8 August 2008

It’s Time to Revisit the Battery Cage Ban

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In September last year, as a result of a concerted campaign by Free Range Canberra supported by the Human Battery Cage project and the tabling of a Bill to ban battery cages in the ACT by Greens MLA Dr Deb Foskey, the ACT Government announced three measures “designed to phase out battery egg production in the ACT and change the egg-buying patterns of Canberrans”. The measures were;

  • an offer of $1 million in industry assistance to help Pace Farm change from battery farming to the barn method of egg production,
  • a pledge to source the eggs purchased by ACT government institutions such as hospitals and schools from barn or free-range producers,
  • an undertaking to write to your fellow Agriculture Ministers and heads of government ‘as a matter of urgency’ to get a national approach to phasing out battery farming onto the agenda for the next Ministerial Council and the next gathering of the Council of Australian Governments.

On the positive side, the change in the government’s purchasing policy for eggs is underway and is expected to be complete by May 2009.

But as for the other two measures, negotiations with Pace Farm have failed and Jon Stanhope has admitted that he has failed in establishing a national approach to a ban.

A ban on battery cages has the strong support of the ACT community. A local survey commissioned in September 2005 found 73% of respondents supported banning the cages. A WIN TV News poll last year resulted in an overwhelming 94% support for a ban.

The ACT’s only cage egg producer Pace Farm has shown that it is not committed to the long-term survival of its Parkwood facility. In response to the changes to regulations which came into effect on 1 January this year requiring caged hens to be given slightly more space (an extra centimetre in each direction), Pace have simply lowered their stocking rates rather than spend money to replace their old, filthy cages.

According to their Emission Report on the National Pollutant Inventory website, Pace Farm employs 14 people at Parkwood. Their annual rent for the 41.44 hectares on which their operation is located is a mere $486.

Pace Farm is clearly not an important industry in the ACT – but it is certainly a cruel industry. The Parkwood sheds were recently depopulated – i.e., the hundreds of thousands of hens who have spent the last 15 or so months in the cages were hauled out and passed hand-to-hand by their legs before being crammed into crates and transported for hundreds of kilometres in open trucks to be slaughtered.

The handling of the hens resulted in most of them suffering broken legs even before getting to the crates and, as has happened on previous occasions, hundreds were dropped or escaped from the cages and fell into the manure pits below the cages. Many of these hens drowned in the liquefied waste while others became bogged and were left to starve. The industry Code of Practice demands that such hens be retrieved on the same day – they were not.

There is a world-wide move away from inhumane battery cages. An EU-wide ban on the use of conventional battery cages for egg laying hens will be applied from 1 January 2012. The US state of California will vote in November this year on a proposal to ban the cages.

Over 150 US University campuses – including Harvard, Princeton and Tufts – have made the decision not to support the cruelty of battery hen farming while in this country, the University of Newcastle has decided to have all food outlets use cage-free eggs.

Three Tasmanian local councils (Hobart, Clarence and Launceston) have recently announced that they will only use eggs from free range farms at council functions.

Consumers and retailers are also moving away from cage eggs and embracing eggs from the more humane free-range system. In the UK, the sale of free-range eggs has risen by almost a third since the end of last year and in February more households were buying free-range eggs rather than caged eggs for the first time.

The Australian Egg Corporation Annual Reports show that the market share of free-range eggs in Australia rose from 20.3% to 23.4% in the 12 months to June 2007 while the sale of cage eggs dropped from 74.9% to 71.4% in the same period.

The world-wide move away from cage eggs is clear and irresistible.

When the three Government measures were announced Chief Minister Jon Stanhope stated that “if the offer of industry assistance was not accepted after negotiation with Pace and if advocacy at the national level proved fruitless the Government was prepared to revisit the issue of battery egg production in the future”.

Now is clearly the time to revisit the issue of a ban.

