Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 50
1 of our farms after it became a major problem in this
2 country in 1989.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: We cannot remember if we asked you about this
5 before?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You did, a number of questions.
9
10 MS. STEEL: With ascites, that is not only a problem during
11 transport of poultry, is it?
12 A. No, it can cause mortality of birds on the farm.
13
14 Q. When birds get that, their lungs become congested and the
15 abdomen distended with fluid; is that right?
16 A. That is correct.
17
18 Q. That is caused by the unnaturally high oxygen demand caused
19 by the rapid growth of modern broilers combined with
20 inadequate lung capillaries?
21 A. That is certainly partly right. The oxygen tension is
22 very important to -- the amount of oxygen in the sheds is
23 very important. It is a disease that was originally found
24 to occur in birds particularly at high altitude where the
25 oxygen tension was very low.
26
27 Q. But that would not be something that would apply in this
28 country?
29 A. No, it does not.
30
31 Q. What percentage of birds are affected by that at Sun
32 Valley?
33 A. Well, it is one of the major causes of mortality, and
34 we would expect to lose in our sample of mortality, it
35 would probably account for 10 or 15 per cent of the total
36 deaths.
37
38 Q. So what is that in terms of the number of birds per shed or
39 what-have-you?
40 A. Well, if you have, say you had six per cent mortality
41 and you were losing, say, one-and-a-half per cent from
42 ascites -----
43
44 Q. That would be about standard, would it?
45 A. That would be about the normal, yes.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Your arithmetic does not ---
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Just under one per cent.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- I mean if it is 12.5 per cent, it would be
52 one-eighth of the six per cent, would it not?
53 A. Yes.
54
55 Q. Which is halfway between your 10 and 15.
56
57 MS. STEEL: Do all birds that suffer from that actually die or
58 do they survive, some of them survive?
59 A. They generally die from ascites. The only thing,
60 obviously, is that if birds die in transit from ascites,
