Madam, - A report in your edition of October 15th ("Chicken suppliers protest over prices") states that some 30 Co Limerick chicken suppliers are unhappy that they are being offered 30.85 cent per chicken compared with the standard price throughout the State of 38 cent.
What a sorry state of affairs. Meat chickens (broilers) go to slaughter when they are 41 days old. We can therefore accurately say that a day in the short life of a chicken is not worth even one cent.
Intensive farming is all about volume, which is why 20,000 and more are packed into one shed at densities of 18 to 19 per square metre. That's in Ireland. In the UK the sheds routinely hold up to 40,000 birds.
It is time for a radical shake-up of an industry whose primary suppliers can make a living by selling large numbers of chickens for 38 cent each. - Yours, etc.,
GERRY BOLAND,
Animals in Crisis,
Keadue,
Co Roscommon.