Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 57
1 of what is available worldwide, where can we purchase
2 beef. So we visit it in Australia to talk to the Trade
3 Association to find out what can they do for us. We met
4 with research institutions to see what kind of practices
5 are available in all of the areas from feeding to
6 slaughtering practices, to just about everything.
7
8 Q. When was that?
9 A. That was September last year.
10
11 Q. The feed lots that you visited, did the cattle have any
12 shelter?
13 A. No. They were testing that, the effectiveness. The
14 feed lot that we visited, they were testing that, so it had
15 some cover. They had done some previous research. They
16 had found that under the Australia conditions they did not
17 have an effect on the animals, and they were testing other
18 methods of providing cover to the animals.
19
20 Q. Aside from where they were doing the tests, the cattle that
21 formed the majority of the feed lots, were they just in
22 open pens?
23 A. Yes, they were.
24
25 Q. And the food troughs are on the outside of those pens, are
26 they not?
27 A. Yes, they are.
28
29 Q. So the animals have to put their heads through the fences
30 to get the food?
31 A. That is correct.
32
33 Q. The fences are just like bars?
34 A. They are pipes.
35
36 Q. Maybe one or two pipes, kind of thing?
37 A. That is correct.
38
39 Q. So they would not provide any shelter from the wind, or
40 anything like that?
41 A. No.
42
43 Q. The place that you visited near to Tawoomba, do you know
44 what capacity that had?
45 A. No, I do not. I could not tell you the capacity.
46
47 Q. Do you know whether a figure of 80,000 cattle a year,
48 processing 80,000 cattle a year, would be reasonable?
49 A. Yes, it could.
50
51 Q. Do you know what size the pens were and how many cattle
52 they had?
53 A. They have pens of different sizes and the stocking
54 capacity varies.
55
56 Q. Would 80 metres by 30 metres housing 300 cattle sound about
57 right?
58 A. I would have to make the calculations. Normally, they
59 would base it on the stocking density which could be the --
60 normally you go around half a metre per cattle -- a square
