Adventure Ausrama Blog

Motor cars rapidly became popular in the bush when Henry Ford introduced mass production lines that reduced their cost to within everyone’s reach. Farmers used their car to carry all sorts of ‘junk’ - from pigs to ploughs making a mess of the inside, so they resorted to cutting the back end off and fitting a tray behind the front seat. This worked, but was not very safe for the goods on the tray and dangerous when carrying livestock. In 1932 an enterprising farmer wrote to the Australian branch of the Ford Company telling them that like most farmers he was unable to afford both a car and a lorry. He was fed up with cutting his hands and his farming goods on the rough edges of the tray fitted to his makeshift car/truck. And his wife continually complained about riding to church in her Sunday best in a smelly vehicle. He asked Ford to design a purpose-built vehicle, one that he could use to take his pigs to market, pick up stock feed during the week and drive to church in comfort on Sun...

Law is just pedantic. Legal proceedings are to be undertaken to define the precise meaning of "free to roam" chicken. Can chicken roam freely when they are packed into barns? The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is arguing that the high population density of barn chicken prevents them roaming freely. Turi Foods, Baiada Poultry and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation are accused of misleading advertising. The court case could fall either way. There is no doubt television adds showing chicken wandering with large spaces between them are not showing the true condition. However, a chicken is free to move if another chicken moves out of the way first in normal barn chicken egg production. Of course free-range chicken supporters are in favor of the ACCC action. There isn't much doubt that the real truth about barn production is not being shown in the advertisements. Other products are also not telling the truth in advertising either and the ACC...