Hatching a brilliant idea

WHAT started out with just 20 chickens has grown into a thriving pastured egg business for a Northern Tasmanian family. 

Nigel Aylott and his son Nick bought 20 point-of-lay hens a few years ago and soon had more eggs than they knew what to do with.

“We started selling them out of an eski on the side of the road, then that just sprouted the idea of what to do next,” Nick said. 

“We did some research into this style of system and started with 200 chickens to get it going then raised another 200 from day-olds.” 

They established their Western Tiers Pastures business and started selling their eggs at the Launceston Harvest Market. 

Nick said they were initially surprised at how much demand there was. 

The family run the operation on their property at Cluan, where they use portable shed facilities, movable fences and a rotational grazing system to manage their hens.

They now have about 1800 layers and another 400 younger hens yet to reach point of lay. Nick said their proximity to the Western Tiers has inspired their business name. 

They chose to use a pasture production system for its animal welfare benefits where the chickens have large areas to move around and continual access to fresh pasture. 

Nick said many consumers do not understand the difference between free range egg production systems, which can use significantly higher stocking rates, and pastured eggs where the hens are kept on natural pastures and have very low stocking densities. 

Like most commercial producers the family buy in their replacement hens as day old chicks. They are reared in a warm shed for a few weeks before they are gradually introduced to the outside trailers and pen areas. 

The hens reach point of lay at about five months old. Nigel said they lay at a commercial level for about a year before they need replacing. 

“You can keep them a lot longer, but after that time quantity and quality do drop and you’ve still got to feed the bird,” he said. 

“We generally sell the birds for back yard chooks because they will still keep laying.” 

The family use netting fences to contain the chickens and can move them as needed. 

Nigel said a key focus of their management system is ensuring the chickens have access to new pasture regularly. To do that they carefully manage their grazing, especially during the summer months when pasture growth slows down. 

One benefit of the system is the manure produced by the chickens is spread across the farm as a form of natural fertiliser. 

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“It is fully regenerative, which is a term we use quite a bit,” Nigel said. 

“We don’t treat our pastures with anything. The only thing we might do is run a harrow over it.” 

The family has seen a noticeable difference in pasture quality since they started. “They were pretty shocking when we first started, the paddock quality was a bit poor I would say,” Nick said. 

“They chickens have come along and fixed the whole lot.” 

In the last few months, predation by eagles and hawks is becoming a bit of an issue for the operation and the family are considering the introduction of livestock protection dogs to help prevent hen losses. 

The eggs are collected daily and once sorted are placed into cartons in a specially built shed on the property. 

The family’s eggs are supplied to a number of local food service businesses and retail outlets. 

They also sell eggs from their roadside stall and regularly attend some of the larger farmers markets. 

Demand for their eggs is outstripping supply. 

“We have the farm gate and we’re absolutely gobsmacked by how far people will drive to come to the farm gate,” Nigel said. 

“We’re scratching every week to get enough to supply our orders. We could double our check population tomorrow and I think we’d still be able to find a home for the eggs, but we wouldn’t do that from a land perspective.” 

Nigel said they enjoy talking directly to their consumers at the farmers markets and have a number who come back every week to buy their eggs. He said while most pastured eggs produced in Tasmania would be fairly similar there are some differences due to the feed mixes the hens receive and the pastures they are running on. 

Nick said while the hens can be frustrating to move at times, they are lovely animals to work with.