Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 30
1 bought in East Anglia, that was the contract suppliers. He
2 said -- yes, he said, "the occasional load from
3 Yorkshire". That was day 96, page 10.
4
5 Incidentally,, I have just found a reference to the
6 question that you were asking earlier. On day 96, page 9,
7 line 47, he said that it was about 2.2 litters a year of
8 piglets.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, thank you. (Pause)
11
12 MS. STEEL: I don't know whether this makes it more confusing,
13 or what, but there was a reference in the pamphlet, the
14 coloured Bowes pamphlet, saying that many weaners were
15 bought in for the finishing herd. He said they were bought
16 in at 30 kilograms, which would be after the weaning stage,
17 yes, after the weaner stage. That was on day 96, page 32.
18 You asked what percentage of the pigs which go into the
19 finishing units are bought in. He said about 50 percent.
20 That was on page 33. (Pause).
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would not get bogged down in these
23 figures.
24
25 MS. STEEL: No. (Pause) He referred to the fact that piglets
26 used to be kept on the flat deck system, an all heated,
27 ventilated, airconditioned system. He said those have been
28 eliminated because the kennel system is simpler, it is a
29 much more economic system. That was day 88, page 63, line
30 1.
31
32 He said that ten years ago a lot of suppliers would have
33 still been using them and people were still using them
34 three or four years ago. I have done this in the wrong
35 order. That was page 68, line 33.
36
37 Basically, in the flat deck system the floors were woven
38 mesh, metal mesh, with approximately five millimetre gaps
39 between the mesh, and 15 to 20 pigs would be kept in an
40 area about 12 feet by 14 feet. The reference for that is
41 day 88, page 64, line 46. He said that they did not have
42 any bedding in that system. That was day 88, page 65, line
43 25. So that system of keeping 15 to 20 piglets in an area
44 only 12 by 14 foot was still in use at the time of the
45 alleged libel. And keeping them, obviously, on a mesh
46 floor without any bedding, which is hardly a natural
47 habitat for a pig and they are hardly going to like being
48 kept in those conditions.
49
50 The finishing units. As we have heard from Mr. Bowes, both
51 the indoor and the outdoor pigs were taken to finishing
52 units, obviously at different ages depending on whether
53 they were from the outdoor or indoor stream. (Pause)
54
55 There was a description given on day 88, page 26, I think,
56 of the finishing units, and basically the density of the
57 pigs in the finishing units at 90 kilograms live weight was
58 0.52 of a square metre each. That was day 88, page 27,
59 line 40.
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