Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 40


     
     1        days is around 6 to 6.5 percent and around 1 percent of
     2        those birds would have been culled and he said mortality to
     3        40 days -- sorry, 42 days is normally about 4 percent.  And
     4        the reference for that is 89, 30, 52.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:   30 to 35 birds "would be one day's mortality" for
     9        one shed.  That was on day 102, page 38, line 45.  And we
    10        would say that the fact that that is considered acceptable
    11        shows really the callous disregard for the welfare of the
    12        birds, that they have to live in the conditions that
    13        produce that kind of a death rate.
    14
    15        Dr. Patteson agreed that ascites was one of the major
    16        causes of mortality in flocks, that was on day 91, page 50,
    17        line 33, that it accounted for 10 to 15 percent of the
    18        total deaths, and he agreed that it was caused as a result
    19        of the rapid growth of broilers with the result that they
    20        were too big for their lung size, and he admitted that this
    21        only occurs in broiler chickens.  That was on day 89, page
    22        52, line 5.
    23
    24        Obviously this is a condition which certainly in this
    25        country has been brought about by the deliberate policy of
    26        breeding birds for rapid weight gain with no concern for
    27        the effects that that has on their health overall.
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:   Dr. Patteson also admitted that from 1989 to 1992,
    32        which covers the period of the alleged libel, gumboro
    33        disease was a common problem.  He said that between 1989
    34        and 1991 Sun Valley were losing 2.5 percent of all of the
    35        birds every week over and above the normal mortality
    36        rates.  That was day 103, page 12, line 38.  And that the
    37        problem was not really brought under control until 1992.
    38        He agreed that broiler houses provide the ideal conditions
    39        for the rapid spread of viral diseases like gumboro.  That
    40        was on day 103, page 12, line 58.
    41
    42        And just referring to the evidence of John Bruton, the
    43        former poultry catcher for Sun Valley Poultry who we called
    44        to give evidence, Mr. Rampton asked Dr. Patteson about a
    45        statement which appears in the notes which I have made of
    46        the evidence which John Bruton was to give, saying at some
    47        farms up to 5 or 600 dead bird would be found, 200 to 250
    48        dead would not be unusual, and it would be rare to be less
    49        than 50 dead.  That was when the catchers went into the
    50        sheds to begin the process of loading birds on to the 
    51        lorries to take them for slaughter. 
    52 
    53        Dr. Patteson answered:  I think he must be referring to
    54        some instances in 1989, 1990 when we had a severe epidemic
    55        of gumboro disease which did kill large numbers of broilers
    56        at the end of their lives and there were some very severe
    57        mortalities on farms which would have been observed by the
    58        catching teams so this could have happened.  So he
    59        confirmed the evidence of our witness about the large
    60        numbers of dead birds found in the broiler houses.

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