Proposition 2 passed in California in November of 2008 and "prohibits specific farm animals from being confined in a way that prevents them from being able to turn around, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs."
JS West president, Eric Benson, said that the new egg barn answers all of the Proposition 2 concerns and hopes that the new egg barn "will be an example to our industry."
The 3.2 million dollar facility will house about 132,000 hens. "The new enclosures each hold about 60 birds in a space about 12 feet long, 4 feet deep and 1.5 feet tall, and provide each bird with 116 square inches of space." According to CFBF, these types of facilities are used in Europe to comply with animal welfare mandates.
American Humane Certified, a third-party certifier of farm animal welfare, "accepts the enriched colony housing systems as a humane practice for the housing of laying hens." The Humane Society of the United States, however, said that "colony housing is still cage housing and, therefore, is unacceptable to the organization which will only support cage-free housing" according to World Poultry.
To read the CFBF story, click here.
To read the World Poultry story, click here.
Posted: 07/07/2010
