We have thought a lot about becoming accredited as organic, not the least for marketing, but so far we have rejected it for the following reasons;

• We have our chooks vaccinated as day olds against preventable illnesses as when they are being raised they are confined at close quarters and disease can devastate these young chicks. We treat them with a drench in their drinking water sometimes, at most twice a year – tape worms are sometimes a cause of illness in “true” free range chooks as the worm has intermediary hosts that include earthworms and flies, two of a chook's favourite foods!

• Also on the higher parts of our farm there is a very nasty plant called tiger pear – a cactus plant with long barbed spines that will puncture straight through a tyre or a leather boot, so you can imagine what it is like for a poor cow, or a working dog. It is public enemy number one around here, and when conditions allow us to find it (it is very hard to spot in tall grass), such as the recent drought, we kill it using chemical spray, as this is the only economical and reliable way of dealing with this pest.

• We also like to keep the option to drench our newly weaned beef calves in autumn when they have to endure the stress of leaving their mother, plus we vaccinate all our cattle against preventable illness.

Sometimes we apply fertilizer to our farm to correct soil deficiencies, mainly sulphur, but also molybdenum at times, with selenium perhaps something we will need to consider in the future.

These activities mean that organic certification would not be possible for us. Our annual chemical bill is typically less than $500 these days, we are not happy with high chemical use, not the least because of the health of our family and employees who have to apply them and of course the high cost. When we were growing grain crops the annual expense was in excess of $20,000. As far as vaccination goes, we have a real issue with the organic movement in opposing their use, “unless there is a demonstrated problem”!! The definition of a vaccine is it prevents illness, it does not cure it – once contracted the vaccine is useless!! As parents we immunised our children, as farmers we do the same for our animals, period. Animal welfare is about having healthy animals first and foremost. This also applies to having healthy balanced soils, so we can grow healthy plants for our animals to eat.

We have had a number of email enquiries about our organic status prior to the completion of this part of our website. An extract from one of our responses follows -

Thanks for your enquiry, and your support. I agree with your assumption re some other 'organic' farms - I've seen many that just don't get the concept of environmental sustainability and in particular animal welfare aspects.

Our website is not complete as yet - when it is there will be a section on why we aren't organic certified. In outline these are the reasons.

• We run a beef cattle breeding and fattening operation on the same land that our chooks run on, the chooks follow the cattle in a planned rotational grazing regime. So for us to be certified organic it is a whole farm approach, as it should be.

• As part of our cattle breeding operation we wean the calves from their mothers according to seasonal conditions. In recent years early weaning has been an important tool as the ongoing drought has meant little feed in the paddocks at times. These early weaned calves require much more care than if they were weaned later ( 2 months of age vs. 8 months ) and control of internal parasites which multiply rapidly in calves when stressed using properly formulated and effective drench is mandatory if you want to prevent many sick and dying calves. Feed in the form of calf pellets which have undergone heat treatment to ensure the high protein is available to the calf's intestinal tract is also required. Vaccination to any possible disease outbreak, which could reasonably be expected to occur due to the close confinement of the small calves is also required. All 3 of these practices would not be allowed under an organic certification.

• On the steeper parts of our farm we have a nasty weed called tiger pear. A cactus, it has long barbed spines which can easily penetrate a leather work boot - also cows legs, mouths, eyes, noses, udders, and working dogs. If the plant is disturbed mechanically e.g.. a hoe, it sheds many small pieces which all have the capacity to take root and grow a new plant. This weed grows in stony hard to access areas. Control is best achieved using a small 5 litre garden sprayer type bottle carried up the hills by hand putting out the weedicide that is specifically recommended for tiger pear. I have been doing this over the last 3 winters when it seemed about the only positive thing I could do in a drought ravaged landscape. Tiger pear is particularly hard to see, but when all the other plants are brown due to drought, it stands out more, so control is more easily achieved. Of course this is chemical treatment, a no-no with organic certification. No matter that the total amount of chemical concentrate that I have applied over the last 3 years is less than 5 litres! (on 2200 acres)

Are you familiar with Joel Salatin's philosophy? He is my hero. Our egg production is based on his experience. He also has problems with the "organic" movement, particularly as it applies in the USA, with large corporations growing monocultures of organic produce and shipping it vast distances. He calls himself "beyond organic" which seems fair, but we certainly couldn't lay claim to that status on our farm. Maybe we should call ourselves "over organic" which is what I am, but a bit cynical I suppose. Joel's philosophy is "let our customers come out to the farm and see how we do things, be transparent" and that too is our thing. You are most welcome to visit, just give us a bit of warning so we can co-ordinate.