Day 019 - 27 Jul 94 - Page 36


     
     1        would say, at a low level.  The most common cause, I would
              say at the moment, would be probably ascites.  Can I
     2        recommend you address these questions to Dr. Pattison, who
              keeps a continuous monitor of these mortalities for his
     3        company, since he was the supervising veterinarian at that
              company for a number years?
     4
         Q.   Is it right that ascites used to be associated with high
     5        altitude but it is now common throughout the broiler
              industry?
     6        A.  It is still commonly associated with high altitude.
              It is common throughout all the broiler industry in some
     7        countries; in other countries, it has only just been
              discovered.  For instance, in Turkey they do not accept
     8        broilers(?), a non-infectious form of broiler ascites.
              They are only just beginning to realise that that could
     9        exist.  They have not identified it as yet.  It is usually
              associated with pasteurella, broiler ascites, so it varies
    10        between countries.
 
    11   Q.   What is the cause of it?
              A.  There are two causes.  You can get an infectious cause
    12        where you have a microbe leading to the condition.  The
              ones I think we see more commonly in this country would be
    13        non-infectious in cause.  It is difficult to say what the
              physiological cause is, but it is either that there is a
    14        cardiac insufficiency, something wrong with the heart
              itself, or there is something wrong with the lungs.
    15
              Now, where you have poor ventilation in the shed, you will
    16        compromise any predisposition which the bird may have due
              to either the cardiac or lung imperfection.  Whether it is
    17        due to intensive genetic selection has not been
              demonstrated one way or another, but there are differences
    18        between jungle fowl and broilers in the architecture of
              their lungs and their capacity to absorb oxygen.  There is
    19        one school of thought which suggests that there could be,
              as a result of intensive selection, predisposition to
    20        broiler ascites.
 
    21   Q.   Compounded with the atmosphere of the sheds?
              A.  This is correct.
    22
         Q.   OK, and other reasons why they might die would be from
    23        dehydration and starvation, is that right?  Going back to
              the general point.
    24        A.  Yes, I would not like to put that in the category of
              important in terms of numbers.  If depends a lot on the
    25        husbandry standard you see.
  
    26   Q.   It is only in -- on the last page of that study that we 
              were just referring to on page 329 where it is talking 
    27        about -- well, the first full paragraph:  "The results
              from all three studies probably underestimate the scale of
    28        leg weakness because of culls and mortality.  All the
              assessed birds had been subject to inspection and some
    29        culling, as required by law.  The stockmen would have
              destroyed birds which they considered to have been in pain
    30        or unduly distressed.  In addition, some of the birds with
              a potential gait score of 4 and 5 had probably died of

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