Free range eggs on the West Coast

Utopia Free Range

Hayden and Rochelle Crossman purchased their property at Utopia Road in Westport during 2011. The land was an ex -forestry block which the couple have cleared and developed over the years. Rochelle’s father, Kevin, decided to build a hen house on the property to keep busy throughout his retirement.

They started off with about 50 chickens, supplying free-range eggs at the local market. The demand was instant so they decided to expand the business and build another two sheds. With expansion came regulation requirements so Hayden and Rochelle approached DWC for support.

“The compliance costs we faced with developing a free-range egg business were very prohibitive. The support of DWC made our idea of supplying Coast customers with a quality product from a fully registered supplier possible,” Rochelle says.

Utopia Free Range now has around 700 hens, helping them meet the demand for free-range eggs. This demand is only going to rise with changing consumer preferences and New Zealand supermarkets committing to stop selling caged eggs by 2027.