For one third-generation egg producer - who said he never wanted to make a living from the task - laying hens have become lifesavers during troubled times.
"As a young boy growing up on a farm at Cobbity near Camden I was sick of packing until three in the morning, working for my parents, and I swore I'd never grow eggs again," said Greg Galea, who with his wife Sheila de Luzuriaga are now re-acquainting themselves with a love for production.
The couple fell into a terrible financial situation hen they bought more sheds to expand their broiler farm operations. That option fell flat after the processing sector on the Northern Rivers pulled stumps. "We were going to walk away. Then we thought, no we'll fight for it," said Ms de Luzuriaga, who had a prior career in business administration, human resources and is now studying law. together they embarked on their next great adventure.
"Sheila didn't panic about meeting our debts," said Mr Galea. "She broke down each sector of our business and asked it to contribute to the overall figure."
Part of the enterprise includes a plant nursery and log cabin accommodation.
"The banks saw that as a great risk with Covid-19 on our doorstep, which was understandable, but we had no choice but to push forward," says Mr Galea. "And over the Christmas holidays the cabins were a success."
Never the less, eggs were always going to pay the bulk of the bills. After all it is a numbers game - especially now that birds are laying in the sheds - and the Galeas were always confident of stepping up to meet a market where 85 per cent of eggs come from out of the Northern Rivers area.
In their converted laying sheds Mr Galea welded A-frame nesting platforms, same as his grandfather used, to first teach new hens where to lay their eggs before lifting the sidewalls so birds are free to roam into the yard. A raptor flying overhead will send them scurrying for cover and the shade of indoors is appealing so a lot of the birds are under cover most of the time.
To fill some of his vacant meat bird sheds, Mr Galea bought 10,000 Hyline Brown hens, produced by Specialised Breeders Australia, for their calm nature, feather retention, hard egg shell and an industry leading ability to lay 350 eggs over 80 weeks.
Ridleys feed supplier at Warwick supplied a dietitian who paid a visit and developed a mix that is working.
To help pay for an egg washer and candling machine, the Galeas sold their 80 head of first cross cows, destocking completely last November. They don't think about prices today.
In January, four weeks after the hens arrived Mr Galea rang Danny "the egg man" Kaddour at Brisbane's Rocklea Markets to tell him he had four pallets of brown shelled eggs ready to sell.
"Don't want eggs," replied Danny "I've got too many eggs."
Mr Galea left the stacks of boxes behind and walked away, looking back over his shoulder and saying, "Let me know what you think of them."
When he phoned back a few days later Danny had already sold one pallet and said demand was strong - could he keep sending him eggs.
Mr Galea phoned his agent to confirm this fact, putting his voice on loudspeaker so this reporter could hear.
"The first thing about these eggs that I like are their quality," said the trader. "It's all about the product. It has a great label, it's a quality egg. It's about presentation."
The Galeas also have a new line of quail eggs, with chicks growing quick enough that at six weeks they are ready for laying. They are also in a partnership with a nearby poultry farmer, a former meat bird producer who is affected the same way, who now grows Pekin ducks for meat and passes the eggs onto the Galeas, who wash and candle them before packing.
Packaging is made from recycled, clear PET after a shipment of paper pulp to make traditional egg cartons failed to arrive in port from overseas. Mr Galea had no choice but to find another supplier and is so far happy with the product - which, of course, can be recycled again.
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