Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 26
1 A. No, they would be roughly three weeks when they are
2 outside.
3
4 Q. Three weeks?
5 A. The weaners, we have been talking about 24 days.
6
7 Q. Weaners about three weeks, about 12 weeks thereafter to get
8 up to the 40 kilos outside?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Then 10 or 11 weeks?
12 A. That is about it, that is about it.
13
14 Q. Plus?
15 A. But one must also consider that, you know, sometimes
16 pigs vary in their growth rates as well.
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: When they are spending their 10 or 11 weeks in the
19 finishing unit, it is not a very good picture -- I mean, it
20 is a good picture, but it does not give us a lot of detail
21 -- it is on the top right-hand side of the middle page,
22 yes?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. It says it is a Bowes' finishing unit with a cereal crop.
26 What are the hoppers for that we can see at the front of
27 the buildings?
28 A. That is where the feed is delivered into, sir.
29
30 Q. I cannot tell from looking at this, are they completely
31 enclosed, those units?
32 A. No, they are not. If you look at the small white
33 aperture -- take the one on the right-hand side -- that is
34 where the pigs sleep in and are fed in. If you look at the
35 doorway in the end there, there is a central passage where
36 the stockman, he has to feed them from the hoppers, right,
37 and he feeds them with a barrow at least twice a day, so he
38 can inspect the animals. Also on the outside of those
39 buildings you will see that there is a sort of cupboard
40 area which is open with Yorkshire boarding. That is what
41 we call the "dunging area".
42
43 Q. What is Yorkshire boarding?
44 A. Yorkshire boarding is strips of board where they are
45 about an inch to an inch and a half apart, something like
46 that.
47
48 Q. So the air circulates?
49 A. Air can circulate through and it gives free-moving air
50 and also sunlight as well.
51
52 Q. What you can do with a building like that to ensure that
53 the pigs get neither too cold in winter nor too hot in
54 summer?
55 A. Well, the building itself, as you can see, is
56 reasonably low and the roof is insulated but, more
57 importantly, the floor is insulated as well.
58
59 Q. The floor is insulated?
60 A. And also, you know, we have the provision of always
