Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 46


     
     1
     2   Q.   Is that something you will keep under review?
     3        A.  Yes, it is.  We have got to look at all ways which
     4        would improve the handling of these birds.
     5
     6   Q.   Do you know evidence -- for example, a 42 or 52 day old
     7        bird is quite a heavy bird if it is a broiler, is it not?
     8        A.  Yes, it is.
     9
    10   Q.   Sort of two kilograms or more?
    11        A.  Two kilograms for 42 days, three kilograms for 52.
    12
    13   Q.   Do you know of evidence which suggests, leaving aside the
    14        possibility of physical injury, that a bird which is
    15        carried upside-down -- and it is upside-down, I take it?
    16        A.  Yes.
    17
    18   Q.   -- out of the house suffers any kind of stress?
    19        A.  It is obviously stressful in it is being picked up and
    20        handled, it is being taken from a familiar environment to
    21        an unfamiliar one, so obviously it is stressful.  There
    22        have been scientific measurements carried out to show that
    23        there are higher levels of cortisone in the broad stream at
    24        that time which is indicative of stress.
    25
    26   Q.   Do chickens, as other animals do, release lactic acid into
    27        their muscles under stress or not?
    28        A.  That is more a feature, I think, of exercise and then
    29        postmortem change.  I am not aware that it really is a sign
    30        of stress.
    31
    32   Q.   I see.  The loading system is something called the Anglia
    33        air flow, is it not?
    34        A.  Autoflow, Anglia Autoflow.
    35
    36   Q.   Anglia Autoflow.  What does that consist of?
    37        A.  It consists of what is called a module which contains
    38        nine drawers and the drawers are really like baskets which
    39        are about that size by that size.
    40
    41   Q.   What is it made of?
    42        A.  The baskets are made of plastics.
    43
    44   Q.   And the frame?
    45        A.  And the frame is made of metal.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:   Sorry, could you just do the measurements again?
    48        I was looking down at the time.  I am sorry.
    49
    50   MR. RAMPTON:  Can you do it again? 
    51        A.  The basket size is about this size long, that size wide 
    52        and about that high. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That looks something like three feet by two
    55        feet by about 10 inches?
    56        A.  That would be approximately it.  I think they are 117
    57        centimetres by 76 centimetres, something like that.
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON:  Is it arranged in layers?
    60        A.  And the drawers are in three layers in each model.

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