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Jonathon Reynolds said :

@d-kore:

I can do one better than that… having actually visited various abattoirs (admittedly overseas) and seeing animals walk in at one end and come out, pre-packaged ready for sale the other, didn’t and still doesn’t phase me the slightest.

If you are serious and passionate about the issue perhaps you ought to consider standing for the Free Range Canberra party as it appears they desperately bereft of candidates at this time… or perhaps that all sounds like to much effort as it is far easier to throw stones, anonymously ranting and raving, carrying on like a “pork chop” from the sidelines instead.

@ Jonathon Reynolds:

So you like to visit abattoirs in your spare time?
As I’m not sure what country you were in and whether or not they were raised by factory farming methods, I can’t really comment. If the animals looked like they were in good health, they were probably doing a lot better than the chickens and cows that we were actually discussing.

Don’t think I’m in the best position to be joining a political party at this stage, but I do demonstrate what I believe through the choices I make with what I buy and what I eat. LOL – didn’t realise I was throwing stones or ranting and raving! I thought I was expressing an opinion and responding to someone who seems to ‘passionately’ oppose the concept of humane treatment of animals.

Freewheelindave said:

freewheelindave said :

Rescue one today by buying a boiler and then release the maimed bird to witness first hand the terrible life inflicted upon innocent creatures.

Where can we buy these birds? It would be worthwhile to rescue these birds. Musing, I could have chooks now I’ve given up the peripatetic ski instructing life. Next door have geese and they wander over here, I could get a bunch of tough old chooks and they could have wars. (they’d probably make friends).

I used to go to the Canberra chook show and wonder at the amazing variety of chooks, from tree-trunk-legged Indian chooks to tiny elaborate bantams. I bought a large number of Langshengs for the family farm at one point. But a bunch of abused old hens would be rather nice to have.

I’d call cutting off the front of their beaks to fit more of them into the miniture cages cruelty myself.

Vice pope – just look up battery hens on google pics – it is scary stuff. I’m not going to do a link, cos I really don’t want to see the images.

As for the $7 eggs, today I got a nice box of eggs at Mother Nature’s in Qbn, from the (I think and am too lazy to scuttle to the fridge) brown egg company, whose hens can express themselves and other stuff, for $5.

Timberwolf656:19 pm 10 Aug 08

I had two chooks, and they use to lay beautiful eggs and eat all the left over kitchen scraps, they were awesome…Sadly they died… I myself refuse to buy caged eggs, free range all the way.

Why not have a scheme where those who give a rats about the comfort of chickens dip into their own pockets to subsidise free range eggs for all? They’d get a nice warm feeling, poor people would experience the delights of free range and the chooks would, allegedly, be happier.

(For my part, my extensive and early exposure to chooks suggested that they have no, or next to no, useful appreciation of comfort. They would react to cruelty and starvation, but those are matters that are already addressed by the RSPCA and government. What constitutes a proper and adequate space is a matter for experts, not well-meaning amateurs who apply human standards to another creature. I’m not an expert).

freewheelindave6:07 pm 10 Aug 08

We are all responsible through inaction for the ongoing cruelty to battery incarcerated hens.
As sentient beings they deserve to be treated with respect.

If humans are punished with jail conditions far better than those of the battery hen, what could have the creatures done to deserve such a ghastly life?

Rescue one today by buying a boiler and then release the maimed bird to witness first hand the terrible life inflicted upon innocent creatures.

And then over time watch with wonder as it recovers its wild beauty, grows to fly and eat without pain and resumes its capabilities to feed, amuse, and communicate with us humans.

We are what we eat.

There are few things in this world more appalling than people who are happy for animals to suffer, just so they can save a few dollars.
My family are Beef farmers, and yes, we could make a lot more money by converting to a feedlot. But it wouldn’t be morally right. I love eggs, beef and milk…. But there is no need for cruelty, just to save a few miserable dollars.

I don’t know how battery farmers can sleep at night.

