Ashkan Pakseresht
Pastured eggs find market as confusion reigns over free-range definition
Source: http://www.abc.net.au
In the midst of the battle over free-range versus barn-laid versus caged, a new category of egg has emerged — pastured.
Producers across Australia have carved a niche market with pastured eggs, which come from chickens that spend their day grazing paddocks and roosting in mobile vans, at a stocking density lower than free-range requirements. Farmers say confusion over exactly what constitutes a free-range egg is allowing pastured eggs to flourish. Western Australian pastured egg farmers Colleen and Charlie Roberts entered the pastured egg market three years ago with just 125 chickens.
That brood has grown to 2,500 chickens, grazing 70 hectares of farmland in the state's south west.
