Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 61


     
     1        the discretion of the individual unit managers.  Do some of
     2        them always tail dock and other ones never tail dock or do
     3        they all roughly do it the same?
     4        A.  On our own farms I would say quite comfortably there is
     5        no need to tail dock 90 per cent of our pigs.  We have just
     6        got the odd rude ones that will decide to tail bite for
     7        unknown reasons.  That would be about it.
     8
     9   Q.   What about on the -----
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is this biting their own tails?
    12        A.  No, sir.
    13
    14   Q.   That is what puzzled me.
    15        A.  If I can try to explain to you about tail biting.
    16
    17   Q.   You will get the odd one who will decide to tail bite, do
    18        you mean then you tail dock the whole environment/index.html">litter?
    19        A.  What will happen is if we find ----
    20
    21   Q.   There is not much use in tail docking him ----
    22        A.  No, because he would bite someone else's tail.
    23
    24   Q.   So you then tail dock the ones he may or she may come into
    25        contact with?
    26        A.  You tail dock the whole environment/index.html">litter.  If you find you have a
    27        strain that are prone to do it you will tail dock the whole
    28        environment/index.html">litter.
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:  Then on the ones that are not on your own farms,
    31        what is the position with them?  They are more frequently
    32        use tail docking?
    33        A.  I can give you an example that we have one supplier
    34        where all his pigs are tail docked, because he has a strain
    35        of pigs that will tail bite and by tail docking it has
    36        cured it 100 per cent.  That is one example.  There is a
    37        variation of other suppliers, a few do and a few do not.
    38
    39   Q.   Is it solely dependent on the strain of pigs?
    40        A.  We believe so, yes.  Obviously if someone is stupid
    41        enough to over-crowd they can have the same problem, but
    42        the farmers whom I am talking about, the last one I saw is
    43        actually in the Freedom Food scheme.
    44
    45   Q.   But are there some farms where you have got the same breed
    46        of pigs but one farmer will be tailed docking and another
    47        one will not?
    48        A.  No.  We are building up a knowledge of those strains
    49        that are tail biting prone and gradually with a long period
    50        of breeding you have a five-year breeding programme, we 
    51        hope to tackle the problem and try to overcome it. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I am feeling for is, in principle, do
    54        you wait for the first bite or are there some suppliers or
    55        stockmen who will dock anyway because they think the strain
    56        tends to tail biting?
    57        A.  In the UK there are people who will tail dock anyhow,
    58        but we, as a company, will only operate when we think it is
    59        necessary from historical evidence.
    60

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