Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 34


     
     1        going productively until 4 o'clock or just after.  Longer
     2        than five minutes, obviously, but how much longer?
     3
     4   MS. STEEL:   Well, a break.  (Pause)  I do not know.  I mean,
     5        the problem is that I -- well, like I said, I start off
     6        with kind of notes that are in a sensible order and fairly
     7        comprehensive and then, the later on in the day it gets,
     8        the more I am relying on notes which are very scrappy and
     9        all over the place.  It makes it hard to carry on.  I am
    10        not sure how much improvement I can make on that in terms
    11        of having a break now.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I think we should try and keep going.  What
    14        I will do, I will rise until 25 past 3.  Use that quarter
    15        of an hour or 20 minutes to see what order you can generate
    16        into your notes.
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:   Right.  Okay.
    19
    20                         (Short Adjournment)
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:   I will try and be a bit more organised.  Just some
    23        final points about the stocking density thing.  That whilst
    24        the -- well, the minimum stated in the Codes of Practice is
    25        0.45, between 0.45 and 0.5 square metres of pigs
    26        between....  Sorry, I will start again.  The minimum stated
    27        in the Codes of Practice is 0.45 square metres for pigs of
    28        80 kilograms and 0.5 square metres for pigs of hundred
    29        kilograms.  So although obviously Bowes came within the
    30        Codes of Practice, unlike Sun Valley Poultry, we still say
    31        they are only just above the minimum and that pigs should
    32        have a right to have a decent amount of space to roam
    33        around in and not have their freedom of movement restricted
    34        such a degree.
    35
    36        A couple of other points on the rearing side of things.
    37        There was reference to some welfare problems such as tail
    38        biting and that if there was tail biting there was a
    39        likelihood that there could be abscesses in the backbone
    40        and tail biting could cause dreadful discomfort to pigs.
    41        That was day 88, page 13, line 51.  I think there was
    42        evidence to the effect that that was something that was
    43        made worse by the methods used.
    44
    45        In terms of tail docking, Mr. Bowes was asked about what
    46        methods could be employed to reduce or minimise tail
    47        biting, and one of the things was to use strains of pigs
    48        which do it less than others.  The other was tail docking
    49        and Mr. Bowes said that tail docking was carried out on
    50        some pigs that were reared for Bowes.  He said that it was 
    51        left to the discretion of the individual unit manager. 
    52        That was on day 88, page 31, line 9. 
    53
    54        And Dr. Gregory gave evidence about tail docking.  He
    55        stated on day 18, page 32, line 2, that tail docking in
    56        other species is reputed to be a painful procedure for two
    57        reasons; not only the surgical operation in itself, but
    58        also it can result in a proportion of the animals having a
    59        lasting pain.  He said that he did not see evidence of it
    60        in the pigs he had seen at Bowes, but it would be a

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