Today's production methods better for birds?

Amidst ongoing debate about the pros and cons of organically versus conventionally reared poultry, FarmWeek has published a perspective piece promoting the view that today's methods are better for birds.

The article reads: "Every aspect of modern livestock production appears to be under attack by activists who want all producers to farm and ranch as they did on the old television comedy Green Acres.

"The Humane Society has a campaign in progress to stop the way the large majority of laying hens are housed and to require poultry producers to revert to 1930s methods.

"Laying hens in large-scale egg operations for many years have been caged instead of being allowed to roam free or be held in chicken coops. About 95 percent of the laying hens in commercial operations today are housed in wire cages.

"There is a place for egg producers who want to raise chickens in open buildings and for those who must raise chickens in cages to meet public demand for economically priced eggs.

"Activist organisations, it seems, want to drastically change livestock production methods so that the farmers and their families are the ones who are stressed and frustrated.

"It also could be that most of these organisations actually don't want us to eat animal products at all and prefer that livestock producers simply go out of business."

FarmWeek is a publication for members of the Illinois Farm Bureau, a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The article was written by Rich Keller, a director of news services for the American Farm Bureau Federation. To read the full article, go to the FarmWeek website.