Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 28


     
     1   MS. STEEL:   Day 88, page 69, line 23.  He said on average --
     2        I was about to say the Bowes sows -- their sows have seven
     3        litters and then they would be slaughtered aged about three
     4        to four years.  That was on day 88, page 70, line 32.  He
     5        agreed that the, sort of, average life span of a pig is
     6        about ten to twelve years.
     7
     8        He said that basically their lives were curtailed at three
     9        to four years because you have to take into consideration
    10        the economics of it, it does not become economical to
    11        maintain and keep that sow after that period on average.
    12        So again, in the name of economics, pigs' lives are being
    13        dispensed with when they are not productive enough.
    14
    15        In terms of the total numbers of pigs, I think Dr. Bowes
    16        said that the company owns roughly 100,000 pigs.  That was
    17        on day 96, page 7, line 9.  40,000 are on the Bowes farms,
    18        the other 50,000 to 55,000 are on the contract system where
    19        the Bowes supply the pigs, other farms supply the labour,
    20        et cetera.  On top of the 100,000 pigs, Bowes buys pigs
    21        direct from other farmers and per year he said that was
    22        about 300,000 pigs.  The reference for that was 96, 9, 7.
    23        He said, "We are buying pigs from outside our own system of
    24        our own farms and contract farms." That was 96, 9, 55.  And
    25        that was from approximately 80 to 100 other suppliers.
    26        That was 96, page 10, line 12.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   That is the 300,000 still, is it not?
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:   Yes...  I am not sure, actually.  (Pause).
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think it must be.  It took me some time to
    33        realise what I thought he was saying, but what I thought it
    34        amounted to was that they had only, at any given time,
    35        about 100,000 pigs which they owned; 40,000 were reared on
    36        their own farms, he said 50,000 to 56,000, but it was the
    37        balance of the about 100,000 anyway, on a contract system,
    38        where Bowes supplied the pigs and other farms supplied the
    39        labour.  Plus they bought 300,000 pigs, I assume per annum,
    40        from other farmers.  And was it not to those other farmers,
    41        query whether it was, that they actually supplied the
    42        feed?
    43
    44        I mean, it may not matter at the end of the day, because
    45        the broad picture I get...  I am not entirely clear in my
    46        own mind.  I mean, the turnover of the 100,000.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:   Presumably that is for every 25 or 26 weeks.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes. 
    51 
    52   MS. STEEL:   Obviously they are not all going to be going at the 
    53        same time.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You see, it works out quite well.  I am just
    56        going to make a note.  Just pause a minute.  (Pause)
    57        I am saying this so I can be disabused of the notion.  The
    58        very first thing you said was referring to what Mr. Bowes
    59        said at day 88, page 2, line 47:  Bowes owns about 100,000
    60        pigs.  60 percent production comes from other producers.

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