Day 019 - 27 Jul 94 - Page 43


     
     1
         Q.   That is all I was after; that rough period of time.
     2
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Although it is a random sample, if you took
     3        25 birds out of how many -- can you remind me?
              A.  Thousands of birds.
     4
         Q.   There is a lot of chance as to whether your sample is a
     5        sample which reflects the flock as a whole, or you have a
              particularly healthy bunch or a particularly unwell bunch?
     6        A.  Yes.  The usual way of taking a random sample, the way
              we did for our gait scoring, very briefly, is to have a
     7        wire fence which is in a circle which you carry around
              yourself, you switch the lights almost down to zero, you
     8        go along and then drop it on a group of birds.
 
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Like you might put a glass on a field and
              see what insects you have under it?
    10        A.  Precisely, yes.  That was used for gait scoring.  In
              the case of the pathologies, we went into the shed and
    11        just picked some birds.  We did not use that procedure.
 
    12   MS. STEEL:  Right.  The prevalence of abnormalities was 44 per
              cent in this survey?
    13        A.  Yes.
 
    14   Q.   And that would compromise their movements, those
              abnormalities?
    15        A.  No, not necessarily.  One cannot draw that
              conclusion.  No, abnormalities is deviations from what
    16        would be a perfect specimen.  The causes of leg weakness
              in terms of abnormalities has not actually been
    17        established yet.  We are getting a much greater
              understanding because we are doing research on this at the
    18        moment, but we do not know what the main causes are yet,
              for instance, of grade three birds.  We know that in a
    19        proportion of them have TD, for instance,
              tibiodischondroplasia, but we have not ranked them yet in
    20        terms of the main pathological reasons.
 
    21   Q.   But would most of them have some effect on their movement?
              A.  No, in the case, no, I would say almost certainly not.
    22
         Q.   Not at all?
    23        A.  No.  This is, when we say 44 per cent, that is
              deviations from perfection.
    24
         Q.   Right.  I suppose you can look at the gait scores anyway.
    25        These conditions that are listed in these charts, would
              you expect to find any of those in old fashioned chickens? 
    26        A.  Broiler chickens you are referring to or? 
  
    27   Q.   Normal chickens.
 
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  A farmyard hen, is that what you mean?
 
    29   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
              A.  I understand.  Some conditions almost certainly would
    30        be absent.
 

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