First come the chickens, then come the eggs, but only about 95,000 a day.
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Every 18 weeks Bede Burke’s Winton egg farm welcomes another batch of 26,000 one-day-old chicks, and after 18 weeks of care, attention and top shelf feed, the eggs begin to roll.
While 95,000 a day sounds like a lot, it doesn’t quite cover one percent of Australia’s appetite for eggs, with over 12 million consumed on a daily basis across the land.
Glendon’s fully integrated and computerised free-range system has 132,000 chickens in their sheds at any one time, made up of 106,000 layers and 26,000 pullets, or baby chicks.
As the cycle continues the by products of the egg production are pumped back into the property.
In a good year Glendon is completely self sufficient in terms of growing and milling their own feed for the 106,000 laying hens.
This week Mr Burke is off to the Australian Egg Corporation Limited industry forum, after recently being voted in as one of three Producer Directors.
Mr Burke also serves as the Central Council chair for the NSW Nationals, and was “blown away” last weekend at the annual conference in Broken Hill when Liberal premier Gladys Berejiklian admitted to not knowing what a “double yoker” was.
“Poultry is always in the spotlight in Australia,” Mr Burke said.
“The AECL basically advocates for the industry, and makes sure that the future remains in good hands.”
Mr Burke is a second generation egg farmer and has seen a whole host of changes in his lifetime in poultry, including the entire removal of antibiotics from his sheds over 30 years ago, moving with market trends and demands to free range and environmentally sound practices.
“For a long time I just had my head down working hard having a family and trying to build up a farm,” Mr Burke said.
“Then a few years ago I got to a point where I thought people need to advocate for us to make sure our outcomes are good – have a look at the free range and cage sectors because we are always under that spotlight.”
The forum will also see special meeting of the board held were a movement to change the name from the Australian Egg Corporation Limited. to Australian Eggs Limited.
Taking the word corporation out of the title is part of the ongoing battle to re-build the image and reputation of the at-times controversial industry.
