Our approach toAnimal Welfare (AW) refers to a concept that animals should be treated in a way that their innate behavioral needs are fulfilled and pain & stress they may suffer are to be reduced as much as possible to improve their quality of life.
| １．Freedom from hunger & thirst | … | By ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor |
|---|---|---|
| ２．Freedom from discomfort | … | By appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area |
| ３．Freedom from pain, injury, or disease | … | By prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment |
| ４．Freedom from fear & distress | … | By ensuring conditions and care which avoid mental suffering |
| ５．Freedom to express normal behavior | … | By providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind |
As a company operating in livestock industry, we work on AW that has been becoming the global trend.
Cage-free system is a management method of laying hens in which layer hens can move around freely in hen houses unlike cage systems. One of the features of cage-free system is that layer hens’ natural behaviors are not restricted so that they can live in a desirable condition.
Aviary system is one type of cage-free laying systems in which hen houses are multi-tiered, allowing housing of larger flocks compared to the single floor cage-free system.
Aviary system can stimulate the innate behavior of hens such as laying an egg in a dimly lit nest box, resting on a perch at night, pecking ground, dustbathing and wing flapping.
While cage-free is more desirable than conventional cage systems from AW perspective, there are some challenges we need to tackle such as less production capacity per a square meter than conventional cage system and the higher feed cost resulting from more movement and more energy consumption of hens.
Therefore, we intend to expand the cage-free eggs to the extent that it is acceptable to our valuable customers.