Jonathon Reynolds3:10 pm 10 Aug 08

@d-kore:

d-kore said :

I’d like to see how appetising you’d find the milk and eggs you’re consuming if you had the sickly, diseased and miserable animals who’d produced them right in front of you!

I can do one better than that… having actually visited various abattoirs (admittedly overseas) and seeing animals walk in at one end and come out, pre-packaged ready for sale the other, didn’t and still doesn’t phase me the slightest.

If you are serious and passionate about the issue perhaps you ought to consider standing for the Free Range Canberra party as it appears they desperately bereft of candidates at this time… or perhaps that all sounds like to much effort as it is far easier to throw stones, anonymously ranting and raving, carrying on like a “pork chop” from the sidelines instead.

I wonder how many people who don’t want to pay more for free range but are quite happy to spend their much loved dollars on frivoulous items.

100% free range is the only decent humane thing to do whether the farming practice is legal or not. Something being legal does not mean it is right’ it only means we have not yet evolved out of an archaic farming practice.

If cost was the only factor then we would endorse slave labour or sweat shops.

d-kore: “I’d like to see how appetising you’d find the milk and eggs you’re consuming if you had the sickly, diseased and miserable animals who’d produced them right in front of you!”

You’re dead right, d-kore. But also – if consumers could see and smell the filthy, disgusting conditions in which their cage eggs are laid I’m sure they wouldn’t touch them.

Jonathon Reynolds said :

You are right – I don’t care. So long as the eggs are produced legally I don’t have a guilty conscience nor see any dilemma. As I said in a comment earlier if it so much of an issue of cruelty then the RSPCA would have ensured that Pace Farms were closed down years ago.

Furthermore, for your information I don’t smoke, rarely drink and don’t have any need for new televisions.

Next I’m sure you’ll be arguing that milk should come from 100% contented cows that only feed on the best luscious green pastures and everyone should bear the burden of the resultant increased costs because the cows will be having a better life and it makes you feel better.

Dare I ask if you eat meat or are you vegetarian / vegan?

@ Jonathon Reynolds

If you can’t see that legal standards for factory farming in this country are laughable, than I don’t see what chance there is for you to care about the torture these animals are put through. Just because something is stamped LEGAL – does that make it right? People do have the ability to think for themselves and to not just rely on the ‘law’ and the RSPCA to tell them what’s morally okay.

If you aren’t willing to pay the real price for eggs, don’t buy eggs at all! Simple as that! By ‘real price’ I mean the cost of eggs produced under natural and humane conditions. Just because factory farming has convinced Aussie society that a carton of eggs should cost $2, doesn’t make it right!

I find the sarcasm offensive. However, you’re 100% correct, that’s exactly what I’d want for dairy cows and once again, if you aren’t willing to pay the real cost for milk, don’t buy milk at all! LOL!

I’d like to see how appetising you’d find the milk and eggs you’re consuming if you had the sickly, diseased and miserable animals who’d produced them right in front of you!

$7 for free range eggs?! Never! They must be boutique organic truffle-fed eggs. Mother Nature’s often flog off free range eggs that are nearing their best-by date for like $2 a box (not giant ones however). I got some of those 2 weeks ago and just finished them today. Supermarkets have lots of free range and barn raised options that don’t cost $7, and many fruit and veg places sell local free range eggs. Even the Groggery at Oaks Estate sells eggs from Burra (but not for $7).

It is necessary in order to keep the price of eggs low. Free range eggs cost upwards of $7 for the large ones but only half that for the battery ones.

i still can’t fathom how people think $3 more for a dozen eggs is seriously a lot of money.. how much did that slab of scotch fillet set you back? or that coffee? (let alone, as mentioned, vices like cigarettes or alcohol)

maybe i’m biased (having money, and enjoying good eggs), but i feel if you can’t eat them responsibly, don’t eat them at all. and seriously, good eggs taste a world better than watery, runny battery eggs.

grmbl. people stating that eggs are being a staple source of nutrition too – i don’t have numbers to necessarily back myself up, but i’ll et my bottom dollar that a ‘better’ egg will be more nutricious than a watery batter egg any day. so on a dollar per nutrition unit, they’d be much more equivalent than simply the dollar per dozen eggs.

eggs for dinner? i think so 🙂

Duke said :

Taking battery eggs out of the system will not make free range cheaper. It will create a monopoly with the usual profiteering not far behind.

