About Bega Valley Eggs

THE FARM & YOUR FARMERS

Bega Valley Eggs is a regenerative farm located in Bemboka, 25 minutes from the town of Bega, NSW Australia. The farm is hugged tightly by the mountains and eucalypt forest on the northern edge, and has breathtaking views of Brown Mountain, the western gateway to the Bega Valley, at sunset.

We are Tom & Joscelin McMillan. With the help of a small number of passionate staff and with our two young children in tow, we lease 50 acres of rolling pasture and are the caretakers of 5000 layer hens. Bega Valley Eggs was established in 2014, and in 2019 we bought the business after being raving fans ourselves. 

THE HENS & OUR FARMING PRACTICES

Our hens are free to roam, scratch and dust bathe, just as chickens should. They’re fed a nutritious blend of grain and a premium pellet to meet their complex nutritional requirements, and spend their days foraging and consuming a natural diet of a large variety of insects and grasses. 

Of an evening the hens roost in purpose built, portable houses which we move through the pasture each week, fertilising the land with invaluable manure and increasing the quality and quantity of topsoil. The act of moving the hen housing on a regular basis is the pinnacle of our holistic management practices. The constant movement of their headquarters regenerates the land by spreading their nitrogen & nutrient rich manure evenly through the pasture, and also ensures they always have a clean home and are not scratching in their own mess. This cleanliness minimises the risk of parasites and mites and eliminates the need for chemical treatments to address these health issues. 

We are proud to have a stocking density of no more than 300 birds per hectare, which gives our hens an abundance of room to roam & graze on fresh grass. We believe our practices are superior to Industrial Free Range standards, which allow a maximum of a whopping 10,000 hens per hectare. Hens in an industrial environment are allowed outside for only a portion of the day, onto the same, dusty patch of earth and are treated with chemicals to keep them alive – not healthy. These two extremely different ways of keeping chickens is incomparable. 

Our lucky hens are incredibly healthy, happy and are kept safe from predators in electrified poultry netting and guarded by our Maremma sheepdogs, brothers Romano & Bruno.

THE EGGS

Our eggs are Premium Pasture Raised Free Range Eggs because of our commitment to produce the highest quality egg possible, and in reference to the environment the hens are farmed – free to roam on pasture. Pasture Raised farming practices produce a far superior egg. 

If you’ve never eaten an egg from a hen raised on sunshine, bugs and grass, then you are in for quite a treat! Deep yellow and orange, gooey yolks stand up tall within their thick, milky whites and have a rich creamy flavour unlike any store-bought egg you’ve ever tasted. Quality chefs’ source pastured eggs because of their outstanding flavour and performance in the kitchen. 

After a visit to the farm in March. 2020, celebrity chef Matt Preston took a dozen of our eggs home and two weeks later sent us this humbling review. 

“Your eggs are still looking proud and fresh when cracked! Testament to your hard work stewarding an impeccable ingredient.”

Early studies show that in comparison to industrial Free Range eggs, Pasture Raised eggs contain less cholesterol & saturated fat. They also contain more vitamin A, omega-3, vitamin E, beta carotene, and vitamin D.

Whilst your cost per egg may be greater, Pasture Raised eggs are more nutrient-dense per calorie, so your cost per measure of nutrients is cheaper! 

OUR ETHICS

Animal welfare is the upmost priority to our family and to our carefully selected staff. We’re diligent with our farm management, cleanliness and feeding schedule so to ensure we don’t need to administer medications to eradicate disease or in the name of improving health. 

We believe that wherever we farm, we are the temporary custodians of the land, and therefore it is our responsibility to nurture, care for, and leave it in better health than when we arrived.

We believe that we have an incredible opportunity as farmers to help heal our patch of earth.

We believe that the current industrial food model is broken, and that to create sustainable and resilient communities, it’s imperative that we make changes to the way we feed the people. Buying local and supporting small scale and regenerative farmers, seeking the most nutrient dense food available, and at the same time reducing food miles, are some ways we can all contribute to a better food system.

We’re not certified by any governing bodies, instead we choose to be transparent in our farming practices. Please, give us a call, pay us a visit, ask all your questions and get to know us! 

COMMUNITY

We supply 70 stockists in the Bega Valley, Eurobodalla, Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions, as well as in Sydney. Our stockists and customers are loyal beyond measure and are the reason we are able to produce good food at the scale we do.

Seasonally, we send our surplus eggs to stores across Sydney & Canberra. 

See a full list of our stockists here. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Bega Valley Eggs is located on Yuin country. We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Yuin people. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this region and pay our respects to Elders past and present.