In 1995, Graeme Napier was one of many sheep farmers in the Wairarapa.
“I never planned to move into chickens – a local poultry farm had come up for sale, and I thought I’d drop in for a look. Up until then, I’d always thought of eggs as something you bought in the store and had for breakfast, end of story.”
Graeme had always loved working with animals, and assumed that farming was farming but the Napiers had never seen a battery hen operation up close.
“We were pretty shocked. I remember thinking there had to be a better way than this.”
“It’s just common farming sense to take good care of your animals. Why would we want to give the birds who are creating the product a raw deal?”
So the Napiers started at square one – by designing a new home for chickens.
“It’s just common farming sense to take good care of your animals. Why would we want to give the birds who are creating the product a raw deal?”
They created the Henergy System, which replaced the traditional battery shed with a safe and comfortable barn.
“A battery operation would take a shed the size of our barn and cram in about 45,000 battery hens and their cages. In a Henergy Barn, you’ll always find less than 5,000 very happy birds in any one flock!”
During this time, someone else was waging a battle against the appalling treatment of chickens in New Zealand – the SPCA. They felt no egg producers had seriously considered adopting a high standard of animal husbandry and management.
But in 1999, the SPCA was happy to name Henergy as the only producer in the country worthy of their endorsement, awarding them their coveted SPCA Blue Tick. The accreditation is audited each year, and Henergy continues to pass with flying colours.
Henergy are now the biggest barn-laid egg producers in New Zealand, and their eggs are available right through the country.
“People ask that question, ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?’ – with us, the chicken always comes first.”
Read about our 5 grain eggs and more about the SPCA guarantee of safe cage-free farming.
