AN observer recently reported that he toured a non-cage egg production system and was abhorred by the ammonia and dust levels, explaining how there was so much dust in the house that he could barely see the chickens. Another observer recalled watching a free-range flock attack and devour a snake trying to crawl across the pasture. He wondered how consumers would feel about what the free-range chickens they were paying premiums to buy for their dinner were eating for their dinner.

On the other hand, Feedstuffs has visited cage-free and range systems that are exceptionally well maintained, that are industry showcases.

That’s the point: Animal welfare is management dependent, not system dependent, according to poultry behaviorists and other scientists who are members of the animal welfare scientific advisory committee of the United Egg Producers (UEP). In interviews with Feedstuffs Food Link, they said animal welfare, including the humane treatment of hens in egg production systems— cage or otherwise — is a complex matter of many variables.

The committee members meet and recommend animal care practices to UEP independently of the association which folds the practices, as guidelines or standards, into its UEP Certified hen welfare program. The program covers about 85% of production, and producers subscribing to it are audited for compliance every year.

The committee has developed guidelines for cage production systems and is developing guidelines for non-cage production systems. Many UEP members operate both kinds of systems in response to market demand for convention allow-priced eggs and higher-priced specialty eggs.

Tough message The controversy is that while egg producers are focusing on the right way to care for hens in all systems, some activist groups are focusing on perceived superiority of one system over another, and this has “polemicized” the issue, said Janice Swanson, an animal behavior specialist at Kansas State University.

“It’s very frustrating for (us) scientists,” she said.

Regardless of one’s approach, animal welfare is an emotionally driven issue, and “it often becomes the cause of the person (that’s important), not the welfare of the animal,” added Gail Golab, a veterinarian with the American Veterinary Medical Assn. in Schaumburg IL.

The committee does not endorse one production system over another but does endorse humane management practices, and those kinds of practices must be learned, emphasized Paul Thompson, a philosopher who holds the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agriculture, Food & Community Ethics at Michigan State University.

Learning — having management committed to and workers educated inhumane practices — may well be the central “constraint” to animal welfare across agriculture, he said, noting that there are humane ways to manage birds in cages and in non-cage production systems and saying learning constraint is especially important in adopting the latter.

EGGS FROM ANY SYSTEM: Eggs from any kind of production system — cage or non-cage — can come from hens housed at the highest levels of animal welfare or the worst, depending on how the system is managed and the skill of its workers, according to poultry scientists.

Egg producers are constantly working to improve the management and welfare of their birds in both cage and non-cage systems.

“Moving away from cages requires a tremendous level of expertise,” and moving to cage-free and other non-conventional systems without a skilled workforce to manage those systems is not good advice, Thompson said. Cage free and free-range production “may sound good,” but without a trained workforce, “they would be adverse to the birds. There would be a deficit of care.”

This is why there are non-cage environments that are both horror shows and showcases, and moving production to that type of housing without the skills to manage them would be unethical, Thompson said.

At the same time, there are cage production systems that are showplaces for animal welfare, he said, and “we don’t want to send the message that the only hens that are being humanely treated are in those (non-conventional systems).” However, “it’s tough to explain that to people who are not patient and willing to listen,” he said. “It’s a tough message to sell.”

Visionary tinkering Referring to how animal welfare is an emotional issue, Joy Mench, an animal behaviorist and poultry scientist at the University of California at Davis, Cal., said there will always be disagreements over the ethics of production systems, and “the hard thing” to explain about animal welfare is that there are a number of factors that contribute to the welfare of animals.

Even in well-managed egg production systems, for instance, there are tradeoffs, she and Swanson said. In cages, hens can’t flap their wings, but they are protected from the dust, poor air quality, cannibalism and cannibalism-related mortality and parasites often associated with cage-free and free-range systems, and there is not a feces problem in cages.

Also, there are differences like those in outdoor production in California versus Michigan. Both conventional and non-conventional systems have advantages and disadvantages, with “really difficult challenges,” and how management “balances them out” makes the difference, Mench said.

The committee looked at all possible production systems, Mench said, “and we are not yet at a stage where we would recommend one over the other— 10 years from now, maybe.”

In the meantime, she said the egg industry, through the committee’s interaction with UEP, is constantly improving animal welfare for hens in cages and will be improving welfare in other systems in the future. The industry is working on this every day, and while it may be “tinker, tinker, tinker,” producers are improving the welfare of their birds, she said.

Mench, who noted that she has spent her career involved in improving poultry welfare, said the egg industry, through UEP, has been “very visionary” in its process. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done, and I’m 1,000% behind the guidelines.”

FeedstuffsFoodLink.com CAGE and non-cage egg production systems can be horror shows or showcases depending on the management of those systems because animal welfare is management dependent. There is not one kind of production system that, by itself, provides superior welfare.

There are, in fact, advantages and disadvantages to all kinds of systems —or trade-offs. Animal behaviorists and poultry scientists do not recommend one system over another but said it’s how those trade-offs are managed that makes a difference in the quality of a bird’s life. They also noted that egg producers are working every day to improve their bird husbandry skills.

Foodservice and supermarket managers should make sure their suppliers are managing high-welfare environments, regardless of the type of environment, and should emphasize these messages in their consumer engagements and refer their customers to www.feedstuffsfoodlink.com.