A little about us & what we do.
Brunswick pastured poultry, BPP is a small business, run by a local family with a passion for poultry and for sustainability. We are happy to live and work in the community of Brunswick, within the Shire of Harvey, in the south west of Western Australia. Our 98 acre property, is in the red gravel country, on the top of the hills near the beautiful state forest. We enjoy sharing it with our three children, four dogs, our poultry and a range of wildlife.
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After years of dreaming, planning and searching, we were able to move to our property 'Belle Vista' it in 2021. The name, meaning 'beautiful view' or 'beautiful landscape' just fits so well with this place and what we want to do that we decided not to change it. We are enjoying finding out more of the history of this place and take the view that farming is for the long term, and that sustainable landcare and ecosystem management is essential for that.
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We use regenerative and ethical farming principles to manage our land. We rotationally graze our paddocks and have long and short term improvement plans in place that consider the whole ecosystem. We aim to manage and improve our natural resources here (soil, water, plants and animals) in ways that allow us to sustainably and ethically raise our farm animals, as well as improve habitat for the native wildlife that live here too.
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A qualified and experienced tradesman, Joes skills have been essential for constructing our custom made shelters, fencing and for the ongoing tweeking and modifications to infrastructure to suit our systems. An environmental biologist by training and a 'slightly' crazy chook lady by choice, Tam is extremely passionate about what they are doing here. With over 20 years working as a soil specialist and environmental scientist in the agricultural and environmental management fields, she is living her dream !
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'As corny as it sounds to actually put it in words- I am living my dream! I get to work with chooks, cuddle beautiful dogs, plant trees to create a sustainable ecosystem here, an ethical, productive farming enterprise with my amazing hubby while raising our kids here on this farm with beautiful views. Blessed beyond measure!
Don't get me wrong, its hard work, often wet and cold and we have made some rookie errors and may make unknowingly make more, but with valued advice of others in the industry and some trial and error we are now at a stage where we know our system is able to raise, commercial sized flocks of happy pastured birds.
I love looking out of my kitchen window, over these hills and seeing the chooks roaming freely, dogs snoozing nearby. I can hear the native birds around us, see the ducks and maybe a roo drinking at the dam, or watch a bandicoot scurry under the log and its bliss.... usually quickly disrupted by the squeel of kids as they swing on the tree rope or yell out looking for something in the morning rush to get to the school bus.
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Still, it brings a smile to my face and I hope when you look at our photos, or taste our chicken it makes you smile too.'
Tam
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Brief rundown of the life of our chooks:
We purchase our birds as day old chicks from another local south west supplier and bring them to our farm. They are kept safe and warm inside brooders until fully feathered. Once they are ready, the young birds are put out in our poultry paddocks. We provide moveable shelters for protection from the elements and from predators, plus we have amazing guardian maremma dogs that are always on duty to protect them. Our shelters are not fully enclosed meaning the birds are free to roam 24 hours a day if they choose. They can scratch around, dust bath, eat bugs and grass and do all things chook. We provide fresh water and a balanced feed (sourced from another local south west supplier) and the birds are able to choose when, what and how much they eat.
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We believe our chooks are happy roaming these paddocks and that this stress free life results in beautiful tasting chicken.
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Try some happy pasture raised poultry for yourself :)
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Free range v's pastured poultry.
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We realise that there are many different terms surrounding poultry production at the moment and this can be confusing.
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Free range definition.
The Australian free range standards (2017) state that producers may have up to 10,000 birds per hectare and that adult birds have meaningful and regular access to the outdoors and with an outdoor stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare.
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Pasture Raised definition.
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Brunswick hills Pastured Poultry
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We run our birds in commercially small flocks and we adjust our system to suit the season. Even at our maximum, our stocking rates have less than 500 birds per half hectare or <1000 birds per hectare. That means our birds have more than 10 times the amount of space that the Australian free range standards require. We believe it is the both the timing of access and the quality not just the quantity of the space that is important. Our birds are never locked up, they can roam 24 hours a day, as they choose. They are most active at dusk and dawn, and have even been noticed out foraging under very full moon.
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We believe the systems we have in place ensure that the space assigned to our poultry is not just a large space but a happy one, a quality space with protection from predators, shelter from the elements, good food and water, soil to dust bath and scratch in and pasture to explore.
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It does take a little more time and effort to ethically raise a truly free range, pastured chicken. Our birds grow a little slower than the standard free range broilers, and it takes work to set up and manage safe poultry paddocks but we and many others who have tasted true pasture raised poultry, will vouch for their delicious texture and flavour.
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We can also see the benefits they bring to the health of the land. We are only very early in the journey of improving this land but we see the poultry as an essential part of the sustainable system we are attempting to manage here.
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They are not just free range, they are pasture raised, and have a happy life and they are contributing to the overall health of this beautiful rural ecosystem.
