Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 56
1 not very well protected against buffeting, and that again
2 is a problem. By being very active they also tend to
3 compete, and if you mix groups of pigs of one sort or
4 another, even if you mix groups of sows, they will carry
5 out a good deal of pecking order, jostling, possibly biting
6 one another. They will bite one another if they are bored
7 and they will turn to things like tail biting, things like
8 that, all of which are signs -----
9
10 Q. When you say "if", in your experience does that apply or
11 not apply to the rearing systems which you have seen?
12 A. Yes. I have seen many systems where they cut the tail
13 off to try to stop this.
14
15 Q. You said you have seen many systems. Basically, is this
16 the general standard in the industry as a whole that we are
17 talking about?
18 A. In recent years, in fact in the video we did for the
19 Farm Animal Welfare Council, we made a point about this,
20 that there have been systems, more systems now, where you
21 can produce pigs without their resorting so much to tail
22 biting. In the better systems that I have seen the pigs
23 actually have toys to play with.
24
25 Q. But we are talking about the general conditions in the
26 industry?
27 A. Yes, these are special.
28
29 Q. Especially around the end of 1980s, 1989/90?
30 A. Well, then -----
31
32 Q. The concerns you have about the general conditions?
33 A. Well, the general conditions that concern many of us,
34 certainly me, with sow stalls, they are going to be phased
35 out anyway in this country by the end of the century,
36 tethers.
37
38 Q. What is the concern about sow stalls? You said something
39 about them?
40 A. Stereotypy, you have to keep the sow in a position
41 where she cannot turn round because it is feed in one end
42 and muck out the other and you do not want her to frustrate
43 that effort by having her backside pointing to the feeder
44 and her snout towards the excreting end. There is the
45 problem of keeping her on little straw, on slats where her
46 feet suffer sores because they are cockled, you know, she
47 cannot get a proper smooth grip on the floor.
48
49 Q. How prevalent were slats?
50 A. Slats are fairly prevalent.
51
52 Q. They are still fairly prevalent?
53 A. Yes. There are other systems which are finer mesh.
54 You have really got to have a system where the muck can
55 flow out, if you can, so that it can flow down to a muck
56 pit down below. So you have two systems of flooring: one
57 the flooring where she is and the other the flooring at the
58 back where the muck can go down. Then, of course, some are
59 tethered so they cannot move, still less can they move.
60
