Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 18
1 A. In the context of the hatchery I do not, I am afraid,
2 because I was not involved.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that a topic veterinarians could have a
5 different view on, a different personal view?
6 A. I think it is unlikely. As I say, the procedure is
7 fairly, is a fairly standard one and not really one, to my
8 mind, that requires a great deal of review and discussion.
9 OK, if Dr. Gregory believes that a different gas might be
10 more effective, that is fine, but that is about the only
11 change I can really see that we could make to the system.
12
13 MS. STEEL: How many dustbinfuls a day -- sorry, I just called
14 them "dustbins" because that is how we called them -- are
15 killed?
16 A. Well, I said yesterday it would be normal to kill about
17 200 in a day and that is only a small part of a container,
18 maybe a quarter of a container, something of that order.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is if they all went in together?
21 A. If they all went in together, yes, which they do not
22 anyway.
23
24 MS. STEEL: So, how many procedures are there a day or does that
25 vary widely?
26 A. How many procedures?
27
28 Q. How many times do you actually carry out the operation?
29 A. We would normally do it twice a day.
30
31 Q. You said about purging the container of oxygen, how is that
32 done?
33 A. It is a relatively small -- you have to understand, it
34 is a relatively small container for the volume of gas that
35 you can deliver quite quickly. So, really the container is
36 purged by the C02 gas itself.
37
38 Q. Right.
39 A. And that takes no more than a few seconds to do.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: If I can just ask one question, you said about once
42 a month a chick might still be moving and, therefore, it is
43 done again -- is that straightaway?
44 A. They would be done straightaway, yes.
45
46 Q. So is this process done Monday to Friday?
47 A. The process is done every hatch day which is Monday,
48 Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
49
50 Q. So it is four days a week?
51 A. Four days a week.
52
53 Q. So if it is four days a week, twice a day on average, that
54 is eight a week, in a month that is about 32 times a month,
55 that would be about right, yes?
56 A. Yes.
57
58 Q. It is every week, is it not, continuously?
59 A. Yes.
60
