Laying Hen Cages

                                                  Typical egg laying caging system

A big part of any farm or business is management. Part of management is being prepared for risks in the industry or crisis’s that occur. Risk situations have to deal with problems that others in the industry cause that in return make people weary of that person’s company. Crisis situations on the other hand are problems that arise in a person’s own company. In the laying hen sector of the poultry industry one risk situation they have to deal with is cage size regulations. Recently in the news this is a hot topic.

In 2008 California voters passed a proposition to mandate California producers to have larger cages for laying hens. This proposition also would not allow eggs to be imported from other states that also did not comply with this new regulation. In the last month many major egg producing states have been trying to make the law that would come into effect in 2015 unconstitutional.  Besides the proposed cage size law, California also has many other animal regulatory laws that other states do not have.

  Predators and other environmental factors 

can be a major problem for free range birds.

 

Currently there are regulations to protect animal welfare. There are current sizes that cages are to be and egg producers are following those. The people of California do not feel that it is enough space and want laying hens to either be free range or have more space in cages. This is a risk for other states that produce eggs and this is why they are trying to make the law invalid. The current standards are ample room and producers now have the risk of consumers believing otherwise. Many states that import eggs to California will not be able to with the new law unless they change their cage system which would cost millions of dollars.

Producers in other states are being proactive about the law to prevent a big risk situation. With the demand of reasonably priced food, uneducated people should not be voting to instill laws that will not help their purchasing power. Our text book talks about objective and subjective risk. Cage regulations are definitely subjective risk because it is all based on the public’s perceptions. Producers for the large majority truly do care about their animals’ well-being. Large egg producing states are concerned that if the law becomes effective in California they will try to make it pass in other states as well. Consumers and voters need to know that the people who make national regulations do so for a reason and that birds have adequate space.

To learn more about the top egg producing states and learn more about the new law go to this link: http://www.econlife.com/california-regulatory-policy-impacts-chicken-cage-size/

This article gives a lot of the risks producers have in other states if the law goes into effect: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/california-chickens/

This website tells one states views on the impact the law would have for their producers: http://southeastfarmpress.com/livestock/alabama-joins-fight-against-california-s-chicken-cage-sizes