Manitoba’s egg producer group plans to set up a new policy that will see any new or renovated hen housing after 2018 follow the “five freedoms” standard.
The well-known “five freedoms” guidelines for livestock housing would require layer barns built or retrofitted after that year to either have “enriched” cages or an alternate housing model that supports those guidelines.
Enriched cages, the Manitoba Egg Farmers said in a release Tuesday, would combine the food safety benefits of conventional cages with the welfare benefits of open housing.
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Such cages include “furnishings” such as perches, scratch pads and nesting areas, the group said, and enable hens to “express natural behaviours.”
The “five freedoms” model posits that food animals are entitled to freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury and disease; freedom to express normal behaviour; and freedom from fear and distress.
The group representing the province’s 168 regulated egg and pullet farmers said it recognizes “the importance of providing the public with quality food along with the reassurance that our laying hens are well looked after.”
The Egg Farmers noted that their quality assurance program, introduced in 2008, already includes mandatory food safety and animal care standards.
The group’s board recently adopted the “five freedoms” policy as a reflection of “advancements in behavioural welfare research.”
Thus, the group’s new policy states, “it is recognized and accepted that husbandry systems for hens should provide for the five freedoms. After 2018, all new housing facilities for laying hens in Manitoba will be required to meet this policy.”
The new policy would be binding on egg farmers “who build new facilities, or undertake a major retrofit after 2018.”
The five freedoms “are the most respected welfare guidelines and are viewed as credible by poultry specialists and animal welfarists around the globe,” the Egg Farmers said.
