Thanks Ozgirl

I think, maybe, Steve's passing on has given a number of us time to reflect on our cultural cringe. He was well regarded and well known throughout the world. How many other Aussies can claim that?

His creation will endure and continue to inspire.

Rex

Have signed and have friends who will sign also.

Cheers

Thanks Rex, I have signed the petition.

Hi Scout and others,
A bit of a funny story.
It’s in ‘my plan’ to visit a new, different butcher or supermarket in my local area each week to talk to them about getting (more) free range produce in.

Today I went to a local butcher to do my free-range talk and to my surprise the dear old butcher said: “But all our meat is chemical-free, free-range already” and to prove it he showed me one of the docats coming from a free-range farm.

I said that I’ve been looking everywhere for free-range meat for years but that it is not easily available and asked why he doesn’t advertise it.
He said, “Oh but we do” and from behind a pile of legs of lamb he pulled out this piece of besmudged cardboard on which was written in black texta: “Chemical-free meat from free rang”. (the last ‘e’ didn’t fit on the cardboard, oh funny!)
He said that it’s always there but usually they don’t bother to put it in a visible place coz nobody asks for it and 'it's in the way'. How cute is this guy!

I said to him that I can almost guarantee he’ll get more customers if he puts a permanent sign up that points out that his meat is free-range and chemical-free. It’s something to be proud off, and he said, “I guess”.

I know where I’ll go for my meat next time and I know where I can tell people to go.
His meat costs only slightly more than the standard price, not a big difference for most cuts. Bought some beautiful steaks for tonight!

Perhaps there’s more free-range stuff around than we think there is!

Hi Celivia,
That butcher must be doing OK if he doesn't have to promote the 'free range' status of his meat.Makes one wonder if is genuinely free range, because to many people it's just a couple of words that help them to sell products at a higher price. Just like 'Organic'. Unless the products are certified or accredited there are no guarantees.

Yes freeranger, I see what you mean. Even though I had a ‘good feeling’ about the integrity of this butcher, I can’t be sure. I did see a receipt but he might get some meat from that farm and the some from an intensive farming method producer. How would the customer know for sure?

When you see meat in supermarkets that are ‘free-range’, these products have been pre-packaged and have a certification sticker/stamp on the package. I can imagine that at a butcher where there is no pre-packaging it’s probably harder to do this.

You said: “. We are concentrating on getting a realistic national definition of what 'free range' means so that consumers know what they are buying. “
Yes great thing- a place where to start, from where to set standards, something that can be trusted.

I buy my eggs usually from Manning Valley, do you know whether they are ‘really’ free-range? http://www.manningvalleyeggs.com.au

Celivia, Manning Valley's website looks pretty good. I don't know the farm and I can't see any form of accreditation on their website. Given the numbers of hens they appear to have it is likely that the birds are de-beaked or beak trimmed - but they may have found a way to run large numbers of birds without de-beaking.

Here's a list of the accredited free range farms in Victoria. All these farms are inspected annually and they meet strict requirements -such as no beak trimmed birds, low density production and grazing on vegetated areas.

Moore Brown Eggs
Labertouche Free Range Farm
diron@dcsi.net.au

Hens In Clover, Poowong Victoria
hens-in-clover@bigpond.com

Home On The Range, Myrniong Victoria
hotr@hotkey.net.au www.freerangeeggs.com.au

Golden Yolk, Lancefield Victoria
goldenyolk_eggs@yahoo.com.au

Freeranger Eggs,Grantville Victoria
freeranger@dcsi.net.au
www.freeranger.com.au

Donnybrook Free Range, Donnybrook Victoria
schance@ozramp.com.au

Free As A Bird, Tooradin Victoria
garz@netspace.net.au

Windy Hill Free Range, Seymour Victoria
Phone: (03) 5792 3866

Rutherford Bros Free Range, Seymour Victoria
seyds@bigpond.net.au

Lewis Free Range Farm, Birchip Victoria
jalewis@bordnet.com.au

Details of the genuine free range farms in other states are available from www.freerangepoultry.com.au in Queensland and whwppepper@bigpond.com in NSW