Hy-Line International

Last updated
Hy-Line International
Company type Private
Industry Hatchery
Founded West Des Moines, Iowa (1936)
HeadquartersWest Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Key people
Jonathan Cade, President
Parent EW Group
Website Hy-Line.com

Hy-Line International or Hy-Line is a multi-national genetics company that raises and sells commercial/industrial laying chickens. It is a subsidiary of the German EW Group. [1] The firm has subsidiaries in multiple countries including Brazil, Japan, and the United Kingdom and has 60 distributors in more than 50 countries worldwide. [2]

Contents

Corporate

The firm is a subsidiary of the privately owned German livestock breeding company EW Group. Its president is Jonathan Cade; Thomas Dixon serves as the firm's director of international sales and marketing [3]

Operations

Hy-Line directly operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa. [4] Many of its subsidiaries were formerly distributors bought out by Hy-Line, including Hy-Line Italia (formerly Valversa) and Hy-Line South Africa (formerly Hy-Line Chicks). [5] In several countries it has instead signed exclusivity deals with distributors. In India, Amrit Group has distributed Hy-Line chickens since July 2014 when a new 'poultry hub' was established as part of plans to capture 30% of the Indian egg-laying market by 2017–2018. [6] [7] Sales in Vietnam are exclusively licensed to the Ba Haun Company since 2013. [8]

Products

Products of the company include the Hy-Line W-36, Brown, and Silver Brown lines. [9]

Criticism

Hy-Line International has been subject to criticism from animal rights group Mercy for Animals following the release of a video alleged to have been filmed inside of a Hy-Line hatchery, showing the process of chick culling. The video went viral and received widespread media attention across the English-speaking world. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Hy-Line Australia was sued in 2013 for unsafe practices at its chicken hatchery at Huntly near Bendigo, after a fire in one of its sheds in April 2009 left an employee trapped due to a lack of fire exits. The man escaped by breaking through floorboards. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. [14] [15]

Sponsorships

Hy-Line Australia is the name-sponsor of the Hy-Line Australia Oval, which is a home ground of the Heathcote District Football League. [16] It also sponsors the Hy-Line International Research Award of the Poultry Science Association. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beak trimming</span> Trimming of a birds beak, usually performed on domesticated birds

Beak trimming, or beak conditioning, is the partial removal of the beak of poultry, especially layer hens and turkeys, although it is also be performed on some quail and ducks. When multiple birds are confined in small spaces due to farming practices, they are more likely to hurt each other through pecking. Beak trimming aims to avoid damage done by pecking, although the practice is criticized by animal welfare organizations and banned in several European countries. Beak trimming is most common in egg-laying strains of chickens. In some countries, such as the United States, turkeys routinely have their beaks trimmed. In the UK, only 10% of turkeys are beak trimmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatchery</span> Facility for incubating and hatching animals

A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chick culling</span> Process of killing newly hatched chicks for which the industry has no use

Chick culling or unwanted chick killing is the process of separating and killing unwanted chicks for which the intensive animal farming industry has no use. It occurs in all industrialised egg production, whether free range, organic, or battery cage. However, some certified pasture-raised egg farms are taking steps to eliminate the practice entirely. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled each year in the egg industry. Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those in breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industry and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide, and maceration using a high-speed grinder. Maceration is the primary method in the United States. Maceration is often a preferred method over carbon dioxide asphyxiation in western countries as it is often considered as "more humane" due to the deaths occurring immediately or within a second.

Animal Outlook, formerly known as Compassion Over Killing (COK), is a nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. It is headed since May 2021 by Executive Director Cheryl Leahy, who succeeded Erica Meier. Formed in 1995, as a high school club, their primary campaigns are to advocate against factory farming and promote vegan eating. While the group welcomes those who are interested in animal welfare who eat meat, it encourages a transition to a plant-based diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battery cage</span> Agricultural technology

Battery cages are a housing system used by factory farms for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artillery battery. Although the term is usually applied to poultry farming, similar cage systems are used for other animals. Battery cages have generated controversy between advocates for animal welfare and industrial producers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perdue Farms</span> American meat processing company

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.

Foster Farms is an American poultry company. The company has been privately owned since 1939. It was operated by the Foster family since 1939 until recently, now operated and owned by private equity firm Atlas Holdings, after their purchase of the company in 2022. The company is based in Livingston, California. Operations are concentrated on the West Coast, but the company also maintains a small number of locations on the East Coast. The company specializes in a variety of chicken and turkey products advertised as fresh and naturally locally grown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poultry CRC</span> Defunct company

The Poultry Co-operative Research Center, or Poultry CRC, is a joint venture established and supported under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre Programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poultry farming</span> Part of animal husbandry

Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.

