Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 29


     
     1        reflects that there is a great difficulty in actually
     2        stating what is ideal.
     3
     4   Q.   What records do you keep in the farms about the checking
     5        for the welfare of the birds?
     6        A.  The standard record that we would have on the inside of
     7        a poultry house would be the number of birds placed at
     8        day-old, the temperatures, maximum and minimum temperature,
     9        within the house, the mortality, the number of birds
    10        culled, and then notes of water consumption and then other
    11        notes of just things like feed deliveries and vaccinations.
    12
    13   Q.   Have all those things been routinely recorded for the last
    14        10 years?
    15        A.  They have always been done.  Water consumption is,
    16        perhaps, the only new one that became -- once we had
    17        reliable water meters we started doing that as routine
    18        probably about six or seven years ago.
    19
    20   Q.   On page 18 of this report on the welfare of broiler
    21        chickens, paragraph 48 it says that "a suitable light
    22        intensity for inspecting the chickens is likely to be about
    23        200 lux".  Are all the farms that are part of the Sun
    24        Valley process able to provide that level of lighting?
    25        A.  The standard level, as I said yesterday, in broiler
    26        houses is about 10 to 20 lux which is quite adequate for
    27        normal bird activity.  We can put the lights up on to
    28        higher intensities if we wish, although I cannot see any
    29        reference to 200 lux.
    30
    31   Q.   At the end of the paragraph.
    32        A.  Oh, I see, yes.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I just look back at 38?
    35        A.  So, really, what I am saying is there is no problem in
    36        complying with that at all.
    37
    38   MS. STEEL:  All your farms would be able to comply with that,
    39        would they?
    40        A.  That is correct.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What, the 200 for inspection?
    43        A.  Yes, that is available if we need it.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  Is that standard practice that the lights would be
    46        turned up to 200 lux while the inspections are made?
    47        A.  It depends what type of inspection.  If you are
    48        routinely walking the shed you do not need to have the
    49        lights as bright as that to be able to do that.  200 is
    50        very bright.  If you were requiring to do more detailed 
    51        work, say, working on feeders, repairing drinkers, 
    52        whatever, then you would need that higher level. 
    53
    54   Q.   So what light level would be used for the routine
    55        inspections?
    56        A.  Routine inspections can be done quite satisfactorily at
    57        20 lux.
    58
    59   Q.   And that would be the standard used ---
    60        A.  Yes.

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