Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 54
1 possible. You said you never visited any other slaughter
2 plants. Have you visited other rearing operations apart
3 from your own shed?
4 A. Yes, I have visited many.
5
6 Q. When chickens go into the stun bath as they are going down
7 towards it, if they turn their neck, can they see the other
8 chickens?
9 A. They are going down a line.
10
11 Q. They can see the other chickens?
12 A. They are going down a line where they are all in line
13 so they can see the next one to it.
14
15 Q. Do they go in one at a time?
16 A. It is a continuous line.
17
18 Q. When the stun bath fails for whatever reason, you said
19 because many of the birds lift their head up or something
20 and they missed the stun bath, when they arrive at the
21 cutter stage, is it the same, they can see the ones in
22 front of them then as well?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. When birds in broiler sheds need to be culled, are they
26 done in the shed?
27 A. That would be the normal practice, yes.
28
29 Q. You said, if you cast your mind back, about the routine
30 antibiotics in the first week of life. When that was
31 introduced that had a "dramatic effect", that is your
32 words, in cutting down leg problems. When you say
33 "dramatic effect", what was the difference between before
34 you had the antibiotics and afterwards, the antibiotics as
35 routine in the first week of life?
36 A. We introduced this particular antibiotic which did have
37 a very marked effect on the control of leg problems,
38 infectious leg disorders. It is impossible for me to say
39 how many there were before or after; we just noticed a
40 dramatic difference, a dramatic reduction.
41
42 Q. Did it, say, cut the problems by half or something like
43 that?
44 A. I would say probably more than that.
45
46 Q. So you might have had something like a third of the
47 problems you had before?
48 A. Possibly.
49
50 Q. Somewhere around that figure?
51 A. Yes.
52
53 Q. You said that drinkers in the broiler sheds were set at
54 average shoulder height, or something like that, gradually
55 moved up as the birds get older; is that correct?
56 A. Yes.
57
58 Q. That is in the variable height ones anyway?
59 A. Yes.
60
