it thuper.....LOL

the carbon tax cost more to implement that it has collected/......LOL

that's financially beneficial for sure.....LOL;)

But the feel good factor in the lefties!!! THE FEEL GOOD FACTOR!!!!!!!!

I haven't been directly effected by the carbon tax and haven't paid it much attention, but this was posted on FB this morning by a mate of mine who runs a vegetable exporting business;




If this is correct, I can see why people are ](*,) about this carbon tax.

Disagree. I could get into a long chat about "bred-for-purpose", etc etc - but I'll stick to what I was originally saying to avoid the huge debate that could be..

IF my understanding is correct in that the technical difference between caged & free-range is the amount of chickens per square metre and a large amount of "free-range" chickens never actually left their cage (I swear I watched something say this).. If you had a milk crate that was 1m², and just say you had 5 chickens live in there during their existence, and that was considered caged. If the cutoff number was 5, that would mean if you had only 4 chickens living in that square metre cage their whole lives, they'd be considered free-range. Is that really much different? I could near bet that large companies (the ones that sell to woolies/coles/etc) would be pushing the absolute limits of these numbers. So is there a real difference?

I eat free range eggs because they taste better, and have a better omega 3:6 fatty acid ratio to cage eggs.

How does that work? I mean, how significant is the difference? Tht's fascinating if it's all just down to environment.

Its diet, just the same as cows that eat grass instead of grain.

I don't know why they wouldn't feed them more or less the same thing :-k

Chickens are omnivorous, if left free range they will scratch and turn over the ground to find grubs, worms and bugs to eat. In cages they are only eating cheap feed full of grain.

Some farmers use flax seed as feed to supplement natural feeding, which optimises 3:6 ratios even more.

How much does that ratio vary? Surely it'd be negligible unless you're eating half a dozen eggs a day?

There will be some inherent bias in studies like these, but worth a look.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/pastured-eggs-vitamin-d-content.aspx

Hippies are the scum of the earth... no two ways about it.

I think you are confused between barn and caged.....caged is exactly that living in cages.....

Barn is VS freerange....this is where the problems start with stocking rates......

[quote=notorganic]I eat free range eggs because they taste better, and have a better omega 3:6 fatty acid ratio to cage eggs. [/quot


this is correct....everyone raves about our eggs that we sell....my wife picks kale and spinach for all her birds everyday and they have access to green pasture everyday.....the eggs taste better and the chicken when slaughtered tastes better as well.......

we believe in respecting the animals and giving them a stress free environment and we reap the benefits....

you can taste the difference....it is significant......in the eggs to the chicken mest to our pigs and cattle....

I actually feed my pigs steam rolled barley for about 4 weeks prior to slaughter to improve the flavour and texture of the meat......

the cheap feed doesn't have much grain in it....mostly it is soy bean waste and meat meal with additives....the meat meal is how we end up with mad cow and associated problems

I'd better add Farmer to batfink's extensive resume from the other day.