In Brazil, one of the world’s largest producers of chicken meat, upright catching of broilers is the standard practice. Today, Eyes on Animals had an extremely motivating and inspiring conversation with Victor Lima from the consultancy and advisory company BEA in Brazil. Since 2015, he has been providing training to Brazilian catching companies on better handling of broiler chickens, with upright catching being the norm. Upright catching is particularly successful due to significantly less injury to the birds and less agitation. Although upright catching requires extra time, these costs are offset by a better product. In 2019, Victor Lima conducted research on catching broiler chickens and concluded that upright catching (one chicken at a time) is the most humane method. Victor further emphasized that, in addition to animal welfare, appreciation and good working conditions for poultry catchers are crucial for improving poultry handling. Eyes on Animals acknowledges this; in the Netherlands, the conditions under which poultry catchers must work are often distressing. Follow the Money recently wrote an article about this >>
BEA and Eyes on Animals will share their training materials for poultry catchers with each other, so that upright catching of laying hens (as practiced in the Netherlands) can be introduced in Brazil. Eyes on Animals will introduce upright catching of broiler chickens in the Netherlands and Germany using BEA’s training materials.
We would like to thank Victor Lima for his enthusiasm and for sharing his knowledge, and we hope to collaborate in the future on better handling of poultry during catching, loading, and slaughter.
Watch a video of the upright catching, loading and transport of broilers in Brazil here >>