I’m pretty confident a large portion of the battery production would convert.

It would still, however, produce less eggs, meaning the price of eggs will rise as sure as the sun.

It is necessary in order to keep the price of eggs low. Free range eggs cost upwards of $7 for the large ones but only half that for the battery ones.

Taking battery eggs out of the system will not make free range cheaper. It will create a monopoly with the usual profiteering not far behind.

That is the whole point of banning battery hen farming. It is cruel, and also unneccesary, as there are much better ways to get eggs – barn and free range.

emd said :

There is no excuse for cruelty

As a meat eater I accept a degree of cruelty.

I don’t know any way to dodge it.

Having said that if the chickens can’t keep their feathers and their beaks I’ll support ending that mis-treatment of the animals.

There is no excuse for cruelty. Battery cages should be banned. The price of free range or barn laid eggs would come down if there were no cheaper alternative, fewer chickens would suffer, and we might all eat a little better with the better quality eggs.

You know what the biggest problem is? We just waste too much food. Really, we do. The Conservation Council’s State of the Environment report, and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports, show that Canberrans are the most wasteful population in Australia. It’s a waste of our environmental resources, and adds to unnecessary suffering for animals, when we throw out food that goes off in the fridge.

Seriously, how can you possibly complain about a few extra dollars spent on eggs when most households in Canberra waste over $1,500 worth of new, unused goods every year?

sepi said :

I think justifying a huge and cruel industry, because a few kids in poorer households might get a bit of protein is drawing a long bow.

We shouldn’t be able to glibly justify inflicting unecessary misery on animals because it’s convenient to us. There are alternatives here. And if all egg production was required to be cruelty-free, the price would come down.

On the cost of cage eggs compared to free-range or barn – look at it the other way round. How much does the cage egg industry need to pay you to turn a blind eye to the way these birds are treated? If they found that pinning them to the wall produced an extra egg per week thus reducing the price would that be acceptable?

‘VicePope’ (“Chooks aren’t very bright”) shouldn’t confuse an animal’s capacity to suffer with its ability to express that suffering.

The RSPCA was called on to inspect the Parkwood sheds the day after they were depopulated when there were many hens trapped in the manure pits. They failed to show up. In the meantime, Pace killed the hens – and judging by the sounds heard from outside, not humanely.

The essence of the matter at the moment is that the ACT Government undertook to revisit the issue of battery cages if its negotiations with Pace and with other governments failed. Both have failed.

> neomods

whoops wrong thread (obviously). Chickens aren’t neomods.

But while in this thread, chickens deserve more than the deprevations of battery farming (if not their own ska/scooter based subculture).

If you can’t afford free range then get your own chook.

Seems to be neomods

Yeah but 77% of people are not on subsistence living. Lots of people just don’t think about it.

And the current minimum standards are not adequate – not if the poor animals can’t even stand up, or ever take one step.

I think justifying a huge and cruel industry, because a few kids in poorer households might get a bit of protein is drawing a long bow.

I’d ban battery hens in a heartbeat, and increase welfare payments.

Been there too OH

I’ve been at both ends of this debate. I’ve stood next to Lynda Stoner outside the ACT courts protesting about battery cages, and I’ve been in such subsistence circumstances that the ultra-cheap eggs have been a necessity. Yet another example of how one universal approach doesn’t suit all.

Jonathon Reynolds12:59 am 09 Aug 08

@Someone_else:

Someone_else said :

but I always do my best to ensure that the animals I eat have been raised and slaughtered in a humane manner.