United Egg Producers (UEP) is a Capper–Volstead agricultural cooperative in the United States which represents the interests of American egg producers.

Urban keeping of chickens as pets, for eggs, meat, or for eating pests is popular in urban and suburban areas. Some people sell the eggs for side income.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skylark Group</span>

Skylark Foods Limited is a subsidiary of Skylark Group, an Indian company that specialises in chicken and meat processing, and poultry products for poultry usage. It holds the same position in North India as Venky's holds in South India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empire Kosher</span> Largest kosher meat processor

Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. is the largest producer of kosher poultry in the United States. The company's headquarters, hatchery, and processing facility are located in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chick sexing</span> Method of distinguishing the sex of chickens and other hatchlings

Chick sexing is the method of distinguishing the sex of chickens and other hatchlings, usually by a trained person called a chick sexer or chicken sexer. Chicken sexing is practiced mostly by large commercial hatcheries to separate female chicks or "pullets" from the males or "cockerels". The females and a limited number of males kept for meat production are then put on different feeding programs appropriate for their commercial roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broiler industry</span> Process by which broiler chickens are reared and prepared for meat consumption

The broiler industry is the process by which broiler chickens are reared and prepared for meat consumption. Worldwide, in 2005 production was 71,851,000 tonnes. From 1985 to 2005, the broiler industry grew by 158%.

The Humane League (THL) is an international nonprofit organization that works to end the abuse of animals raised for food through corporate, media and community outreach. It operates in the United States, Mexico, the UK and Japan. THL promotes plant-based diets, conducts research on the effectiveness of different interventions, and works to obtain animal welfare commitments from companies. It was founded in 2005 in Philadelphia by Nick Cooney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PHW Group</span> German company in the meat industry

The PHW Group is a German family business in the meat industry that operates internationally. Its core business is meat processing of poultry. It is the largest company of the poultry industry in Germany and the fourth-largest in Europe. The PHW Group is headquartered in Visbek-Rechterfeld in the Oldenburg Münsterland region, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EW Group</span> German company in the agribusiness

The EW Group is a German multinational family-owned livestock breeding group. It is the world market leader in breeding and genetics of poultry and tilapia. It comprises 53 German and 220 foreign companies under the parent company EW Group GmbH with headquarters in Visbek. Founder and manager of the group is Erich Wesjohann.

The WIMEX Group is an internationally active German company in the meat and agricultural industry, based in Köthen, Saxony-Anhalt. With an annual capacity of 435.455 million hatching eggs, it is the largest producer of day-old chicks for chicken fattening in Europe and one of the world's largest suppliers of broiler chickens of the Cobb breed. Its revenue in 2021 was €295,158 million. Just under 50 percent of the company's shares are owned by the PHW Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plukon Food Group</span> International poultry meat company

Plukon Food Group is an internationally active corporate group in the meat industry. It is one of the largest processors of poultry meat in Europe.

References

  1. ↑ "Ter Heerdt sells shares to EW Group". poultryworld.net. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  2. ↑ http://www.hy-line.com/aspx/links/links.aspx?navid=9 Archived 2011-07-12 at the Wayback Machine Hy-Line website, links
  3. ↑ http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/17068/leadership-changes-at-hyline-international Poultry Site, leadership changes at Hy-Line
  4. ↑ "Hy-Line's South African success story" (PDF). PositiveAction Magazines. PositiveAction Magazines. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Hy-Line Acquires Italian Egg Layer Distributor Valversa". PoultrySite. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Amrit Group to foray into 'Hy-line' layer breed chicken". India Times. 30 June 2014. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Amrit Group to set up poultry hub in Bengal". Hindu Businessline. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ba Huan to supply US quality chicken". VietnamNews. 3 August 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Product Information. Hyline 2014. (self-published source). Accessed August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Baby Chickens 'Cooked Alive' At Hatchery, Animal Rights Group Contends". Huffingtonpost Canada. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Chicks 'ground alive' by poultry producer". Herald Sun. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Chicks Being Ground Up Alive Video". Huffington Post. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Baby chicks ground up alive: animal rights video goes viral". BoingBoing. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Trapped worker sues Hy-Line chicken farm". Bendigo Advertiser. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Trapped man's case over as Hy-Line settles out of court". Bendigo Advertiser. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "Hy-Line Australia Oval, Huntly". FoxSportsPulse. FoxSports. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Poultry Science Association Announces Award Winners". PoultrySite. 3 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.