Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 38


     
     1        if I could put it that way.
     2
     3   Q.   Do you know enough -- if you do not know, please say so;
     4        again I do not know the answer to this -- about the dairy
     5        farming industry to know to what extent farmers may be
     6        inclined to fatten up old dairy cows before sending them
     7        off for meat?
     8        A.  I am not expert in that, but I can give you an answer
     9        from observation.  A great number of cows come in
    10        unfattened.  They come direct from the herd.  They are
    11        younger cows, if they are clearly not going to be needed
    12        commercially for milk, would be the more likely category to
    13        be fattened up into butchers' cows, as they are described.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It would be a comparatively expensive
    16        exercise for a comparatively lesser award for a farmer,
    17        would it not, to take an old cow and fatten it up?
    18        A.  Indeed.
    19
    20   Q.   To try to get a better price for the meat?
    21        A.  Absolutely.  That is why I have no doubt it is rare.
    22        It is the younger animals.  There may be a change in plan
    23        for one reason or another in terms of the size of the dairy
    24        herd, and the cow is two or three years old, it would then
    25        be worth finishing it, as the phrase has it, for higher
    26        quality meat.
    27
    28   MR. RAMPTON:  Miss Hovi, Mr. Bennett, it appears, attended
    29        Jarrett's premises for a total of 124 hours during April in
    30        1994.  Her function there, it appears, was as an emergency
    31        OVS.  She was covering, I think, for somebody else or for a
    32        gap, it appeared.  Have you understood that from reading
    33         -----
    34        A.  I was not absolutely clear about the reason for her
    35        being appointed.  She was certainly appointed as the
    36        official veterinary surgeon.  The circumstances would lead
    37        you to think that she was a temporary cover.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  I did not understand any of that.  If Mr. Rampton
    40        wants to ask leading questions and raise issues that have
    41        no evidence or whatever, then I think he should -----
    42
    43   MR. RAMPTON:  Maybe Ms. Hovi will tell us about it when she
    44        comes to give evidence, I expect she will.  Anyway, suppose
    45        she was there for -- this is recorded -- a total of 124
    46        hours in the course of the month of April 1994 -- the time
    47        sheets, my Lord, have been disclosed -- she expresses
    48        surprise that, as OVS during that time, she was not shown
    49        copies of McKey Food Services raw material specifications.
    50        What comment do you have that about that? 
    51        A.  It is no cause of surprise to me.  The OVS would not 
    52        normally be shown specifications for two reasons:  Firstly, 
    53        they are not particularly the concern of the enforcement
    54        officer and, secondly, they are confidential.
    55
    56   Q.   Would there be any reason for an OVS to look at the meat
    57        specification of a customer?
    58        A.  If the circumstances are correct and there is a good
    59        relationship (of which there often is), there is no reason,
    60        given permission of everybody concerned, why the OVS would

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