The loss of 50,000 laying hens in a fire at Zeagold’s farm in Orini, east of Huntly, is unlikely to have a “significant impact” on New Zealand’s already stretched egg supply, says Zeagold chief executive John McKay.
The fire, which spread through two laying sheds, was discovered on Monday morning. The cause has yet to be established and remains under investigation. No staff on site at the time were harmed.
McKay said a specialist avian vet had been at the farm, assessing and caring for birds in the remaining sheds.
“His initial report is that the birds seem to be in good health. They will continue to closely monitored in the coming days.”
McKay said the loss of 50,000 birds is “tragic”. However, it represents about 1.4% of the laying hen population in NZ and will not have a significant impact on egg supply.
The fire comes at a time when NZ is facing significant egg shortages.
At its peak, NZ had 4.2 million commercial laying hens but that figure dropped to 3.55 million prior to Christmas, which has contributed to supply issues.
According to the Egg Producers Federation NZ, covid has pushed some farmers out of the industry, particularly free-range farmers, and others have had to consider their future because of new regulations that ban cage farming. The changes were agreed to by the federation in 2012, at a time when 84% of NZ’s eggs were produced by caged hens.
Zeagold is NZ’s largest egg producer and operates nine farms throughout the country. Its 1.16 million laying hens produce about 540,000 dozen eggs a week, which are sold domestically under the Woodland and Farmer Brown brands.
McKay said the Orini farm – a barn-laying operation – has been running for about two years. Two sheds out of 12 on site where destroyed in the fire.
“It will take time to rebuild the sheds and restore flock numbers, but I want to assure New Zealanders that we’ll be working hard to continue to supply eggs and get back to full capacity as soon as possible,” he said.
The on-site packing facility was operational again on Monday evening. Eggs unaffected by the fire were packed and delivered to customers.
