About usour pastthe presentthe future
About usour pastthe presentthe future
PROUDLY SOUTH AUSTRALIAN
About Days Eggs
Thank you for visiting to learn more about the hens and the people who are providing your eggs.
As egg farmers for many decades, we’re not only thrilled that nutritionists and consumers have returned eggs to their rightful place as a healthy food choice, but also that they value the importance of eating eggs that have been laid by happy hens.
In fact, ethical eggs have been a central part of the Days Eggs values, vision, and passion since we began in 1987, and will remain so forever.
A big part of our mission is making sure that everybody has access to eggs that are delicious, fresh, and ethically-farmed.
To make this possible, we work hard to provide the best care for our girls, and treat them with the respect they deserve.
And that respect for our hens means we’ve adopted many sustainable farming practices over the years, and planting native trees and shrubs for our girls to fossick under.
Our hens love their surroundings and they’re endlessly fascinating to watch and work with. You can read more about how we care for their needs on the Our Farms page.
Furthermore, this drive to work in harmony with the needs of our hens and the needs of our environment, means we can fulfil our vision of leaving a better planet for our children, and for generations of South Australians to come.
Thank you for visiting to learn more about the hens and the people who are providing your eggs.
As egg farmers for many decades, we’re not only thrilled that nutritionists and consumers have returned eggs to their rightful place as a healthy food choice, but also that they value the importance of eating eggs that have been laid by happy hens.
In fact, ethical eggs have been a central part of the Days Eggs values, vision, and passion since we began in 1987, and will remain so forever.
A big part of our mission is making sure that everybody has access to eggs that are delicious, fresh, and ethically-farmed.
To make this possible, we work hard to provide the best care for our girls, and treat them with the respect they deserve.
And that respect for our hens means we’ve adopted many sustainable farming practices over the years, and planting native trees and shrubs for our girls to fossick under.
Our hens love their surroundings and they’re endlessly fascinating to watch and work with. You can read more about how we care for their needs on the Our Farms page.
Furthermore, this drive to work in harmony with the needs of our hens and the needs of our environment, means we can fulfil our vision of leaving a better planet for our children, and for generations of South Australians to come.
Regulation and deregulation of the egg industry in South Australia
At this time, the government instituted mandatory hen quotas and imposed a levy on the hens being kept. To maintain production, Days Eggs leased a quota of 700 hens in a rented shed, but were restricted to 60% production by the South Australian Egg Board.
With a growing demand for eggs, and with a strong focus on servicing small businesses, Anne and Dion decided to embark on a high risk strategy to further expand their egg farming and distribution business.
In a further change, the government then deregulated the egg industry in the early 1990s, which created a great deal of uncertainty for egg farmers.
As a result, many smaller egg farmers in South Australia decided to exit the industry. This is when Dion’s vision and strategic planning, and Anne’s commitment and dedication to customer service and sales, was put to the test, as they took the opportunity to go against the trend and push further into egg farming. They bought many smaller egg businesses and began expanding their markets in what was to be the first of many phases of growth that “lay” ahead.
A new era in South Australian eggs
In 1990, with an influx of interstate eggs flooding into the market, Dion and Anne led on the front foot on behalf of the local industry by launching their Country Fresh Eggs label, which was a proudly South Australian, farmers’ own brand.
What they’d hatched, won the hearts of many consumers and retailers with Country Fresh Eggs now the oldest surviving brand in South Australia!
This bold move soon had Days Eggs needing a new home, which was found on a property at Two Wells / Lower Light, which still serves as the main administration, packing and distribution centre.
The growth that prompted the move to Two Wells, continued into the 2000s, before new national legislation for caged egg production put new pressure on the industry.
Dion and Anne were among the first farmers to respond, by buying an old-style farm in Napperby, near Port Pirie in South Australia.
This farm needed to be modernised in order to meet the new welfare standards but that didn’t stop Dion and Anne from becoming the first in South Australia to meet the new mandatory requirements.
Continual striving for excellence in egg production
Having responded to cheap, interstate eggs in the 90s, the new millennium brought a new surge of extremely cheap interstate eggs into South Australia in early 2005.
This time, Days Eggs responded by going high tech and commissioning the first of three, modern, state-of-the-art, technologically-advanced and environmentally-controlled, layer sheds.
These wonders of farming technology could safely and healthily house 38,000 hens each, and they were the first and only pre-enriched, colony-type, hen housing in South Australia.
This innovation demanded high capital outlays, so it was decided to corporatise the business to make sure future plans could be funded.
So, in September 2006, Days Eggs Pty Ltd was born, with the primary focus of providing South Australian retailers and consumers with the highest quality of affordable and locally produced eggs.
Since then, Days Eggs has focused on integrating our entire operations, from the rearing of day old chicks, to providing first quality table eggs. The vision was never to be the biggest, but to be the best at what we do.
Soon after this momentous step, Days Eggs then built a new egg grading complex in 2008, installing and commissioning a new, high-speed, large-volume, and computerised, Moba egg grading machine.
This new machine was also an inline washing and sanitising plant, safely cleaning, grading and processing up to 60,000 eggs per hour.
Days Eggs today and tomorrow
Today, Days Eggs Pty Ltd has a dedicated team of more than 90 employees, who all follow international best-practice in the farming, grading, and distribution of fresh eggs into local and interstate markets.
Thanks to prudent investments in new technology and automation at its eight locations around South Australia, Days Eggs has now grown to become South Australia’s largest egg producer. Through our different brands, we provide South Australians and interstate customers with affordable, premium quality barn-laid, free range eggs and barn-laid eggs.
Further expansion of Days Eggs’ grading and warehouse capacity at Lower Light, means the company can UV-sanitise, wash, and grade 126,000 eggs per hour, and have them packed and loaded ready for dispatch in our 600-pallet warehouse.
Eggs are a nutrient dense and affordable protein for all families, and by having a range of farming systems within the Days Eggs enterprise, we can respect our hens with high standards of animal welfare, while also providing for families on all budgets.
And even though we are happy with how we look after our girls now, we believe better and better advances to achieve optimum hen welfare and food safe production is where our future “lays”.
