Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 37
1 Q. Before I come to the RSPCA document, Mr. Bowes, I want to
2 go back in time and deal briefly with the indoor unit.
3 We will have a mental look at it in a moment, but take this
4 picture here -- this is the easiest way of doing it -- the
5 one of the pigs in the outdoor kennel, the weaners?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. Would they all be pigs that have been born outside or could
9 some of them be from the indoor unit?
10 A. In our kennels we do have, at the indoor unit there are
11 kennels also where the pigs are transferred to at 24 days
12 of age.
13
14 Q. Are those indoor or outdoor kennels?
15 A. They are outdoor kennels on grassland.
16
17 Q. On grass?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. I think you probably did tell us but I am afraid I have
21 forgotten, how many sows have you got in the indoor units?
22 A. 2,300.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: 2,300.
25
26 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, 2,300. Yes, thank you. What sort of a life
27 do they lead? What are their conditions of living?
28 A. They are straw based, fed on a proper diet, ad-lib
29 water, they have access to freedom of walking and they are
30 on, again they have the Yorkshire boarding dunging passages
31 described previously, and they are on insulated floors.
32 I would say that our way of keeping indoor sows is very
33 satisfactory in as much as that we are, I would say, over
34 95 per cent of being approved by freedom foods for RSPCA.
35
36 Q. For the indoor unit?
37 A. Yes.
38
39 Q. Is your outdoor approved 100 per cent?
40 A. Yes, they are.
41
42 Q. We will have a quick look at that in a moment. How are the
43 indoors sows serviced? They do not go into a field with a
44 bore or do they?
45 A. Oh, no. The bore is inside and the sows are inside and
46 they are serviced in the inside serving yards.
47
48 Q. By natural methods?
49 A. Oh, yes, yes. May I say that, you know, we do have a
50 retailer that bans artificial insemination.
51
52 Q. You do, do you?
53 A. Yes.
54
55 Q. This may seem a slightly vulgar question but are boars
56 quite keen on that kind of thing?
57 A. I have never seen one disappointed yet, sir.
58
59 Q. First of all, I should ask you, how many litters a year
60 does the indoor sow have?
