Hy-Line International
Hy-Line International or Hy-Line is a multi-national genetics company that raises and sells commercial/industrial laying chickens. It is a subsidiary of the German EW Group. The firm has subsidiaries in multiple countries including Brazil, Japan, and the United Kingdom and has 60 distributors in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Corporate
The firm is a subsidiary of the privately owned German livestock breeding company EW Group. Its president is Jonathan Cade; Thomas Dixon serves as the firm's director of international sales and marketingOperations
Hy-Line directly operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa. Many of its subsidiaries were formerly distributors bought out by Hy-Line, including Hy-Line Italia and Hy-Line South Africa. In several countries it has instead signed exclusivity deals with distributors. In India, Amrit Group has distributed Hy-Line chickens since July 2014 when a new 'poultry hub' was established as part of plans to capture 30% of the Indian egg-laying market by 2017–2018. Sales in Vietnam are exclusively licensed to the Ba Haun Company since 2013.Products
Products of the company include the Hy-Line W-36, Brown, and Silver Brown lines.Criticism
Hy-Line International has been subject to criticism from animal rights group Mercy for Animals following the release of a video alleged to have been filmed inside of a Hy-Line hatchery, showing the process of chick culling. The video went viral and received widespread media attention across the English-speaking world.Hy-Line Australia was sued in 2013 for unsafe practices at its chicken hatchery at Huntly near Bendigo, after a fire in one of its sheds in April 2009 left an employee trapped due to a lack of fire exits. The man escaped by breaking through floorboards. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.