Day 018 - 26 Jul 94 - Page 73


     
     1        A.  Yes, they usually employ a buyer who would be probably
              on a contract basis rather than being employed, a
     2        permanent employee.  He would go around the sale rings and
              buy up cattle according to the abattoir specification.  So
     3        he would be performing a service for them.  That is the
              usual procedure.
     4
         Q.   Do you know if there is a particular age range or anything
     5        like that?
              A.  In terms of cows?
     6
         Q.   Yes.
     7        A.  That is unlikely.  You tend to get what you can buy.
              So there would be cull cows, ones which the farmer no
     8        longer wants to keep, that could be because they have a
              disorder.  It could be because they have outlasted their,
     9        what he considers to be their productive life.  It might
              be because they are barren, they are not breeding
    10        properly.  So for whatever reason he decides to dispose of
              them, they would be made available.  They vary in age
    11        quite considerably.
 
    12   Q.   Right, OK.  Do you know the age of cows that you saw being
              slaughtered?
    13        A.  No, I did not check on that.  You could have got a
              rough idea about what age they were beyond by looking at
    14        their dentition.  I did not do that.  It did not strike me
              as being relevant to the welfare of the stunning,
    15        slaughter and preslaughter handling procedures, and I did
              not think it was quite relevant either to the other things
    16        I was asked to do.
 
    17   Q.   But you said they were dairy cows?
              A.  Well, the animals I saw being stunned were dairy cows,
    18        and I focused on those because I knew Midland Packers
              supplied only dairy cows to McKey Foods.
    19
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you mean they supply nothing but dairy
    20        cows to McKey Foods, or that the only people they supply
              dairy cows to were McKey Foods?
    21        A.  The former, so they, McKey's, received dairy cows.
 
    22   Q.   They did not supply steers and heifers?
              A.  Not to McKey's.
    23
         MS. STEEL:   Is that something they have informed you?
    24        A.  Yes.  I can well believe that.
 
    25   Q.   Right.  That is Midland Meat Packers?
              A.  Yes, correct. 
    26 
         Q.   Right. 
    27        A.  Hold on.  It could have been McKey's as well.  It
              would have been McKey's at Midland Meat Packers' plant.
    28
         Q.   All right.  So do you know whether they have any
    29        specifications about the age of the cow?
              A.  No, I do not believe they have.  I was not told they
    30        had.  I would not expect them to.
 

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