Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 46


     
     1
     2   Q.   So that is a standard practice?
     3        A.  Yes, it is.
     4
     5   Q.   So it is standard within any load that some of the birds
     6        will have Hock Burns?
     7        A.  Well, some loads do not have them at all, others will
     8        and it is very variable.
     9
    10   Q.   Where you have got several birds in a load that have Hock
    11        Burn, do you then go and investigate the farm, or would you
    12        just deduct the money and leave it at that?
    13        A.  An investigation may take place but, usually, it is
    14        sufficient to feed back the information for the farmer or
    15        farm manager to investigate it himself.
    16
    17   Q.   How many birds would be affected before you started
    18        investigating?
    19        A.  Well, I think we would be concerned that -- again Hock
    20        scabs are graded.  There are very small ones which are pin
    21        point ones, and the standard definition of a Hock Burn is
    22        to have three pin point lesions on the hock would be
    23        classified as a Hock Burn.  Obviously, they can vary
    24        greatly in severity, and so they are just the numbers and
    25        not necessarily all that meaningful, and sometimes the
    26        severity of the Hock Burn is actually more important.  So,
    27        if you have a large coalescing lesion on the hock and you
    28        have a lot of birds in that sort of category, then that is
    29        the sort of case which requires investigation.
    30
    31   Q.   That is something that has happened on a number of
    32        occasions?
    33        A.  Many times, yes.
    34
    35   Q.   What has the investigation found?
    36        A.  Well, generally, the investigation finds that there has
    37        been wet environment/index.html">litter, capping of environment/index.html">litter, and perhaps
    38        insufficient use of heating and ventilation to keep the
    39        environment/index.html">litter working properly.
    40
    41   Q.   Do you make recommendations to the farmer?
    42        A.  Yes, we do.  I also have to say that there has been
    43        tremendous improvement in environment/index.html">litter conditions since we
    44        started to use enzymes in feed.  That improves the
    45        digestability of things like insoluble carbohydrate
    46        fractions that occur in barley and in wheat, and has helped
    47        environment/index.html">litter management enormously.
    48
    49   Q.   Is it not correct that in the last 12 to 18 months there
    50        have been several incidents of lorries loaded with live 
    51        birds tipping over? 
    52        A.  That has occurred, yes. 
    53
    54   Q.   On several occasions on the way to Sun Valley?
    55        A.  Yes, that has happened.
    56
    57   Q.   That when this happens several hundred birds can die,
    58        sometimes a few thousand?
    59        A.  That can happen, yes.
    60

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