Surely it would be far more humane next time you want a leg lamb roast: you arrange for the lamb to undergo a general anaesthetic, amputate the leg, and give the lamb an artificial leg and appropriate on-going rehabilitation. That would be so much more humane as a poor defenceless animal doesn’t lose its life for you to enjoy a tasty roast.

It is people like you that would like to see society return to a completely (unsustainable) agrarian state. We have commercial farming for a reason – we need to feed the population, it needs to be done efficiently and in an affordable manner.

Someone_else12:53 am 09 Aug 08

How noble of you JB.

SE,

I take a similar position to you for myself.

I baulk at imposing it on other people who’s circumstances might not be as fortunate as my own.

Someone_else12:48 am 09 Aug 08

Well as I eat EGGS, that would tend to indicate that I’m not a vegan JR. Nor am I vego, but I always do my best to ensure that the animals I eat have been raised and slaughtered in a humane manner. And yes milk production is another big problem that needs to be addressed, but I believe the topic here is free-range eggs.

Jonathon Reynolds12:44 am 09 Aug 08

@Someone_else:

You are right – I don’t care. So long as the eggs are produced legally I don’t have a guilty conscience nor see any dilemma. As I said in a comment earlier if it so much of an issue of cruelty then the RSPCA would have ensured that Pace Farms were closed down years ago.

Furthermore, for your information I don’t smoke, rarely drink and don’t have any need for new televisions.

Next I’m sure you’ll be arguing that milk should come from 100% contented cows that only feed on the best luscious green pastures and everyone should bear the burden of the resultant increased costs because the cows will be having a better life and it makes you feel better.

Dare I ask if you eat meat or are you vegetarian / vegan?

Someone_else12:43 am 09 Aug 08

Nup, not buying it JB. Sorry, but we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

And I’m saying that not every family is choosing between frippery and nutrition.

There are people out there in Australia today, particularly children, the health of whom would be impacted by more expensive eggs.

But, as I say, I’m all in favour of establishing ethical standards in battery hens while encouraging free range and home grown.

Someone_else12:35 am 09 Aug 08

johnboy said :

Still people doing it tough here not spending all their money on drugs.

You are really mis-interpreting my comment, I never said that people who don’t buy free-range are spending all their money on drugs! It’s simple things like buying less junk food, going without a magazine or other unecessary rubbish that we all spend our money on. I just don’t buy that people couldn’t afford to buy free-range if they really wanted to.

When available i get mine from my inlaws property, and yes you can and tell the difference from battery eggs.

Still people doing it tough here not spending all their money on drugs.

Someone_else12:25 am 09 Aug 08

Starvation, JB? We’re talking about Australia here, not the third-world. I really don’t see what I should be “careful” about??

Someone_else said :

Claiming that you can’t “afford” to buy free-range is such a cop-out. Just be honest admit you don’t care. I’m sure a lot of the people who whinge that free-range is too expensive have no problems finding the extra cash for ciggies, alcohol and new TVs.

I’d be a little careful there SE.

I personally can and do afford free range eggs where possible (not all shops have them).

But the cheap egg has been a mainstay against starvation for a very long time as the world’s most affordable source of protein.

Be that as it may there remains a huge ongoing demand for the cheapest eggs possible.

So I’d like to see humane minimum standards for them even as I chow down on my bright orange free range eggs.

Spot-ON, someone_else. Nailed it. It’s about priorities and standards. Battery farming is an utter, utter disgrace. So the extra dollar for non-cruel eggs is going to push people into destitution? I don’t think so.

Someone_else12:07 am 09 Aug 08

Claiming that you can’t “afford” to buy free-range is such a cop-out. Just be honest admit you don’t care. I’m sure a lot of the people who whinge that free-range is too expensive have no problems finding the extra cash for ciggies, alcohol and new TVs.

Not everyone can keep their own chickens, the rules can be tough.

and uh. i’m not all for paying extra money for the piece of mind that ‘aw these chickens were raised “humanely”‘. i’m all for paying for a simply superior egg.

