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
