December 7, 2012

New Zealand has committed to phasing out battery cages for egg-laying hens, under a new code of animal welfare released by the government.

The new Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare means that no new battery cages can be installed by producers from 7 December, 2012. A staged phase-out will also commence with battery cages to be completely forbidden by 2022.

Under the code about 45% of battery cages will be gone by 2018. Primary Industries minister, David Carter, said a more immediate ban is not possible because it could have adverse effects on egg prices, industry structure and the stability of egg supply.

"The phased approach balances the welfare of layer hens with the time needed for producers to transition to other systems," he said.

The Egg Producers Federation is arguing that the phase-out period is too short and will force some farmers out of business.

"This Code has been several years in the making and has been through a thorough process of evaluation and review and for that reason it has strong credibility in both animal science and the practice of farming," says Michael Guthrie, chairman of the Eggs Producer Federation of New Zealand.

"Our argument is not with the Code per se but the extremely short phase-out period for cages imposed by the Code. The proposed phase-out period, which we assess in practical terms to be more like four to six years, and not the 10 suggested by the Minister and Ministry for Primary Industries, is impossible to achieve in practical and financial terms. This will have an enormous, possibly even crippling impact on many in the industry," says Guthrie.

The scale of change involved is huge. All farmers currently using conventional cages, which in volume terms is over 80% of the industry, will have to rebuild their operations from scratch most on a different site. This is not just tinkering. It will involve a complete renewal. There is very little of most current operations that can be salvaged in the move to colony, barn or free-range farming.

Current cages and sheds would be largely worthless and existing land will more often than not be unconsentable for changed operations.

Mr Guthrie says that assuming most cage farmers move to the new colonies, our preliminary estimates are that the cost to farmers of the transition would start at $150 million and go up from there. This would be spread across just 42 farmers, all of whom are owner/operator farms and many are family owned. He also noted that a transition to free-range would involve an estimated 70% more capital cost topping $250 million.