Free-range farmers who care about their chickens face calamity

Xavier Prime is adamant he cares about the life of every chicken and rooster on his south-west Victorian farm, even though they are destined for human consumption.

As a child, Prime raised chickens on his parents’ farm and then started his own pasture-raised free-range egg and chicken meat business seven years ago.

Farmer Xavier Prime with his flock and two-year-old son Max. Credit: Joe Armao

Prime keeps his chickens in mobile sheds and has about 200 per hectare, even though the free-range standard is 10,000 or fewer per hectare. He has come to know the quirkiness and personality in his animals’ behaviour.

“Our philosophy is to give them a meaningful and purposeful life,” he said. “I’ve got a chicken who leaves an egg every day in the tractor seat.”

But Prime watched in horror as other farmers destroyed hundreds of thousands of birds to contain the spread of avian influenza, which has rocked the poultry industry. He can’t imagine having to euthanise his chickens en masse, and says he is working hard to avoid that fate.

“If it came to that, how would you recover, if you could?” he said. “I’d be devastated for the birds.”

Prime’s farm sits outside the restricted areas where avian influenza has been detected. But he has stepped up biosecurity measures on his farm near Colac, which remains clear of the disease.

Restricted areas may include sites with known infections, premises likely to be infected or sites requiring investigation.

Although wild birds spread the disease, they generally show no symptoms. But domestic chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, pheasants and emus are susceptible to bird flu.

Prime has monitored truck movements closely to ensure there has been no exposure to properties where outbreaks occurred, and he is buying more Maremma sheepdogs, which help keep wild birds away.

Xavier Prime’s free-range chickens. Credit: Joe Armao

Avian influenza was initially detected at an egg farm at Meredith, near Geelong, last month. As of Friday afternoon, six Victorian farms had recorded cases of the virus also known as bird flu.

The most recent detection was at a commercial duck farm, which had already been in quarantine. Agriculture Victoria confirmed all ducks at the property would be euthanised.

La Trobe University viral immunologist Dr Emma Grant said the disease could also be spread via contaminated farming equipment and clothing, but it posed little risk to human health.

“Animal-to-human transmission is really rare,” she said.

Chicks on Prime’s farm near Colac. Credit: Joe Armao

Free-range egg farmer Wes Humpage, whose property falls within the restricted zone near Meredith, said an outbreak on his farm would exact an awful financial and emotional toll.

“It would be horrific. I don’t even want to think about that,” he said.

His farm remains virus-free. But last week Agriculture Victoria directed him to stop the movement of eggs off his property as authorities rushed to respond to the outbreak. Although he has been able to resume selling eggs, Humpage said the changing situation had placed a serious burden on his business. “It’s been very stressful,” he said.

He is trying to deter ducks from landing on his farm by fencing off dams. Humpage, who produces about 36,000 eggs a week, also keeps his hens away from large trees to prevent them being exposed to wild bird droppings. Feed is contained within purpose-built feeders so they do not attract wild birds.

Humpage said farmers were watching carefully for symptoms of bird flu, which can include mucus, coughing and sneezing in birds. Other symptoms may include decreased egg production, swelling of the head and ruffled feathers.

“Farmers will notice a behavioural change in the birds very quickly,” Humpage says.

This week, federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said he did not expect a national shortage of eggs after Coles placed a limit of two cartons per customer. He told the ABC that about a million birds had been euthanised or were in the process of being euthanised in Victoria from a total of about 22 million egg-laying hens across Australia.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said avian flu can be eradicated.

Watt said the virus could be eradicated, but that required the birds to be euthanised so it did not spread rapidly. His comments came before the disease was reported at the sixth Victorian property on Thursday.

The most recent previous bird flu outbreak occurred in 2020 and early 2021.

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