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Focus on Co-op
Suppliers: The Excellent (local) Egg
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by Suzanne Fisher
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At Honest Weight, the three
top selling items in our cheese and gourmet section for the first
quarter this year were eggs, each from a different farm. Co-op members
and customers depend on Honest Weight for eggs from chickens that are
not fed antibiotics and are treated humanely. With the exception of the
Organic Valley brand, the only certified organic egg offered at Honest
Weight, all of the eggs offered for sale are from small family farms.
These local eggs are months fresher than any you are likely to find at
the regular grocery store, and likely to differ in other ways as well.
I recently visited three of our suppliers.
The Cornell Farm near Hoosick, nestled in the rolling hills of
Rensselaer County, has had had the longest relationship with Honest
Weight. When I arrived, David Cornell was grinding corn and mixing
feed. His brother Allen explained to me that he grows his own alfalfa,
oats, and corn, and adds limestone and soybeans to round out the
mixture. With this he is currently feeding 2,500 chickens. Those laying
are housed in small groups in roomy and well-ventilated barn rooms with
nesting boxes, and the younger hens are out in a fenced-in paddock
where they wander in grass and weeds, until reaching laying size. The
Cornell Farm produces 150–160 dozen eggs a day, which are sold to local
restaurants and co-ops. They primarily use Rhode Island Reds and New
Hampshire Buffs. Their birds have their beaks minimally trimmed by the
hatchery, which I appreciated when some of them decided to sample my
toes as we toured the paddock of younger birds.
Zimmer Farm, dating from the early 1900s, is situated along the banks
of Kings Creek in the quiet hamlet of Gallupville, in Schoharie County.
Here John and Kiersten Sanchirico have been raising both meat and egg
chickens along with the sheep for their own use. John sends two cases
of freshly laid brown eggs to Honest Weight every week as well as
supplying other local venues. His hens produce 150 dozen eggs for sale
weekly. John feeds them a straight grain feed grown by a local farmer.
Purchased from NEPPA, a hatchery in Fort Plain, his chickens are left
with beaks intact for better foraging in the pasture. The chickens roam
several fenced-in acres of grass, weed, dappled shade from large trees
and sunshine, and roost at night in large, well ventilated and restored
barns. The whole place looks like a resort created just for the
chickens. John’s motto is “Happy chickens lay better eggs.” You can
learn more about their farm at www.zimmerfarm.com.
B-Bar Farm, set on a velvety green hillside in Columbia County just
outside East Chatham, looks like Noah’s Ark landed there. Bob
Bartholomew, farmer, educator, and traveling judge for animal
competitions in 41 states and New Zealand, has much more than a chicken
farm. When I asked him how many of each animal (ducks, geese, chickens,
guinea hens, llamas, sheep, horses, and dogs) reside with him, he gave
me estimates instead of hard numbers. They are all well cared for, and
the chickens seem genuinely fond of him, although the llamas, with
their huge eyes, delicate ears, and cloud-soft coats were the most
seductive, presenting their noses right in front of one’s face to
breathe on you in greeting. Bob specializes in raising heirloom breeds
of chickens, ducks, and geese, which means that the eggs from his farm
come in a kaleidoscope of colors. He hatches many of his own chicks,
and also takes in some from other sources when they need a home or when
he needs to expand, which he has done after Honest Weight requested
that he send in more eggs this past year. He currently sends in 30 to
60 dozen eggs a week to Honest Weight as well as selling some to small
shops in the Chatham area. The beaks of Bob’s chickens are not snipped
except the few that had it done before they came to the farm. The
chickens wander over the entire 45 acres during the day, mingling with
the rest of his flocks and herds. At night they roost in groups of 50
to 60 inside a comfortable and clean barn. In addition to the greens
and insects they harvest, the chickens are fed a mixture of a pelleted
feed and locally grown corn and oats.
While the exact practices differed on the three farms, all of their
chickens appeared clean, well cared for, disease free, and unafraid of
the people observing them. All three farms feed their chickens locally
produced grains, and send fresh, healthful eggs to Honest Weight. I
encourage you to try them all and decide which you like best.
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Thanks
to Ken Runquist, egg purchaser for Honest Weight, for his assistance
with this article.
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The
Egg Process…Practices in the Egg Industry
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“Free-range” and “free-running.” These terms are not standardized for
egg-laying chickens. Free-range eggs is interpreted by farms to mean
anything from a larger cage for chickens to having acres of
pasture. Freerunning implies slightly more athletic chickens, but
can have whatever meaning anyone wants to give it.
• “Pastured” chickens are on a fenced area of pasture all day and roost
at night in a movable coop. The term “pastured” seems to offer more
certainty that the hens are actually outside enjoying the sun, grass,
bugs and fresh air.
• Debeaking: Removal of a portion of the bird’s upper beak to make it
less likely to injure its fellow chickens when it pecks at them. This
aggressive pecking behavior is more prevalent among chickens cramped
together, but it does occur even among chickens with room to roam. To
debeak or trim, the beak is inserted into a device that cuts off up to
about a third of its length, which can cause bleeding and pain,
depending on how much of it is removed. Beak trimming can be done by
hand, and can involve only removing the sharp little point where there
is no blood or nerve supply. If farmers choose to have this, debeaking
or trimming is usually done at the hatchery before being sent to the
farm.
• Destroying male chicks. Years ago, male chicks were raised for meat,
while females were raised for egg laying. Today. farmers use only
specific “fast-growing” breeds for meat. The male layer chicks are
“disposed of,” which can mean anything from euthanasia to being thrown
live into dumpsters and left to die. This practice is not what goes on
at the farms we buy eggs from, but many of those farms do order chicks
from hatcheries, and it is unclear how those hatcheries deal with the
male chicks.
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