Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 43


     
     1        A.  That is correct.
     2
     3   Q.   Are the sheds in any way protected against invasion by
     4        predators?
     5        A.  There is total exclusion of predators.  They are sealed
     6        units.
     7
     8   Q.   What are the animals that predate chickens?
     9        A.  In the wild foxes and dogs, stoats, weasels, these
    10        sorts of creatures.
    11
    12   Q.   What about vermin?
    13        A.  The vermin that are found on poultry farms would be
    14        rats and mice.
    15
    16   Q.   Are they a problem in your growing sheds or not?
    17        A.  Rats are not a problem, generally, because it is very
    18        easy to control them.  Mice can be much more difficult and
    19        mice can get into poultry sheds.
    20
    21   Q.   Is that undesirable that they should do so?
    22        A.  It is undesirable because they can be the carriers of
    23        disease such as salmonella and pasteurella.
    24
    25   Q.   Do ordinary, what Ms. Steel would call "normal", chickens
    26        get parasitic infestations?
    27        A.  The chickens that are kept in broiler sheds, the only
    28        parasitic infection that we have take notice of is
    29        coccidiosis.
    30
    31   Q.   What is that?
    32        A.  It is a parasitic disease caused by a protozoan
    33        parasite, intestinal condition, where we actually use an
    34        anti-coccidiol drug in the feed to control it.
    35
    36   Q.   What problems does it create for the birds if you do not
    37        control it?
    38        A.  It can cause disease, it can cause mortality if we do
    39        not control it.
    40
    41   Q.   How effective is your control?
    42        A.  The effectiveness is very good and we do not normally
    43        see the condition as a problem.
    44
    45   Q.   Do you happen to know what parasites a chicken in a
    46        farmyard might have that the chicken in the growing shed
    47        does not have?
    48        A.  In the farmyard condition they can be affected by round
    49        worms, tape worms and protozoa like coccidiosis.
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, this is my last question before the 
    52        adjournment, with your Lordship's leave.  I am going to 
    53        leave the sheds until after lunch.  (To the witness):  The
    54        broiler chicken, in its journey from the hatchery to the
    55        slaughterhouse, does not have the opportunity to procreate,
    56        does it?
    57        A.  No.
    58
    59   Q.   In your view, does that constitute an interference with or
    60        deprivation of its normal patterns of behaviour?

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