WESTERN Australian farmers are often reminded of the benefits of business diversification, particularly during dry seasons such as 2017.
Robyn and Lindsay Cousins are glad all their eggs aren’t in one basket this year, thanks to the addition of pastured chickens to their broadacre wheat and sheep farm at Watheroo.
The couple and their four children have grown their flock of Hy-line Brown chickens to 2500 in three years and are producing almost 3800 Manavi Farm Pastured Eggs each week.
With less than 70 millimetres of rain falling in the Watheroo region over the past three months and a below average harvest expected, Robyn said the pastured egg business was proving a worthwhile investment.
“The crops aren’t too good, it won’t be our strongest year,” she said.
“The hens have been a real saving grace this year, to have that constant income has really made a difference.
“It fits into our day, we are still able to keep up with crop spraying and spreading, tend to sheep, collect eggs, feed hens and stay on top of book work.”
The Manavi Farm Pastured Egg story began in 2014 when the family purchased 100 chickens, choosing to run them on the farm’s open paddocks.
Pastured eggs come from chickens that are run in small flocks, forage in open spaces and are moved regularly to give the birds fresh pick while they naturally fertilise the soil.
The idea was to sell ethically-produced eggs locally, utilising the land, grain and water already available on the broadacre farm, while improving the soil quality of their underperforming paddocks.
According to Robyn, the small-scale project snowballed into something far greater after the success of the initial flock and the chickens became an integral part of the family business.
“Because the first 100 chooks we got were successful – we did not lose one single chicken – it was almost like a sign,” she said.
“Once we sold them to IGA in Moora we could see that they could quite easily take a lot more and then we went over to Foodworks and then we thought we needed to get more chickens, so we just kept getting more.
“They’re funny, they actually are really fun to be around and the other thing we loved about it is at night time we’d just go and sit down with a beer and watch them go to bed, I think that sold the idea as well.”
There are now five flocks of chickens on Manavi Farm, producing about 300 dozen eggs each week.
The birds are purchased as day-old chicks and sheltered in a converted sea container close to the family homestead before joining the pullets, hens and “old girls” in a 50 hectare paddock.
Specially trained Maremma Sheepdogs – Bonnie and Thelma – guard the paddock and ward off predators, allowing the hens to roam free feeding on pastures and a home-grown grain mix laid out in feeders.
Each night the chooks roost in one of five sea containers which have been converted by Lindsay and son Tom into transportable chicken coops.
The coops – two of which are aptly named ‘The Palace’ and ‘The Castle’ – protect the chickens from predators overnight, providing shelter from the elements and a comfortable place for laying.
Every week the shelters are moved to fresh patches of the paddock, allowing the chooks to naturally fertilise a new plot of soil.
Lindsay said he was surprised at the difference the chicken manure had made to the quality of the soil.
“When we first started it, because it’s fairly deep sand you’d dig where the container had been and it was really moist and holding together really nicely and you’d go over to the side and it would just crumble,” he said.
“Just the way they turn it over, it has been really good for the soil.”
The eggs are collected from the coops each afternoon – a process which takes about two hours – and washed, sorted and packaged on-farm in preparation for a bi-weekly delivery.
Manavi Farm Pastured eggs are sold in Moora, Dalwallinu, New Norcia, Yerecoin and Jurien Bay, and under the Good Grocer Collection brand in several IGA stores across Perth and on Rottnest.
Robyn said the demand for ethically produced eggs had allowed the family business to grow exponentially.
“People in the city want to see that we do care about the welfare of the animals,” she said.
“What I love about it is just being able to give something – in particular that city people want – that is what our grandparents used to do, but it’s just on a bigger scale.
“I love the idea that we’re keeping it as real as possible.”
Over the next few years, the Cousins’ plan to expand the business to eight shelters, holding 3600 chickens, to meet the growing market desire for pastured eggs.
Although there had been some steep learning curves, the couple hoped the pastured egg business will remain in the family for generations to come.
“I love it, I’d stop cropping all together and just do all chooks,” Lindsay said.
“It’s just a good little balance – they’re eating our own wheat, we’ve got the land as well, it’s a perfect little side business for broadacre farmers because the costs aren’t there like they are for a hobby farm,” Robyn said.
“It fits in nicely, and not only by providing a constant income but fertilising the soil in their paddock, knowing that we are building on improving the soil on that little patch of the farm is a real bonus.
“Having the chooks means we don’t get to leave the farm much, but we don’t mind that because we are farmers, we love this life, we love the diversity doing what we’re doing.”
