Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 15


     
     1        indoors or outdoors.  The standards of stockmanship is the
     2        most important thing that will determine whether there is
     3        any suffering or not.  That is a very important concept to
     4        understand.
     5
     6   Q.   But even in the best run households, accidents will happen,
     7        right?
     8        A.  Accidents can happen and nobody is perfect in any
     9        system.
    10
    11   Q.   There are, are there not, occasions, to take your chickens,
    12        when one of the chickens on the shackled line has in the
    13        past missed the stun and had its neck cut without being
    14        stunned?
    15        A.  That is correct.
    16
    17   Q.   That has happened?
    18        A.  That has happened.
    19
    20   Q.   Is that something you would like to be able to eliminate,
    21        if you could?
    22        A.  That would be certainly something we would want to
    23        eliminate, and we are always trying to improve our system
    24        so that that kind of thing cannot happen.
    25
    26   Q.   It happens, does it not, from time to time -- we will look
    27        at the numbers later on -- that the birds are injured when
    28        they are caught ---
    29        A.  Yes -- yes.
    30
    31   Q.   -- to be taken to the processing facility?
    32        A.  That can happen.
    33
    34   Q.   It happens -- these are just examples -- from time to time
    35        that animals arrive dead at the plant?
    36        A.  That can happen too.
    37
    38   Q.   I would like, if I may, in the light of that general
    39        introduction, before I leave this question of normal
    40        behaviour, your chickens are kept indoors for the whole of
    41        their natural lives, are they not?
    42        A.  Yes, they are.
    43
    44   Q.   Except, perhaps, for a short period when they are
    45        transported from the farms to the plant?
    46        A.  Yes.
    47
    48   Q.   Are there ever any times when they have the opportunity to
    49        go outside?
    50        A.  No, there are not. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Can I, first of all, ask you in relation to animal welfare, 
    53        you mentioned good husbandry; in the overall picture of
    54        animal welfare, how important is the skill and attention
    55        that the stockman devotes to his task?
    56        A.  I think, my own view is that this is the most important
    57        factor in the animal -- in animal welfare.  The standard of
    58        stockmanship is absolutely fundamental to the welfare of
    59        animals and birds kept in any husbandry system, whether it
    60        is indoors or outdoors.  My experience of stockmen is that

Prev Next Index