Economics Of Egg Production In Alternative Housing Systems €“ A Hungarian Case Study

In the European Union, in addition to the enriched cage system, non-cage housing systems represent an increasing market share, although their proportions are different in each Member State. In Hungary, the ratio of hen stock producing eggs in cage systems is 83% currently, but it is estimated that the market share of alternative systems will increase in the future. Nevertheless, it is worth dealing with the economic aspects of egg production in non-cage systems. The main goal of this study is to present production parameters, cost and income situation and market opportunities of two Hungarian farms, which produce in alternative systems (aviary and barn). The data collection involves primary and secondary data. Primary data collection involves the collection and processing of data from two Hungarian farms, which also carry out production in different alternative systems (aviary and barn). Secondary data collection means the utilisation of literature. Primary data collection was based on data from 2016-2017 and focused on production and technological parameters (farm size, used hybrid, change in the animal stock, egg production, feed consumption and other expenditures), input and output prices and average cost items. Based on the collected data, the cost and income situation of egg production in the analysed farms were determined using a deterministic model calculation. The examined farms are of different size: the aviary farm has 10 thousand hens, while the barn farm has 3 thousand hens. The former one uses Lohmann Brown Lite, the latter one uses Tetra SL hybrid. The egg production period of the aviary farm is 73 weeks long, while that of the barn farm lasts for 65 weeks. During this period, the average egg production intensity was 74% and 85%, respectively and the egg yield was 360 and 382 eggs/hen, respectively. The daily feed consumption was 110 g/hen in the aviary farm and 145 g/hen in the barn farm. The unit direct cost of the main product (Class A egg) was 7.24 Eurocent/egg on the aviary farm and 7.85 Eurocent/egg on the barn farm. The unit production value of the main product was 7.80 Eurocent/egg on the aviary farm and 9.87 Eurocent/egg on the barn farm. Therefore, the gross margin of unit egg was 0.56 Eurocent/egg on the aviary and 2.02 Eurocent/egg on the barn farm. Results show that egg production is profitable in both farms which is related to the used housing systems and direct sales along short supply chains due to the smaller farm size.