Beyond 2012:The future of egg production systems

摘要

From the first of January of this year, traditional cages have officially been banned in the EU. To a large extent these have been replaced by alternative systems. Despite the advantages, some systems also have disadvantages. Most likely the development of new and better systems will continue. 2012 will see the most dramatic changes in egg production systems that Europe has ever known. Whilst it has become apparent that not all conventional laying cages (CC) have been taken out of service by the beginning of this year, as required by Ell Council Directive (CD) 99/74/EC, the requirement is there and when it is accomplished over 250 million laying hen places will have been moved from CC to furnished (enriched) cages (FC) and non-cage systems (NC) within a short timescale. It also seems likely that soon after the transition has been completed in Europe it will be underway in North America and take place there over a period of about 10 years from 2015.