Retail and consumer demand for cage-free eggs is at an all-time high. Within the next 10 years, it is estimated that 70% of all eggs sold will be from cage-free facilities. Producers are under pressure to make the shift to cage-free in a timely and cost-effective way. Iowa is the nation’s leading egg producing state, and Iowa producers who act today and adapt to meet the changing demand will thrive, say industry analysts.

Summit Livestock Facilities LLC has introduced Wrap-the-Equipment, a patent-pending facility and construction design, which it hopes will revolutionize cage-free egg production. “We’re very excited to partner with our customers in responsible cage-free egg production,” says CEO Ed Bahle. “As a protein production construction company, the Wrap-the-Equipment customized design approach stands to help the industry effectively address this major shift. We were inspired to creatively redefine the challenges, and bring new designs and engineering solutions to our customers and the industry. We reinvented how a layer house could be built.”

Thinking ‘outside the cage’
Miles Ridgway, president of Summit Livestock, says its facility design eliminates the need for a full building to house equipment and birds. “It reinforces the cage-free roosts, using them as the super structure for houses, wrapping the equipment with insulated metal panels. Our construction processes dramatically shorten the construction schedule, leading to greater profit potential, and cost savings in labor and materials.”

Summit Livestock’s first facilities are at Rose Acre Farms, one of the nation’s largest egg producers. Together, Summit and Rose Acre Farms are designing and building innovative cage-free layer houses across the U.S. Featured in a Wrap-the-Equipment case study are 10 unique buildings housing cage-free layers, producing 1.1 billion eggs per year. The case study highlights additional innovations, including intensive project management and new innovations that offer vast improvements and proficiencies in the egg drying process, water treatment and facility cooling systems.

For more information, visit summitlivestock.com.

Source: Summit Livestock Facilities