(i think we dish out $7 or $8/doz at the farmer’s markets for some ridiculously fresh and tasty eggs. they’re not organic, but they’re certainly free range. whoop-de-doo. they taste really good, though..the yolks sit so high and the shells are way hard. om nom nom)

grow yer own chickens!

and get a goat, too, and throw yer lawnmower away! decrease your oil dependence, and reap the rewards. rite gize? etc

I’ll make sure I never buy any eggs from Pace. I buy free range or barn raised, and stories like this make my blood boil. I hope the TV show Jamie Oliver did showing what really happens to chickens gets aired again, a real eye opener for many people.

People who do this to animals are evil.

Jonathon Reynolds9:44 pm 08 Aug 08

@johnboy

johnboy said :

Surely minimum standards are no bad thing?

First you need to set an agreed national standard, then you ensure compliance.

“mos” wants to put the cart before the horse (or count their chickens before they’ve hatched)… which invariably means that some time down the track (s)he will be back complaining that someone, somewhere doesn’t meet their idea of what (s)he thinks the standard ought to be.

Mælinar - *spoiler alert* I've seen S04E139:17 pm 08 Aug 08

If everybody bought a chicken each to run around in their back yards, there would be an immediate drop in consumption that would probably be felt like an earthquake on the stock market.

Surely minimum standards are no bad thing?

there’s a big difference between a small shady place that free chooks choose to hang out, and a cage the size of an A4 sheet of paper, where the poor chook cant’ even stand up or turn around, and has to have it’s claws cut off.

I am personally prepared to pay a bit more per egg to know that they didn’t originate in a battery cage.

Surely if consumers push for cage free eggs, producers would be forced to change their production methods, thereby becoming the ‘norm’, and hopefully a comparable price to the current cage eggs?

I might be a heretic, but I grew up in close proximity to many chooks. They had heaps of space, varied food, lots of places to go. But the idiot animals mostly chose to cluster in a low, crowded area that was there by accident, and kept because it provided some additional shade (as well as henhouse and a tree). They wouldn’t have known or cared if they were provided with food on silver trays carried by liveried waiters, or if they were crammed into a box and had muck jammed down their throats. Chooks aren’t very bright.

I’m a little sceptical about the campaign, which will mostly have the effect of depriving relatively poor people of a cheap source of protein. The main reason for buying free range eggs when possible is that they can taste a bit better.

I was worried about the 1million dollar offer. I thought it might another koomarri debacle, where the govt would pony up the funds, and then PACE would open a tiny barn, or move across the border or something. It’s interesting they weren’t interested in taking up the offer at all though.

I don’t believe Cage eggs are half the price of battery eggs. And I’m surprised that less than a quarter of people buy free range.

Free range all the way in this household.

Well said JR. I like the idea of free-range but it also means very expensive eggs – almost double the price of regular cage eggs. As eggs are a staple in most homes, cost remains a major issue in this debate.

I won’t agree with Thumper on this one as I eat a lot of poultry (and eggs!).

Jonathon Reynolds6:51 pm 08 Aug 08

So which standard for “free range” are you proposing we adopt?
http://fw.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/livestock/news/free-range-eggs-not-so-fresh/800326.aspx

I’m not prepared to pay a premium for eggs (and chicken) just so that people can feel good and sleep soundly at night. Commercial farming is never pleasant but its legal, a reality and a fact of life.

Whilst I agree that the battery hen method may not be the most humane method of egg farming it remains legal and it speaks volumes that the RSPCA (who are vested with the powers of ensuring animal protection in the Territory) have not moved to shut the ACT operations on the basis of animal cruelty.

If the “free range” advocacy group were serious about the issue we wouldn’t have the case of Free Range Canberra Party (“Free Range Canberra is a campaign that aims to effectively ban the production of battery eggs in the ACT“) not running candidates at the upcoming election.
http://the-riotact.com/?p=8286

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