Colony-laid eggs order of the day

Farmer Brown general manager Hamish Sutherland with the new colony-laid eggs. Photo by Stephen...
Farmer Brown general manager Hamish Sutherland with the new colony-laid eggs. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Farmer Brown - a brand of Mainland Poultry - has become the first egg producer in New Zealand to offer colony-laid eggs to consumers throughout the country.

Controversial conventional cages are to be phased out by the end of 2022, to be replaced by colony, barn or free-range housing.

Colony housing is a larger cage system, which meets the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act, providing a minimum 750sq cm per bird, with facilities for perching, laying and scratching.

Farmer Brown general manager Hamish Sutherland said a deliberate decision had been made to ''lead the way'' during the phase-in period rather than wait until the deadlines.

Not everyone had the ability to buy free-range eggs, so providing more choice for consumers, with more welfare-friendly and sustainable options, was an ''incredibly positive step''.

A free range option had also been launched.

Economics played an important part in consumer purchases.

Standard cage eggs comprised more than 75% of supermarket egg sales, Mr Sutherland said.

''Welfare is important to consumers, as it is to farmers, and economics is equally important. Our consumers are savvy, like to make up their own minds and don't like to be told what to do. That's where choice comes in.

''We see our job as producing the best quality eggs, in the different housing formats, and making them available to consumers. It is then for consumers to choose which is the right option for them,'' Mr Sutherland said.

Mainland Poultry straddled different production types, ranging from New Zealand's largest free-range farm, Woodlands, at Dunback, to its caged operation.

There were about 50,000 hens in the colony system at Waikouaiti and a similar number at the company's Rangiora farm, where caged housing was also being replaced with colonies.

With a 10-year time horizon, the company was not going to leave it to the last minute and was probably tracking ahead of 10% a year, bringing in the changes, Mr Sutherland said.

Leaving it to the last minute would cause a ''real log-jam'', which was what happened in Europe, when cage housing was replaced, causing a shortage of eggs.

Add a Comment