Monday, Oct. 13, 2008

Proposition 2 prompts rare glimpse into Merced County egg operation

Ballot measure argues cruelly confined or contentedly caged hens

By John Holland
The Modesto Bee

By late morning, the day's work was done for most of the 150,000 or so residents of a henhouse south of Livingston.

The eggs laid by the hens passed by their small cages on conveyor belts, bound for the packing plant next door. The birds rested, six to a cage, sometimes bumping each other when they moved about.

To most people in the egg industry, this is a picture of contentment. They say these cages -- roughly 2 feet long by a foot tall -- keep the hens comfortable and productive.

"Yes, they are content," said Jill Benson, vice president of J.S. West & Cos. of Modesto, which owns these hens. "You can hear them clucking and singing."

To critics of the industry, it's more like a cry for help. They are behind a Nov. 4 ballot measure that would outlaw the cages in California as of 2015.

"It's simply inhumane and cruel to confine an animal in a way that doesn't allow it to turn around and extend its limbs for a lifetime," said Michelle Setaro of Modesto, who collected about 1,400 signatures for the initiative drive.

The measure, Proposition 2, would ban cages that do not allow hens to "turn around freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs."

Proponents say alternative housing could be built at reasonable cost to producers and consumers. Industry people say that is not practical and they would lose their sales to out-of-state producers that still could use small cages.

The Northern San Joaquin Valley accounted for nearly 60 percent of California's egg production last year. About 95 percent of the statewide total was produced using small cages.

The industry provides about 3,500 jobs and $650 million in annual economic output in the state, including the ripple effect in other sectors, according to a study commissioned by egg producers.

How to do right by a hen

The arguments go beyond money, to a basic question where science and morality intertwine: Just what does a laying hen need?

The Humane Society of the United States, one of the main sponsors of the measure, says hens in their proper element are social animals with complex behavior: They build nests with twigs and leaves. They poke the ground with their beaks and claws in search of food. They bathe by rolling in dust. They flap their wings and preen.

"(The measure) just says that as a basic proposition, animals built to move should be allowed to move," said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society. "They should be allowed to turn around and engage in basic behaviors, which are now frustrated in these intensive confinement systems."

Until about the middle of the 20th century, most eggs were produced on small farms where the hens could frolic outdoors.

Today, most are kept inside large buildings designed to protect them from avian influenza and other diseases that could be carried by wild fowl. This also allows a constant temperature and efficient feeding, egg collection and manure disposal.

Inside the operation

The J.S. West operation near Livingston is one of three the company owns in Stanislaus and Merced counties. They house about 1.6 million hens in all, laying about 1.2 million eggs a day.

With the ballot measure looming, the company is giving the media a rare chance to see what goes on inside the henhouses. Benson led a tour for a Modesto Bee reporter and photographer, everyone clad in disposable coveralls, boots and caps to avoid tracking in germs.

The hen cages were stacked four high in rows about 500 feet long. The light was dim, the scent of manure not overpowering.