Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 21
1 broiler sheds have less space each then a sheet of A4 piece
2 of paper, do they not?
3 A. I have never really thought of it in terms of that.
4 I really cannot answer that question.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is a way of illustrating it, but an A4
7 sheet of paper has finite borders.
8 A. Yes, if I could be told a size of sheet of A4.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is A4.
11 A. So, is that half a square foot?
12
13 Q. I do not know.
14
15 MS. STEEL: Apparently, there is actually -- I did not say this
16 last time but I did it by measuring the sheets, but I was
17 then told there is exactly 16 sheets of paper to a square
18 metre, 16 sheets sheet of A4 to a square metre.
19 A. OK. So, we are saying if our stocking density at, say
20 it was 16 -- well, say it was 34 kilos per square metre
21 (which is the MAFF recommendation) and we would have birds
22 of two kilos, say, for example; that would be 17 birds and
23 they would be occupying the 16 sheets of A4 paper, so what
24 you say is correct.
25
26 Q. Of course, you actually stock more densely than that?
27 A. We are slightly over that 34 kilos. As I said
28 yesterday, about 36.5 would be the normal.
29
30 Q. Do you feel that that amount of space for each chicken is
31 humane?
32 A. The amount of space available to it, that level really
33 only applies in the last three or four days. If you walk
34 into a shed at that stocking density, birds clear in front
35 of you and it is quite easy to move amongst them. So, that
36 they are clearing space, and I feel that that is acceptable
37 as long as the environment, the ventilation, the heating
38 controlled, as long as the environment/index.html">litter is good, as long as the
39 environment is satisfactory, then I think I regard that as
40 being acceptable and I feel comfortable with it.
41
42 Q. You think it is humane?
43 A. I feel that it is comfortable for the birds to be in
44 the houses like that, particularly as it is only the last
45 three or four days.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Say a week before the females are taken
48 out ---
49 A. Yes.
50
51 Q. -- what might the weight of the average bird be then?
52 A. I suppose it would be -----
53
54 Q. That is at the end of the fifth week of the six weeks?
55 A. I suppose at that time they weigh about 1.6 kilos.
56
57 MS. STEEL: I think you said yesterday (and if you did not
58 certainly Dr. Gregory said that) actually you have to pick
59 your way very carefully through the broiler sheds towards
60 the end of their lives in the sheds?
