There are around 180 chicken farms in New Zealand, but the lesser-known duck industry is so tiny you can count on one hand the number of commercial farms across the country.
What they lack in quantity, however, ducks make up in quality, with a duck egg having per gram far greater nutritional value than the humble chicken egg – a higher protein density, twice as much fat and omega 3 and often less allergies.
Te Puke farmer Katherine Hughes keeps just over 200 ducks at a time, and said the bird takes little work for quite a lot of gain.
However, convincing Kiwis to eat the meat and eggs is no duck soup.
“Most people don’t like the flavour of duck meat or duck eggs. You have to have a certain client that likes that taste and wants it. Getting people to realise it is good meat is hard, a lot of people think it is too gamey.”
Hughes and her parents Robyn and Mike French of French’s Farm farm their ducks free range as they do their 200 chickens. She said this can make a huge difference to the taste and tenderness of the meat.
“It all depends how the duck has been brought up. If the duck is brought up commercially and grown really fast and you force feed it, you end up with a really tough bird.
“Whereas if you have a free-range duck out on the farm playing in water and it’s not force- fed, and you add no nasties to the feed and use natural stuff, you end up with beautiful meat.”
Duck has long been on the menu at more upmarket restaurants as well as Asian specialty restaurants and is now more widely recognised in the food industry with most of the production consumed in New Zealand and a small amount exported.
Other important markets include those who are allergic to chicken.
All of Hughes ducks are sold live to her Auckland buyers along with her eggs, of which in peak season she produces about 90 a day.
In terms of scale, French’s Farm is a lot smaller than the commercial farms, which house over 30,000 ducks in specially made sheds.
The family’s affiliation with the bird goes back three generations.
“Dad’s mum had ducks when growing up on the east coast of Gisborne.. They used to eat them more than any other meat. Grandad would go out and kill them off for a feast.”
She said the ducks are very easy to care for, although “a very dirty bird” when near water.
When the ducks are not laying, they are turned out into the paddocks to enjoy the grass and as the saying goes, they are like duck to water when near a pond.
A clean pond will turn brown within minutes of the ducks entering as they dig up worms with their bills.
The mess isn’t a deterrent for Hughes.
“The work involved is little. All we do is make sure we have the next fence up in the next paddock, so we know they have enough grass to eat and go through.
“Apart from that, there isn’t a lot involved. With sheep you have the shearing, the crutching, the drenching, you have to check on the birthing of the lamb. Chooks and ducks are easier.”
They farm Muscovy ducks, Pekin and Khaki Campbells. Duck meat is worth more than chicken; they will get around $35 to $40 for a live one compared to $11 for a fed-up live chook.
As for the drakes, Hughes doesn’t keep a lot of them on the farm.
“We get rid of most of the boys, otherwise you have too much scrapping.”
Her ducks are fed whole maize and pellets and have well over the required industry recommended square metre per 18kg to move about.
“We like our ducks to have room. They are a lovely bird, I even sell them to people who want them as pets.”
She said the benefit of duck farming in comparison to sheep, deer and cattle is the fast turnaround from birth to sale for its meat. A duck can be fed up and sent away within 42 days.
“Ducks are always fast growing. I leave probably 40 or 50 out running around the whole farm. They are the ones that have their own nests and bring up the ducklings and do what they need to do. They do it all on their own, I don’t use incubators or anything like that.
“If we lose some we lose some, that is part and parcel of a farm, right? You can’t control it all the time, so we let them do what they do.”
Those farming ducks that aren’t free range will usually bring up the duckling in an incubator and raise them in a heated brooding room for about two weeks, before moving the duck to grower sheds and sending them away after the 42-day cycle.
Similar to larger non free-range chicken farms, those ducks can be fed through automated feed systems, live under continuous lighting, and inside sheds with fresh wood shavings spread daily.
