Free range
The generally poor understanding of nutrition and diseases before the twentieth century made it difficult to raise many livestock species without giving them access to a varied diet, and the labor of keeping livestock in confinement and carrying all their feed to them was prohibitive except for high-profit animals such as dairy cattle.
In the case of poultry, free range is the dominant system until the discovery of vitamins A and D in the 1920s, which allowed confinement to be practised successfully on a commercial scale.
In the United States, the USDA free range regulations currently apply only to poultry and indicate that the animal has been allowed access to the outside.
[4] The Certified Humane Program offers third-party certification for producers who meet minimum standards, including providing access to grass pastures, traditional nests, and "dust areas to perform natural behaviors".
As of 2017[update] what constitutes raising an animal "free range" is almost entirely decided by the producer of that product, and is frequently inconsistent with consumer ideas of what the term means.
[7][citation needed] The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that chickens raised for their meat have access to the outside in order to receive the free-range certification.
[11] Traditional American usage equates "free range" with "unfenced", and with the implication that there was no herdsman keeping them together or managing them in any way.
Legally, a free-range jurisdiction allowed livestock (perhaps only of a few named species) to run free, and the owner was not liable for any damage they caused.
79552), USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service proposed "minimum requirements for livestock and meat industry production/marketing claims".
[15] Comments received for other categories, including "free range", are to be published in future Federal Register editions.
There is evidence to suggest that milk from grass contains higher levels of fats such as omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Free range dairy provides the consumer with reassurance that the milk they drink has come from cows with the freedom to roam and can graze in their natural habitat.
Australian standards in relation to free-range production are largely espoused in third-party certification trade marks due to the absence of any significant legally binding legislation.
A number of certification bodies are utilised by rearers to identify their products with a particular level of animal welfare standards.
[25] Producers are generally thought to be bound to Model Codes of Practice of Animal Welfare published by the CSIRO, and in some states this forms part of legislation.
[26] Increased demand for free range eggs due to customer concerns over animal welfare has led to a number of different standards developing in relation to three core welfare measures – indoor stocking density, outdoor stocking density, and beak trimming.
The key certifications used for layer hens in Australia include the following: Egg Corp Assured is the weakest standard, set by the industry peak group and largely based on the Model Code of Practice.
Egg Corp Assured differs in that it interprets the outdoor stocking density figure as largely irrelevant to welfare.
Egg Corp Assured has been known to certify farms running up to 44,000 birds per hectare outdoors, far in excess of recommendations.
[28] Like the Model Code of practice, beak trimming is allowed and indoor densities run up to 15 birds per square metre.
Beak trimming or any other mutilation is not permitted, perches must be provided, and maximum flock numbers cannot be greater than 2500 per barn.
[31] Australian Certified Organic Standards include criteria on feed content and the use of pesticides in addition to animal welfare requirements.
