"I was thrilled to find your yummy bacon, especially the chemical - free option, at my local supermarket..."
J. F
Wellington
When people say 'Free-Range', what does this actually mean?
And what's that SPCA logo all about?
Well, actually we describe what we do as "free farmed" not 'free range'.
For some people free range means the piggies have lived every day of their life in a field like sheep do (which is actually very rare for piggies and chicken) and neither the SPCA or Freedom Farms guarantee this.
However for most people we talk to, it means a guarantee of the highest animal welfare standards and an independent assurance that the piggies can always display their natural behaviour and have been farmed without cruelty........ (which is why the SPCA set the standards we use)
For us... when we say' free farmed' its also about heaps more than where the piggies live .
Like....
being farmed free of growth hormones ,"tricky" chemicals,waste product feeds,and controlling the use of antibiotics.
..and trying to farm more sustainably...and improving the quality of the meat we produce..
Simply....it's all about farming our piggies more naturally.
So to make all this happen we went to the SPCA and asked them to come up with a set of welfare standards and an independent certification system ...like they did for free range eggs.
This means they audit all our farms,because we want you to know our welfare standards are the best because they say so..not just because we say so.
To summarise..
The SPCA logo on our packs means ,all our breeding mums live in open fields with their own straw lined chalets and after leaving mum the piggies are then raised in our deep straw shelters( and the SPCA also approves open fields too of course).Thats it ..no exceptions ever!.
We say...
No sow crates,No farrowing crates,No cages and none of those concrete fattening pens ever..
Too much to insist on?
Want to ask any questions ? gregor@freedomfarms.co.nz
Sadly, Freedom Farms is still the only one of two brands(Harmony is the other ) that guarantees all this and is independently audited and approved by the SPCA.
