MARK COLVIN: Victoria's Department of Primary Industries has seized about 700,000 chickens at broiler farms across the state, due to underfeeding and malnourishment.

The department says it got news last week that the company Tip Top Poultry could no longer afford to buy feed for its birds.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has welcomed the intervention and animal rights groups say the company should be prosecuted for cruelty to animals.

Liz Hobday reports.

LIZ HOBDAY: The Department of Primary Industries discovered last Thursday that Tip Top Poultry was in severe financial trouble.

The DPI's director of animal biosecurity and welfare, Tony Britt.

TONY BRITT: On Friday it became apparent that no further feed was likely to arrive on a number of the properties and to prevent a serious animal welfare issue emerging we used our powers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to seize those birds.

LIZ HOBDAY: What condition were the birds in?

TONY BRITT: The issues weren't so much associated with starvation, as would be perhaps assumed in this instance. The problems were associated with either intermittent feeding or the situation where feed was going to simply run out.

LIZ HOBDAY: Tony Britt says DPI officers raided six farms in regional Victoria and seized birds at four of those properties.

TONY BRITT: The situation varied from property to property and the frequency of feeding was similarly different from property to property.

LIZ HOBDAY: How common is this type of event in the poultry industry?

TONY BRITT: This is the first event of this type that I've been involved with and I've been involved with animal welfare and animal biosecurity issues with the department for about seven years.

LIZ HOBDAY: A small number of birds were euthanized so vets could check for diseases that could have affected entire flocks.

TONY BRITT: That's standard practice. That's just good veterinary practice. Whether we're dealing with a welfare issue or a potential animal disease issue that would be the way we'd go about it.

LIZ HOBDAY: While the birds haven't been moved from their farms, they now have a steady food supply and the DPI is working to transfer the ownership of the birds to a company that can look after them.

The president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Andrew Broad, has welcomed the Government's intervention.

ANDREW BROAD: The Victorian Farmers Federation is pleased that the Department of Primary Industries stepped in. And in this instance they've done the right thing and done it in enough time that the birds will be able to eat their way into better health.

LIZ HOBDAY: What do you think went wrong here?

ANDREW BROAD: Look, I think there's been a breakdown in communication as well as a meat supplier who has had some financial difficulty. And then that in turn hasn't translated to the feed getting delivered to those birds.

LIZ HOBDAY: Andrew Broad acknowledges the incident is bad for the industry's reputation.

ANDREW BROAD: Look, I suppose this is not a good look but it's not something that happens hardly ever or happens ever at all. And what we have seen is that the process has worked.

So in an instance where there's been a breakdown, the regulatory body, the Department of Primary Industries, got in there, got in there reasonably quick and is addressing the problem.

And whilst we won't apologise for the terrible situation that's happened, let's just be clear about it, something's getting done and something's getting done quickly and we commend the DPI for that.

LIZ HOBDAY: Patty Mark is the founder of Animal Liberation Victoria. She's calling on the DPI to prosecute Tip Top Poultry.

PATTY MARK: The chicken industry for meat production is rife with cruelty and suffering. And to think that these sheds, which hold up to 40,000-60,000 chicks per shed, to think of them in there without food, it would have been a sight too horrendous.

LIZ HOBDAY: And she says the department needs to look more closely at the broiler industry.

PATTY MARK: There's millions of these birds out there and they're hardly ever inspected. There's nobody that's really there for the birds. The industry, we have tried for years to get the industry to act at broiler chicken factories around the state and it's almost impossible.

That's why we're so relieved that the DPI is finally taking some action at some of these places. But it's pathetic that it had to get to the point where literally millions of chickens are seized because they're starving to death.

LIZ HOBDAY: The DPI says it's examining its legal options.

Calls to Tip Top Poultry this afternoon were not returned.

MARK COLVIN: Liz Hobday.