Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 47


     
     1        can occur or does occur but how often, because one can have
     2        an adverse situation of almost any kind now and again.  Do
     3        you want to ask about that or shall I?  You ask if -----
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:  Yes, I will ask.  (To the witness):  What percentage
     6        of birds would have been affected by that, by the breast
     7        blisters?
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you want to start with capping happening
    10        at all, how often does that happen?
    11        A.  I mean, it is just an impossible question to answer.
    12
    13   Q.   I can imagine that might be so, but, I mean, might it
    14        happen once a year in each shed, or just give me an idea?
    15        A.  Well, I think if you are looking across 550 units, you
    16        are talking about something which can happen to a very
    17        variable degree, it may be a very minor or it could be more
    18        serious.  If it is minor capping, it would normally be
    19        handled by management, local management, and just the
    20        problem will be sorted out.
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:   So you would not necessarily know about it?
    23        A.  I would not necessarily know about it.
    24
    25   Q.   What about major incidents of capping?
    26        A.  Well, again, I mean, that would not be reported to me.
    27        That is part of the farm manager's job to deal with that
    28        situation, but I have to say that I think it is pretty
    29        rare.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But what are minor and major capping?  I
    32        mean, is minor capping just a small area and major a big
    33        area, or is minor happening once a year and major happening
    34        once a month?
    35        A.  Just to give you a picture, the minor capping,
    36        I assume, would be an area of perhaps two or three feet
    37        square which might be near an air inlet which is drawing in
    38        damp air on to the environment/index.html">litter, and can be very readily sorted
    39        out.
    40
    41        Major capping could occur if there was a drinker flood.
    42        Supposing a bell drinker came off during the night and
    43        there was a flood in the house, you could have an area,
    44        maybe, of 15 feet by 10 feet all around that drinker where
    45        the environment/index.html">litter has become swamped with water?
    46
    47   Q.   But that would count as a major?
    48        A.  That would be a major incident, yes.
    49
    50   Q.   Then how often as a result do you get -- if you have got 
    51        poor ventilation, is that a minor area or a major area? 
    52        A.  That would usually be a minor one which can be dealt 
    53        with relatively easily.
    54
    55   Q.   How often do you get Hock Burn, breast blisters or
    56        ulcerated feet which you would attribute to capping?
    57        A.  Well, ulcerated feet and breast blisters are indicative
    58        of poor management, and I would say that we see that hardly
    59        at all.  Hock Burn is more common to varying degrees.  You
    60        do have a proportion of birds, anything up to 10 per cent

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