"Chinese trainers are becoming new leaders in animal welfare"

Demand for eggs from cage-free laying hens is growing worldwide. Even in China, the country with the highest egg production in the world, major retailers and multinationals want to switch to a more animal-friendly product. Professor Bas Rodenburg of Utrecht University and Kate Hartcher, Director of Science at Global Food Partners in Singapore, have jointly launched a project to train poultry farmers in China to become the new generation with cage-free housing systems for chickens.

In a cage-free system, a group of sometimes as many as six thousand chickens is kept in a spacious henhouse. Unlike chickens in cages, which live in small groups (four to nine chickens) and have an average area of one A4 page per chicken. In a cage-free housing system the area per bird is twice as big and the hens can display more natural behaviour, as they can move around over the entire area of the henhouse. "This manifests itself in a kind of daily routine", says Bas Rodenburg, Professor of Animal Welfare at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Utrecht University). "The chickens get off their perch in the morning to drink some water, lay an egg in the nest and go looking for food in the afternoon. You see a lot of difference in behaviour: Some hens scurry around all day, while others seek out perches more often."

From battery cage to cage-free system

"Interest in animal welfare is increasing in China", says Kate Hartcher, Director of Science at Global Food Partners. "Which is beneficial for the transition to cage-free systems." Five years ago, more and more multinationals announced their intention to switch to eggs from cage-free systems. But for that to happen much remains to be done in the country that is responsible for 40 per cent of global egg production. As many as 90% of eggs in China come from caged hens. Many farms have indicated that they want to switch to eggs from cage-free systems by 2025. "At Global Food Partners we work with the companies that have made promises to switch to cage-free as well as with poultry farmers", explains Hartcher. "In the latter case, the collaboration with Bas comes in very useful."

Interest in animal welfare increasing in China

Rodenburg already had experience with transitioning to cage-free systems in Europe and knows that the transition can be challenging for a poultry farmer. "Cages allow for control and are easy to manage", he says. "With a cage-free system, you really have to watch how a group of hens behaves. Are there any signs of feather pecking? Are there any injured or sick birds with an infection?" It is also important for large poultry farms to have enough employees to monitor the chickens. "For example, a Dutch chicken farmer and his family can keep a close eye on thirty thousand chickens divided into five groups", says Rodenburg, as an example. "When scaling up, the number of employees must match the size of the business." Chickens can only be monitored effectively if employees receive proper training and advice from the start. "Recent studies show that a chicken farmer's knowledge and experience play a key role in reducing mortality and improving animal production."

Model farm

Global Food Partners helps poultry farmers transition to cage-free housing systems. They do this through bespoke training courses and group training at model farms. On the grounds of Shanxi University, a caged chicken house was converted to a cage-free system with a few thousand chickens. "It's not a complicated, high-tech system", says Rodenburg. "It’s meant to give farmers an idea of how a cage-free system works. How do you inspect nests? How do you check the animals and their behaviour?"

The real strength of the model farm, however, is in European knowledge on cage-free systems meeting local Chinese knowledge. "Bas and his colleague visited China to train the trainers who will be teaching at the university", says Hartcher. "These people are indispensable, they will be the new leaders in animal welfare and the cage-free transition in the region." The hope is that by working with the university and farmers, the knowledge and skills will spread like an oil slick.

The advantage for poultry farmers is that they are really working with animals again

Happy chicken, happy farmer

Poultry farmers putting the training into practice on their own farms will also be important in the transition. "If I were a Chinese poultry farmer, I would not be convinced by a Dutch professor saying that a cage-free system is a good idea." According to Rodenburg, there is no better calling card than a happy Chinese cage-free poultry farmer. "If they implement the system successfully, it will be far more enjoyable to work with a cage-free system than with caged hens for farmers as well." Rodenburg often receives positive feedback from farmers who made the switch. "They are really working with the animals again. That makes them feel good."

This is a story from: