Day 020 - 28 Jul 94 - Page 44


     
     1        transferred to the abattoir.  In some situations, if they
              are not, if a satisfactory price is not reached or arrived
     2        at, then they might go on to a second auction ring or they
              might go on to somewhere else.  It is not necessarily a
     3        single stop in one auction ring for the dairy cattle trade
               -- they do get shifted around quite a lot -- and that
     4        time can compound the stress of the period, the overall
              period.
     5
         Q.   I do not know if it  is -----
     6        A.  The reason it is stressful, partly, is because it is
              in an unusual environment.  It is a new environment to the
     7        cow, and it will be fearful of certain stimulae.
 
     8   Q.   Do cows often slip when they are being transported?
              I suggest the phrase could be a "downer cow", a farmer's
     9        term for when a cow slips?
              A.  A "downer cow" would be a cow that is unable to move,
    10        you know, it is down and there is trouble in actually
              getting the animal to move voluntarily.
    11
         Q.   Does that happen frequently?
    12        A.  I do not have any exact figures on the prevalence, I
              do not know.  In my experience of having seen cow
    13        abattoirs, I have not even seen a lot of downer cows about
               -- in fact, I am trying to think as to whether I have
    14        seen any.
 
    15   Q.   But in transportation and markets?
              A.  It does happen, you get downer cows, yes, they do
    16        exist, absolutely.  I am not sure whether you would be
              able to find the prevalence figure of downer cows.  I am
    17        not sure that figure is available.
 
    18   Q.   Just one more thing about transportation:  In the
              slaughterhouse and from the transport to the
    19        slaughterhouse, both the companies, both the plants, which
              you did a survey on were using electric goads?
    20        A.  Yes.
 
    21   Q.   Would the goads be used during transportation as well, is
              that general?
    22        A.  Is that general?  I think it is fair to say that some
              hauliers do and some do not.  Certainly in days gone by it
    23        was not general.  I would not like to say what the
              prevalence is now, but I believe that some hauliers are
    24        using goads, I believe so.
 
    25   Q.   Are they more likely to be used for animals that are not
              domesticated, such as dairy cows, for example, in the 
    26        Scottish end of the operation? 
              A.  I think they would be used when, as a generalisation 
    27        again, they would be used where you have an animal that is
              refusing to move voluntarily in the right direction that
    28        the stock person wants it to go.  So, for instance, if you
              have an animal in a lorry and it is not coming out of the
    29        lorry when you want to unload it, a man might apply a goad
              through the side wall of the lorry to get it to move.
    30        That is the sort of situation it could be used in.
 

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