OUT OF THEIR SHELL

Free-range eggs are flying off the shelves in Tasmania. And that’s good news for the chickens at Mount Roland Free Range, which spend their days roaming a picturesque 38ha property in the state’s North-West.

Mount Roland Free Range owners Phillip and Angela Glover, pictured, started their business with 300 hens four years ago and now have 4600 – producing 1400 dozen eggs a week. The Glovers hope to have about 6000 birds by next year.

Phillip says that in the four years since they started their business, there has been a shift in the way food is produced and consumed, and people no longer baulk at paying more for quality. Celebrity chefs and cooking shows such as

MasterChef have helped bring free-range food to the fore while social media has given small farms a greater community presence, with more than 1200 people following the antics of the Mount Roland chooks on Facebook.

“People are more aware of their health, and what they’re eating, and animal welfare,” Phillip, 51, says. “They want top quality meat and fresh milk and free-range eggs … they definitely notice the difference in the taste”.

The Glovers have sold eggs at Farm Gate in Hobart, but concentrate on keeping up with demand in the North and North-West and sell at Launceston’s weekly Harvest Market. “It’s very labour-intensive, free-range farming,” says Phillip, who uses portable chook houses and movable electrified netting.

“They are really quiet and placid. But they also like to be all over you, checking you out to see what’s going on.”