Friday, March 29, 2024

A different egg-perience

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A Whakatane dairy farmer’s dream of diversification on the farm has resulted in a business where chickens have free range alongside the herd.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

You can almost see the ideas flying around inside Whakatane dairy farmer Tina Armstrong’s head before they tumble out of her mouth in quick succession.

She speaks passionately and with curiosity about our ecosystem and sees endless potential in creating a farming system that operates in harmony – as nature intended.

But in Armstrong’s case, don’t confuse her busy mind with erraticism.

She and partner Hayden Power, who milk 356 cows on his 128ha effective family farm at Thornton, are on track to reach organic certification in October, and anyone on that journey knows the commitment and focus that is required.

However, what’s really got Tina buzzing at the moment is her new business venture: Circular Eggs.

And it has certainly been a circular journey to get there. Armstrong, although raised on a dairy farm, studied chemical engineering and was contracting to a Brisbane company when she became pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Her contract came up for renewal and she made the daunting decision not to renew it.

“It was something I struggled with as I had always been financially independent,” Tina says.

“And although I am very involved in all aspects of the dairy farm, Hayden is the principal manager.

“Circular Eggs is something for me to do on my own, and I’ve really enjoyed expanding my skillset. I have enjoyed the challenge of something different.”

She says once the couple had children Chloe, six, and Toby, three, their perspective on farming – and life in general – changed.

“We were run down, stressed, working like crazy people following the industry’s ‘best practice’ and we were really starting to question if dairying was the right thing for us,” she says.

“We always felt on edge; pumping nitrogen fertiliser on and feeding palm kernel just didn’t feel right.”

Her brother introduced her to a book called Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin, which caused them to question the status quo.

“I read it, Hayden read it and we both had aha moments. Joel talks about the broken food system and how there is a better way to farm. By mimicking nature your farm can become a thriving ecosystem while being productive and profitable. It was time for us to change,” she says.

The overarching philosophy they have followed is to try to farm as close to nature as possible, growing nutrient-dense food by farming in such a way that they don’t only sustain their environment, animals and community, but regenerate them.

Part of the plan to mimic nature included creating an opportunity for grazing herbivores to be followed by birds, so three years ago, they bought a small chicken coop for 50-60 chickens, selling the surplus eggs to the neighbours.

In May 2020 she decided to expand the operation. They purchased a larger trailer, or “Chicken Caravan”, expanded their flock to 400 chickens and Circular Eggs was born.

The “properly free range” chickens are moved onto fresh pasture every day, following the cows by two days and contributing to the circular ecosystem in more ways than one.

“The chickens scratch up the cow poo and eat the maggots, worms and pests, which reduces flystrike on cows,” she says.

“They graze the grass too, which makes the egg yolks a really bright yellow colour.

“They are also great soil sanitiser and leave behind their own fertiliser, which is really effective.”

The idea behind Circular Eggs – a subscription egg purchase and food waste collection service – was to share the farm-fresh eggs produced by the chickens, achieve Tina and Hayden’s dream of their farm becoming a thriving ecosystem and help mitigate New Zealand’s unfortunate level of food waste.

“In New Zealand, 12% of food is sent to landfill,” she says.

“Organic matter in landfill initiates an anaerobic breakdown during which methane and a toxic leachate is released.

“Organic matter such as food waste should be composted instead.”

To ensure the chickens are being fed a diet that is appropriate for their optimum health, Tina further processes the waste by turning it into a high-quality protein and compost through maggot and worm farming.

“It’s kind of gross, but flies are very efficient at reducing waste and their maggots are an excellent source of chicken feed,” Tina says. 

“Whatever the maggots don’t digest is then fed to worms, creating yet another delicious food source for the chickens, and the byproduct is an excellent fertiliser for our farm.

“It is my goal to get to a point where we don’t need to feed any supplementary grain to the chickens at all.”

She believes the chickens’ excellent diet is already being exhibited. 

“I plan to get the nutritional value of our eggs formally tested, but I believe the Omega 3 ratio and nutrient density of our eggs is already significantly better than average,” she says.

If you ask Tina, Circular Eggs is just one cog in what is becoming an efficient farming machine.

“Having a business exposed solely to dairy is short-sighted,” she says.

“Why not stack enterprises that complement each other? It doesn’t hinder the cows whatsoever.”

She has diversity firmly in her sights, and while she has dreams of farming pigs and creating a market garden, she and Hayden are already well underway with a comprehensive tree planting programme.

“When we bought our property there were basically no trees on it, so we employed a permaculture design specialist to create a tree planting plan for us,” she says.

“One of the permaculture principles is every tree you plant must serve at least five purposes.

“Our main purposes include stock shelter, aesthetics, ecosystem diversity and food for human consumption.

“Each year we plant 100 food trees, along with thousands of natives. Last year we planted pine nuts, this year we are planting olive trees and next year we will plant macadamia trees.”

Tina says they also rely heavily on the trees being used as stock fodder.

“Our transition to organics means treatments available to our animals are limited and we believe that to be healthy, our animals need a diverse diet,” she says. 

“All the trees provide different minerals that our cows are free to browse to make them strong and healthy.”

Tina says mineral cycling is another important consideration.

“Without the use of synthetic fertiliser, we need to get our minerals cycling how nature intended,” she says.

“That means lots of diversity. Every plant is higher or lower in different minerals; some have roots that go deep down, while others have roots that feed from the surface. 

“Through leaf drop and cows browsing the trees then pooping, trees which are deep rooted are able to bring minerals from deep down up to the surface.”

She says the challenge of getting Circular Eggs up and running has been rewarding, allowing her to gain new skills including website design, marketing and refining the food waste processing method – not to mention the farming of 400 chickens.

She believes women make valuable contributions to land-based ventures, their nurturing traits significantly influencing how the farm is run.

“The creation of Circular Eggs, as just one part of a farm with a thriving ecosystem, has been rewarding beyond measure,” she says.

“The life in our soil has exploded from no worms to plenty every time you dig a hole.

“Finally, and very importantly, there has been a lot less stress on us and our animals.”

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