Welfare group backs free range farmers

Leading animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is getting right behind Britain’s free range farmers who may be facing a lock-up order as part of the government’s preventative measures against avian influenza.

If birds do have to be confined to indoors then exceptions should be made to marketing and labelling regulations to allow farmers to continue using the free range label, as long as “rearing conditions are humane”, says CIWF.

Chief executive officer Philip Lymbery says: “Free range farmers have a high commitment to animal welfare and CIWF will urge consumers to continue to buy free range products – even if birds have to be kept indoors for a time. We’ll do all we can to help the free range sector.

“However, we’ll be making it clear to Defra that the decision to move birds indoors should be based on a genuine assessment of risk and not on panic or hysteria. Also, that the management of free range birds indoors should be viewed as a short term solution, and should not be used as a substitute for effective avian influenza eradication strategies.”

BFREPA has welcomed CIWF’s support. Vice-chairman John Widdowson says: “We are committed to providing good welfare for our birds and have invested heavily in systems that ensure animal welfare. We need consumers to continue to buy free range products during any temporary period where we are required to keep birds indoors so that consumers can continue to choose eggs from hens that have lived good lives, once all this is over.”

Should hens have to be moved indoors, CIWF will look to free range egg producers to maximise bird welfare, for example by providing regular fresh litter and environmental enrichment, such as straw bales and brassicas, which stimulate natural behaviour.