Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 23


     
     1        "I have to point out with cows that we are dealing here
     2        with a survival mechanism.  We are talking about giving
     3        birth and producing milk.  Many other systems will be
     4        suffering before a cow, or any other animal for that
     5        matter, abandons those because that is a survival mechanism
     6        which will go on even if she is emaciated and in poor
     7        condition."
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    10
    11   MS. STEEL:   Talking about markets, cattle markets in
    12        particular, which is obviously relevant seeing as
    13        McDonald's cattle come very frequently from cattle markets,
    14        Dr. Long had been talking about bad husbandry and bad
    15        stockmanship and he was asked, "What kind of prevalence
    16        does that kind of treatment of animals, or what kind of
    17        prevalence is there for that in markets?"  He said, "It is
    18        more or less a day to day occurrence", and that you would
    19        see distressed animals being pushed unnecessarily.  I think
    20        he was mainly talking about the use of goads and the
    21        loading and unloading conditions.
    22
    23        He said, "It should not, with good stockmanship, be
    24        necessary to use those forms of force at all.  You should
    25        be able to run the place without using sticks, and very
    26        rarely with goads.  The trouble is that many of these
    27        markets are inadequate for the job.  They are trying to put
    28        too much through, trying to do too much business at the
    29        expense of the animals' welfare."
    30
    31        On day 113, page 41, he criticised the kind of diet that
    32        was fed to cattle.  He said he had a great deal of concern
    33        about the diet because it was too high a protein diet for
    34        an animal which is typically a ruminant, it upsets the
    35        digestion and a number of digestive troubles result.  That
    36        you did not get good rumination, and, although it was not
    37        fully understood how this took place, it contributed to the
    38        causes of lameness.  He also said, "What concerns us most
    39        now is the effect of feed on the development of BSE.  That
    40        is very much a welfare matter, because cows that are
    41        suffering from BSE do suffer a great deal."  That was as a
    42        result of feeding animal remains to cattle.
    43
    44        Just as a general matter, on day 113, page 45, he said that
    45        there were about 450 abattoirs in the UK at present.  He
    46        said about 80 percent of that number would slaughter
    47        cattle, probably.  I can't remember where this came up, but
    48        there is a reference in the transcript on page 45, line 13
    49        to McKeys using up to 70 abattoirs.  Effectively, that is
    50        about one in six abattoirs that they would be getting... I 
    51        don't know whether that is...  Presumably, it is all 
    52        cattle.  But, effectively, if they are using that many 
    53        abattoirs the conditions in those abattoirs are going to be
    54        effectively bog standard for the rest of the industry.  So
    55        any general criticisms made by welfare organisations or by
    56        governmental bodies or governmental quangos, whatever, are
    57        going to apply to the animals which are being reared for
    58        McDonald's products.
    59
    60        When he was asked about whether or not cattle went

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