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UPDATE: Ryan Bennett was last on this show in July 2024 as Executive Director of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance. He is now Vice President of the Farm Program at the American Humane Society.

Animal welfare audits are no longer a niche concern for specialty producers. Roughly 90% of the cage-free eggs sold in the United States carry the American Humane Certified label, and a new set of pullet standards took effect January 1. Ryan Bennett runs that program. In this episode he walks through what an auditor actually looks for on a poultry farm, why most farms struggle their first time through, and why he thinks the entire industry is framing animal welfare the wrong way.

In this episode:

- What happens during an animal welfare audit, and why organization beats perfection
- The single biggest reason farms get dinged, and it is not what the birds look like
- How American Humane Certified answers the criticism that it does not require 100 percent compliance
- Where the new 2026 pullet welfare standards came from, and whether they require capital spend or just a change in management
- What actually happens when a certification gets revoked
- Why Ryan argues animal welfare belongs in the same category as food safety and airline safety, not marketing

About Ryan Bennett:

Ryan Bennett is Vice President of the Farm Program at the American Humane Society, where he leads American Humane Certified, a farm animal welfare certification program covering more than a billion animals a year across nine species. He previously spent eight years as Executive Director of both the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance. He holds an agriculture degree from Kansas State University.

Resources:

- Ryan Bennett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-r-bennett/
- American Humane Certified farm program and published standards: https://www.americanhumane.org/what-we-do/certify-humane-treatment/farms/
- PAACO, the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization: https://animalauditor.org/
- AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation of Animals, 2026 Edition: https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/avma-policies/avma-guidelines-depopulation-animals
- Ryan's first appearance, "Incremental Change" (Ep 17, July 2024): [PASTE EP 17 URL]
- Prism Controls, farm automation and controls technology: https://www.prismcontrols.com

The Poultry Leadership Podcast is hosted by Brandon Mulnix, Director of Commercial Accounts at Prism Controls. New episodes every week.

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Sales - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

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Egg prices can fall faster than your feed bill, and that’s when “normal” nutrition habits start burning cash. We sit down with Curtis Novak, PhD, Director of Poultry at Alltech, to get practical about what layer farms can do right now to reduce feed cost per ton without accidentally crashing egg production, shell quality, or livability. Curtis brings both bench science and field experience, and he doesn’t dodge the uncomfortable reality that some operations are forced to consider pulling older, lower-producing flocks earlier than planned.

We dig into the decision tree Curtis uses with producers: start with the biggest cost drivers like energy, fat, and protein, then tighten formulation by thinking in amino acids instead of just crude protein. From there, we talk feed additives with a hard ROI lens. Which products protect gut health and reduce losses from issues like E. coli, and which ones can be paused when the only goal is survival? Curtis also explains why enzymes often belong in the “do not cut” category because they’re relatively inexpensive and can unlock nutrients that lower total diet cost.

We also zoom out beyond nutrition, because management and data decide whether any diet works. “You can’t feed yourself out of poor management” becomes a real on-farm standard when ventilation, water, feed delivery, or wet litter problems drag performance down. We discuss how accurate egg counters and better flock data help you spot row-by-row issues faster, and why investing in pullet quality and uniformity sets you up for profitable long-cycle layers out to 90 to 100 weeks.
Contect with Curtis on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-novak-3961b8a2/
Subscribe for more producer-first conversations, share this with a farmer or nutritionist who’s feeling the squeeze, and leave a review so more poultry teams can find it. What’s the hardest cost decision you’re facing right now?

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Sales - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

Send us Fan Mail

The International Egg Foundation is building an infrastructure of hope across nutritionally disadvantaged regions — and the humble egg is at the center of it.

When a teacher reported her students were getting loud, wild, and "naughty" after a school started serving eggs, that complaint was actually proof something was finally working. Children who'd been running on empty now had enough protein to act like kids again.

In this episode, Brandon Mulnix sits down with Cassy Price, the first dedicated staff member of the International Egg Foundation (IEF), to unpack how the global egg industry is building sustainable 400 to 1,000-bird farms that turn parents into entrepreneurs while feeding children who need it most.

In this episode:

• The naughty kids story — what a teacher's complaint revealed about nutrition and energy
• How IEF builds 400 to 1,000-bird farms that create local entrepreneurs and feed school programs
• The Honduras First 1,000 Days of Life program — and how one 400-bird barn became a 3,000-hen operation
• The Eswatini breakthrough: hard-boiled eggs preserved for 30 days without refrigeration in extreme heat
• How younger leaders and employees can plug into meaningful philanthropy through the egg industry

About Cassy Price: Cassy Price is the first dedicated staff member of the International Egg Foundation, based in Shropshire, England. She transitioned from the International Egg Commission to lead IEF full time in 2022 and oversees programs across 10 countries.

Resources:

• Cassy Price on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassy-price-98a8b153/
• International Egg Foundation: https://internationaleggfoundation.org
• Prism Controls — farm automation and controls technology for poultry producers: https://www.prismcontrols.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=poultry_leadership&utm_content=ep46

The Poultry Leadership Podcast is hosted by Brandon Mulnix, Director of Sales and Marketing at Prism Controls. New episodes every Wednesday.

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Sales - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com