The Grassland Poultry Difference - Grassland Poultry

The Grassland Poultry difference

at a glance

	Grassland Poultry	Conventional Free Range
Type of chicken	We breed our own heritage Sommerlad birds on the farm. These birds grow at a natural pace (slow by comparison to conventional meat birds), and are well-suited for all Australia’s extreme seasons.	Use Ross or Cobb breed fast-growing genetics, developed for shed raring not free range.
Age when processing	10-14 weeks	5-6 weeks
Flock size	Less than 600	Up to 50,000
Access to outdoors	24 hours per day	8 hours per day
Shed lighting	Natural light	Up to 20 hours of light provided per day
Feed	24 hour access to forage in Box Gum grassy woodlands and free-choice system of a crumble & whole grains. No medications (antibiotics) are used.	Not disclosed
Shelter	Purpose-built mobile shelters	Stationery sheds
Processing	No chemicals or chlorinated water used. Water is treated with ultra- violet light and is chemical free. The birds are air-chilled for 24 hours before packaging so there is no water in the bags.	Chill baths in chlorinated water and chlorinated water used in the wash down. Birds are packed straight from these baths into bags.
When cooking	No weight loss.	Weight loss when cooking can be up to 10% moisture loss due to water intake in the processing.
End product	Firmer texture due to being active foragers and long growing time. Deeper flavour, great fat, the most amazing skin and moist, flavoursome meat. Stronger bones and cleaner tasting offal.	Softer textured meat and bones due to shorter growing time, meat tents to dry out in the cooking process, with less flavour.

sommerlad chicken

Authorised grower of Sommerlad heritage chickens

Thanks to their heritage genetics, Sommerlad chickens are naturally slower-growing, have an instinct to actively forage and the ability to flourish in Australian conditions.

This award-winning chicken is highly sought-after for unparalleled texture, flavour and nutrient density.

pastured proof

PROOF certified

Pasture Raised On Open Fields (PROOF) certifies that all animals are born and raised outdoors with continuous and unconfined access to pasture throughout their life time. They are kept at a stocking intensity that will ensure forage is always available in a sustainably managed rotational grazing system.