In June 2018, the Jiangsu Lihua Animal Husbandry Co. received the Five-Star Good Chicken Production Award from Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) for their commitment to chicken welfare. Since 2014, CWIF had partnered with the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW) to award Chinese farms according to criteria that equated to stars, and five stars represented the highest achievement in farm welfare. The company became the only manufacturer in Jiangsu Province to receive the award for their high standards.
The leading brand of chicken meat from the company is called Xueshan (Snow Mountain) Chicken, which is a new type of grass chicken that has been carefully bred by scientists using the high-quality Tibetan chicken and Yunnan Camellia chicken as the primary parent stock.
Dr. Yuan Qingyan from the company’s technical department explained, “Xueshan Chicken has been selected and bred through many generations. This type of chicken is characterized by their wild nature.” Catering to the chicken’s nature, the housing of the Xueshan Chicken has a natural litter of rice husk as bedding, and is designed to be semi-open with perches. Dr. Yuan has been working in the company for 11 years since she joined Lihua in 2007.
“Chickens naturally enjoy jumping around and resting on perches. Our special perch has earned the Utility Model Patent,” said Dr. Yuan. “Besides, we built large fields with a sand bath area. Chickens can grow in a large area, and they have more opportunity to run around freely and exercise, which improves the meat quality. These chickens are adept at running and flying, and some can even hop up into a tree.”
Dr. Yuan also addressed, “The chicken house environment is controlled to provide a comfortable place for chickens. The daily temperature variation in the chicken house is reduced in the winter. In the summer, the house can be kept very cool.”
The technical regulations for raising Xueshan Chicken in Lihua have been regarded as local farming standards by the Jiangsu government. “The chickens in this system are rarely sick. Accordingly, the amount of medicine used is also reduced, and the food safety is greatly improved.” Dr. Yuan said.
All information comes from js.china.com
Translated by Dule
Edited by Andrea Jia and Riley Peng @ Animal Dialogue