Day 095 - 02 Mar 95 - Page 54
1 struck you as being a fair representation from your own
2 experience of the conditions in which your animals, if
3 I can call them that, are raised and slaughtered in the
4 United States?
5 A. We are talking about beef?
6
7 Q. Of all the animals, chickens, pigs and cattle, was there
8 anything in this film which fairly represented what, from
9 your experience, you know to be the conditions of your
10 animals?
11 A. OK. Basically from what I saw of the film the only
12 thing that is a true or close representation is the feed
13 lot. If you look carefully it is misleading. There are
14 only like two seconds where when they start showing the
15 video that you can get a perspective of the space because
16 as it moves, the camera, when it concentrates on a feed
17 lot, you can see the stocking density you can have a good
18 idea, but as the camera moves from that ----
19
20 Q. I was not asking for a particular comment. I want to know
21 really this. Is there anything in the film, apart from the
22 density of the feed lot, which you could see from a real
23 photograph? Is there anything in the film which struck you
24 as being a fair or true representation of the farming
25 conditions in the USA so far as you are aware?
26 A. Absolutely not.
27
28 Q. Can I ask you two other direct questions arising out of
29 that film. You told Ms. Steel that there would be no point
30 in feeding cattle their own dung to eat because it was not
31 be nutritious.
32 A. Right.
33
34 Q. What is the reason why it would not be nutritious?
35 A. Because the cow itself cannot -- it does not serve any
36 purpose to eat the same food that it has already digested.
37 It is not going to digest it any better.
38
39 Q. That gives rise to my second question. How efficient is
40 the digestion of cows, for example, of grass?
41 A. Very efficient. It might be the most efficient animal
42 in terms of extracting energy from their food. It is
43 extremely ----
44
45 Q. Does the existence of a forestomach help in that process or
46 not?
47 A. It helps the animals tremendously. They are able to
48 digest things that hogs or chickens cannot digest.
49
50 Q. Like cellulose?
51 A. Fibre, yes, including cellulose.
52
53 Q. One other question in relation to that film, the bit about
54 cows. Are you, I take it you are, tolerably familiar with
55 physiology of a cow?
56 A. Yes.
57
58 Q. What would happen to a cow if you mixed its food with
59 cement and made it eat it?
60 A. They will have a lot of problems digesting their food.
