Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 09


     
     1   Q.   Right.  That is just the once in the evening, is it?
     2        A.  Usually once.  They may do it more often if there are
     3        particular circumstances.
     4
     5   Q.   What, if there were particular concerns about -----
     6        A.  Maybe if the weather was hot or the chicks had just
     7        come into the farm and they wanted to check them, something
     8        special like that.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The chicks go straight on to the environment/index.html">litter, do
    11        they?
    12        A.  Yes, they do.
    13
    14   Q.   I may have got the wrong picture of the environment/index.html">litter being
    15        relatively soft to start with and you have these tiny
    16        chicks ---
    17        A.  Yes.
    18
    19   Q.   -- is that a wrong picture?
    20        A.  No, that is correct.  We put in a layer of shavings or
    21        a layer of paper which is clean and ready to receive the
    22        chicks.  The chicks go on to that and then, as required
    23        during the life of the birds, we add fresh environment/index.html">litter to keep
    24        topping up, so the level builds up as the birds are
    25        maintained in the sheds.
    26
    27   MS. STEEL:  The area managers, are they different to the
    28        managers you have listed so far?
    29        A.  Yes, they are employed by the company.  They do not
    30        live on the farms.  They work from our agricultural office
    31        and they are allocated a number of farms each to supervise.
    32
    33   Q.   How many farms would they be supervising?
    34        A.  Again it depends on the distances, the number of -- the
    35        size of the farms, they could be supervising anything from
    36        six or eight farms, up to the maximum of about 15.
    37
    38   Q.   Has the flock size per shed remained the same for the last
    39        10 years or so?
    40        A.  Yes, yes.  It has remained the same.
    41
    42   Q.   How do conditions on British broiler farms compare with
    43        other European countries?
    44        A.  The conditions do depend rather on climate.  In the UK
    45        which has an adverse climate the housing would be similar
    46        in Holland and Northern France and Denmark.  In southern
    47        European countries where the climate is much hotter they
    48        tend to have more open housing.  They may have evaporative
    49        cooling systems and there are differences really which
    50        relate to design, according to the climate. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Are stocking densities greater? 
    53        A.  The stocking densities would be similar in Northern
    54        Europe with controlled environment housing.  In the more
    55        southern climates where the housing is more open and the
    56        weather is much hotter, the stocking density is much less.
    57        To go to the extremes, you would get down to a stocking
    58        density of half our stocking densities in very hot
    59        climates.
    60

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