Community & Business
30 November, 2023
Celebrating a century of Stockman’s local eggs
From humble beginnings 100 years ago, to the region’s largest producer of eggs… A passion for supporting locals and producing the highest quality product possible is the secret behind North Queensland’s biggest poultry farm’s century of success.
From humble beginnings 100 years ago, to the region’s largest producer of eggs…
A PASSION for supporting locals and producing the highest quality product possible is the secret behind North Queensland’s biggest poultry farm’s century of success.
Stockman’s Eggs began operation in 1923 when Reginald and Queenie Stockman saw a great future in the egg and poultry industry.
Today, the “local gem” is still operating under the family name, with Reginald and Queenie’s son Robin and his wife Desley stepping up to the helm as the owners and their son Scott preparing to take over.
Employing around 20 people on the farm and running more than 70,000 chickens, Stockman’s Eggs has grown to great extents since the day Reginald began operating.
Priding themselves on a “locals supporting locals” approach to business, Stockman’s Eggs has been essential in many local customers' diets, purchasing their fresh eggs from their farm in Kairi and from local stores.
After arriving in Australia from England in 1917, Reginald started working at the Kairi Research Station, researching the poultry industry.
“It was in 1923 that he decided that he might like to start his own egg business by purchasing the farm at Kairi, and that was where it started,” Desley said.
“He started with only 2000 chickens in old water tanks cut in half with a bit of caging around it.
“He expanded into Tinaroo Hatchery here as well, but sadly, Reg died quite young, and we took over to carry on the legacy.
“We have expanded since then and are virtually the last poultry farm north of Brisbane of this size.”
The hatchery was the first of its kind in North Queensland, with Reginald spending countless hours hatching and selling thousands of chickens and eggs to customers across the region.
“Yes, they hatched a lot of chickens and transported them to customers on the railmotor, sending them down to Cairns and everywhere else, and the business built up from there,” Robin said.
Proud family history
To celebrate their 100-year milestone, the Stockman family dusted off their old 1950 Bedford utility delivery car to showcase at the Atherton Maize Festival.
The old ute was essential to the business, carting eggs and chickens across the Tablelands and Cairns for their customers.
Pictured are three generations of Stockmans with the historic ute – Robin, holding his dog Dudley, his son Scott and Scott's children Ella, Ruby and Reggie.
DID YOU KNOW...
• Stockman’s Eggs runs 70,000 laying chickens and 20,000 grower chickens aged from a day old to 20 weeks.
• The two main breeds of chickens at the farm are Hyline and Lohmann (Isa Brown).
• Over 20 million eggs are produced on average every year. That is around 385,000 a week!
• This year is set to be their best year of production, making Stockman’s Eggs 100 year celebrations even better.
Growing for 100 years
A lot has changed at Stockman’s Eggs since Reginald and Queenie Stockman’s time, and as the world continues to shift and change, so will the farm.
New technology has been put in place since then, with one of their biggest achievements as a company this century being the introduction of automated systems.
“We were previously hand collect and hand feed … and mum and dad (Robin and Desley) had to make a choice to expand, and so they went down south and had a look at poultry farms with all the latest technology down there,” Scott said.
“It made life a lot more efficient for the farms down south with automatic collect and automatic feed.
“The cage and barn system were also in a controlled environment laying shed, so the chickens had constant feed and water each day and were in a shed that was at a constant temperature for ideal laying conditions and animal welfare.”
Purchasing a new system for “a few million” to expand, Robin and Desley almost immediately saw the positive difference it made to the overall farm efficiencies.
From doing everything by hand to now using machines, Scott said the upgrades to the farm almost 20 years ago had made a significant difference to the quality of egg and work environment for their employees.
Their hard work and dedication to take the business into the “new age” was going strong until they were hit by Cyclone Larry in 2006, which destroyed their older sheds.
Their new systems were a victim of the damage, but the Stockman family showed great resilience, pulling together to rebuild while maintaining the quality of the product.
“We had to rebuild a lot of our older sheds, and that sort of made a point to us to get more automatic and more modern,” Scott said.
“It caused a lot of challenges on the way … but we still stand today with superior quality, and we really pride ourselves on that.”
The big egg
In 2018, Stockman’s made international news after collecting a giant egg weighing 176 grams with another egg inside.
The discovery by one of their employees, Zippy, had the whole world intrigued, making headlines in the United States, Ireland, England and beyond.
Scott Stockman told 9 News at the time that it was very rare to find such a big egg and even rarer to find another egg inside it.
“It’s very rare to get such a big egg, and all of a sudden, there was another whole egg inside,” he said.
“We were all quite shocked. The nutrition must have been spot on to get the egg fully formed.”
Making the perfect Stockman’s egg
It all starts with the care of the younger chickens and right through their laying life.
Also being fed a top formulised quality ration using local corn and quality ingredients by one of Australia’s leading nutritionists, Advanced Rural, is crucial for the perfect Stockman egg to give the right yolk colour, freshness and quality shells.
It also required experienced staff on the grading floor to make sure every egg is of the finest quality, but all eggs must be refrigerated to maintain the freshness of the perfect Stockman egg.
Stockman’s looks to the next 100 years
New regulations, rules and processes have meant many changes have had to be made to ensure safer and better quality eggs.
Over the next few years, even bigger changes will take place in the Australian Egg producing industry with the transition to Free Range and Barn Eggs.
By 2036, caged eggs will be completely phased out in the big supermarkets, and Stockman’s are prepared to tackle its biggest change in the industry yet.
“With cages phasing out into the barn and free-range, there is a lot of expenditure required to expand to have a balance with free-range, barn and caged eggs,” Scott said.
Through every high and low, the Stockman family have always stood side by side with their customers in mind.
Robin and Desley said they are proud of their families' achievements over the past 100 years and are happy to see it still standing glorious today.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved over the past three generations and hope that there will be more generations to follow,” Desley said.
“We would also like to thank all our suppliers, customers and staff who have contributed to the success of our family business,” Robin said.
The future of Stockman’s Eggs is looking bright as they continue to look for ways to deliver quality, local, family-grown eggs across the region.
Pick up a carton of Stockman’s egg at a shop near you.
