Australian Eggs

New research conducted by Voconiq, a research company spun out of CSIRO, reveals that levels of trust and acceptance of the egg industry by Australians has increased significantly since 2018, whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to highlight the importance of eggs in Australian lives.

The ‘Study of gut microbiota of laying hens from different production systems’ or simply, the ‘gut health’ project has recently been completed. To our knowledge, this is the most detailed and thorough study of the gut microbiota ever undertaken in any animal species.

This research recognised the importance of gut microbiota in the productivity of layer flocks and provided comprehensive information on the typical baseline composition of gut microbiota in healthy layer hens in cage, barn, and free range production systems.

Plants (ground cover and trees) grown on free range layer farms provide a vital role by enriching the outdoor range and creating an attractive area for hens to go outdoors and explore. However, specific information on what to grow and how to go about sowing pastures and planting trees/shrubs is not easy to find for free range egg farmers, with material spread across many and varied sources.

Therefore, the main aim of the project was to consolidate agronomic information on the how and what to plant while also taking into consideration the main climatic zones of Australia.

Australian Eggs is on a mission to continue to drive farmers towards carbon neutrality by delivering research and tools that will enable farmers to take more steps towards a sustainable future for Australian agriculture. Off the back of this, Australian Eggs has recently developed a solar calculator tool to show the economic and sustainable benefits of solar.