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Free range is a method of farming husbandry where the animals are permitted to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. Extensive research by a number of groups including UK's DEFRA has shown than a number of "Free Range" practices create greater stress levels than modern commercial practices. Despite this, "Free Range" is believed by animal welfarists and activist groups to be kinder to animals. The principle is to allow the animals as much freedom as possible, to live out their instinctual behaviours in a reasonably natural way even if they are later to be killed for meat.
There is free range meat, free range eggs and free range dairy farming.
In ranching, free range livestock are permitted to roam without being fenced in, as opposed to fenced-in pastures. This has little or nothing to do with "kindness" to the animals.
Definition
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that chickens raised for their meat have access to the outdoors in order to receive the free-range certification. Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no legal definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range egg producers have no common standard on what the term means. Many egg farmers sell their eggs as free range merely because their cages are 2 or 3 inches above average size, or there is a window in the shed.
The UK definition also says that a free range chicken must have daytime access to open-air runs during at least half of their life. However, this definition also applies to eggs.
Terminology in American Chinese Immigrant Cuisine
Authentic restaurants with Chinese-language menus may offer 黃毛鶏 (Yale Cantonese: wòhng mouh gāai huang mao ji, literally yellow-hair chicken), essentially a free-range chicken.
Terminology in Japanese Cuisine
地鶏 (jidori) are Japanese species of chicken which are required by Japanese law to meet free-range requirements for at least 28 days.
See also
"Free range"