Half Dozen Pastured Eggs
Mussett Holdings is a small family farm, located in the Southern Highlands of NSW. They are focused on sustainability and regenerative farming principles. With a balance between crops and livestock on their farm, they aim to balance the nutrient cycle – without the use of any pesticides and herbicides. They aim for a closed loop system on their farm, which also produces mushrooms and honey from native bee hives, as well as some seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Their eggs are laid by hens that have been raised outdoors on open fields. The birds live in smaller flocks, and usually in mobile sheds (caravans) that are rotated around pastured paddocks free of synthetic chemicals. Pastured Eggs are not ‘grass fed’ in the truest sense of the term, as layer hens (being omnivores) cannot survive on grass alone – they require a varied diet consisting of nutritionally balanced feed that includes fibre, carbohydrates and protein, along with essential vitamins and minerals – much like ourselves.
Hens are housed in different caravans, each of which are moved to a fresh area (netted areas; 50m x 50m in size; roughly 57 hens kept per hectare) for them to roam every 2-3 days, depending on the weather. The hens do a fantastic job of fertilising the paddocks, which provide grass that is used as substrate for growing their mushrooms. Once the mushrooms have finished fruiting, spent material is broken down and put into the veggie beds as nutritious mushroom compost.
Mussett Holdings aims for 50% of the vegetables produced from the beds to go back to feed the chickens, thus closing the loop. In winter, however, due to lower production in the veggie garden, hens are also fed some pellet to ensure full nutritional range in their diet. This pellet feed is custom made, and it does not contain meat meal (RAM), GMO or imported soy – all components of the feed are grown in Australia.
To date chickens have never been given any synthetic chemicals or antibiotics, as they are kept clean by frequent moving of the caravans. In times of stress like extreme cold or hot, chooks are given a natural seaweed booster in their water, so as to mitigate sickness. When there is an unwell chicken she will have a stronger amount and be isolated. A natural product called Nature's Ark which is predominantly made from Melaleuca oil is also being used as a natural remedy when needed.
Origin of Ingredients: Colo Vale, NSW (Southern Highlands area)
