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During 2008, the financial problems that we are and will be facing have led to a reduction in the sales of organic eggs. Fortunately for the free range egg industry, those who have been purchasing organic eggs seem to be deciding that the perceived welfare advantage of free range egg production is one of the key factors in their decision making. I agree with this. In well managed free range units, even large scale ones; the welfare of the hens can be equal to that on organic farms. Therefore any minor alterations in the nutrient quality of the eggs from hens that receive organic feed are likely to be financially forgettable when times are hard. Does this mean that organic egg production is doomed? No, not quite, but the implications are that the share of the market for organic eggs will from now on be lower. Why?

So far, nutritionists and feed compounders have done wonders in sourcing ingredients and formulating feeds that can and do produce good results. However the crunch time is approaching when in 2010, the feed must have a content that rises from 90% to 95% organic. After this, there will be the mandatory final step to 100% organic ingredients in the feed.

It seems to be an inane and ill-advised concept that it will be possible to produce feeds that are nutritionally suited to hens at this time. I fear that there will be a lot of grey hairs and sleepless nights for both the nutritionists and organic egg producers, when this stage is reached!

The way that I see it is this. Feed costs will rise. The number of eggs / hen will decline. The risks of cannibalism and welfare insults will increase (which will reduce hen housed production too). These problems are likely to be exacerbated by the inability to beak trim the hens unless under the decision of a vet, even though a welfare friendly method exists. They will be under stress and will be more likely to need medicaments, which they would not be allowed to receive unless the eggs are withdrawn for sale as organic. Therefore the cumulative effect of these factors is that the price of organic eggs will have to increase again, with a consequential decline in sales being the ’bottom line’. As you can see, I am starting the New Year on a gloomy note. I must stress that these are my opinions, rather than those of the editorial team. I hope that I am wrong and if you think that I am, why not drop a note to The Ranger and say so. A debate on this topic could be fruitful.

At the moment, there are organic flocks that are performing well. Indeed, some of us are impressed by just how much better than predicted the results can be. The following is an example of why, in the short term, there will still be organic eggs available at a price that a minority of the population can afford.

Their performance to 72 weeks was:

Hen Housed Cumulative eggs / hen: 312.2
Cumulative Feed Cons (g/hen/day): 126.0
Cumulative mortality: (%) 2.9
Mean egg weight: (g) 65.0
Cumulative % Very Large & Large: 63.4
Cumulative Total Seconds (%) 7.7
No. of weeks over 90% production: 23

There are some interesting things to note here.

1. The producer was not afraid of changing the feed to a lower nutrient specification when he felt that this was required. The reason why the first change was made was that the egg mass output had reached what we perceive as the danger zone. The excellent hen day production (94.5%) coupled with a good egg weight (64.7 g) had made the egg mass output reach 61.1 g. If the egg weight increase had not been curbed by the feed change, the hens could have become stressed. Even so, the egg weight gradually increased, so that when it reached 67.7 g a further reduction in the nutrient intake of the hens was made at 55 weeks. Eggs that are unnecessarily large towards the end of the laying period can lead to an increase in the number of second quality eggs. For this flock the second feed change did not slow down the egg weight increase. It slowly increased to reach 69.8 g for the final few weeks. This is unnecessarily large for organic egg production.
2. On this farm, which is a multi-aged one, a decision has been made to boost the hens’ immunity to Infectious Bronchitis by vaccinating them periodically during the laying period. For this flock, the implication is that first booster was given a bit too late. The minor sag in production that occurred after the vaccination implies this. Nevertheless, there was not a problem with excessive second quality eggs. On many free range farms, boosting the IB immunity during the laying period is both sensible and necessary.

3. This flock provides a good example of how much smoother life can be for egg producers when the pullet quality was excellent. At 23 weeks when they had reached 95% production, the liveweight had progressed week by week to 1.88 kg, which was highly satisfactory. It is no surprise therefore that the peak production was a long one with no suspicions of a post peak dip.

It will be a pity if results such as this one become almost impossible to attain in the future. It shows that, at the moment, on well-managed farms, organic egg production can be viable. What a shame it is that in the future, in my view, the organic egg industry is in danger of being killed off by those who are supposed to be promoting its growth.

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