Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 64


     
     1        A.  They can have metal floors or plastic floors.
     2
     3   Q.   But slatted?
     4        A.  Yes, they would be slatted -- no, the word "slatted" in
     5        a flat deck is not quite correct.  Normally, again, the
     6        producers have been thinking of the best means of the pig
     7        and normally that would be a woven metal floor or a plastic
     8        floor woven in the same manner, not slats.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What do you mean by "single tiered"?  I see
    11        "tiered" as going one above the other.
    12
    13   MS. STEEL:  Yes.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  So they are just on one level, you mean?
    16
    17   MS. STEEL:  Yes.
    18        A.  I am talking about one level.
    19
    20   Q.   Yes, that is right.  What exactly do you mean by "woven"?
    21        A.  How can I describe it best? -- almost like stainless
    22        being knitted.  I find it hard to describe, but it is woven
    23        up.
    24
    25   Q.   How wide is the metal or the plastic and how wide are the
    26        gaps?
    27        A.  I would have said about -- the gaps, the metal would
    28        have been approximately 5 millimetres and the gaps would
    29        have been about 5 millimetres.  When I say "gaps" they are
    30        little squares, not slats.
    31
    32   Q.   Typically, there would be 10 to 30 weaners in each pen, is
    33        that right?
    34        A.  That depends on each individual farm.
    35
    36   Q.   Of the ones you have seen, can you just give us an example
    37        of how big the pens were, how many pigs there would be in
    38        that pen, say, compared to the press box or something like
    39        that?
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just think of one of your supplying farms
    42        which used this system, say, as recently as four or five
    43        years ago and if you can bring it back to mind tell us what
    44        sort of size the pen would have been and how many weaners
    45        it would have had in it?
    46        A.  I would have said you would have weaners roughly 12, 12
    47        or 14 feet by 12 or 14 feet, something like that, with 15
    48        or 20 pigs in approximately.  I have not made a great study
    49        of it, sir.
    50 
    51   Q.   No.  I wanted something of a picture and then Ms. Steel can 
    52        go further if she wants, but at least I have some idea of 
    53        what we are talking about.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:   What about cage rearing, have any of your suppliers
    56        ever used cages for weaning piglets?
    57        A.  What do you mean by "cage"?
    58
    59   Q.   There is a cage rearing system for piglets?
    60        A.  I am not aware of -- whether you are getting confused

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