Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 18
1 form of problem in that area is where a cow refuses to
2 move, it just digs its feet in, so to speak, and it is very
3 difficult to get the animal to go forward". That is a
4 typical reaction where you have a problem animal. And he
5 went on to say that different types of cattle had different
6 behaviour, that dairy cattle were more likely to dig their
7 feet in and refuse to move.
8
9 On the actual stunning process, he said that for both plant
10 A -- well, for Midland Meat and for Jarrets, they were
11 using three grain cartridges. I am pretty sure that plant
12 A is Midland Meat and plant B is Jarrets.
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I think that is right. That is my
15 recollection.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
18
19 MS. STEEL: He was asked if he knew what the speed of the shot
20 was, and he did not, although he did say it was an
21 important feature, the velocity was an important feature,
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have got really quite comprehensive notes
24 on what he found at Midland Meat Packers and Jarrets so far
25 as stunning was concerned, everything, so really all you
26 need to do in relation to that, if indeed you want to, is
27 just tell me what, if anything, you would say I should
28 conclude was unsatisfactory. There is no need to go
29 through the evidence or into it in any detail. If you say
30 it is unsatisfactory, just tell me in a nutshell why.
31
32 MS. STEEL: Obviously, at one of the plants he stated that the
33 accuracy of shooting was not particularly good and that
34 half of the skulls that had been examined showed an
35 inaccurate aim. And that is actually referred to on page
36 51, where 5 out of the 10 animals that were studied the
37 shot was more than two centimetres out from the ideal
38 position, and therefore he concluded the accuracy of
39 shooting was not particularly good. This was plant A.
40
41 If I just say, I cannot remember where it is, but he did
42 said that the fact that they were using a high grain
43 cartridge was one of the reasons why the imperfect shot was
44 less critical, effectively because the high grain cartridge
45 was doing so much damage that it did not matter if it was a
46 bit off target.
47
48 Just relevant to that point, Mr. Chambers, when he was
49 giving evidence, said on day 97, page 57, line 52, that the
50 company was using three grain cartridges, but he said on
51 day 98, page 47, line 54, that they used to use 2.5 grain
52 cartridges, so obviously at the time that they were using
53 the 2.5 grain cartridges the accuracy of stunning would
54 have been much more critical.
55
56 He said that the changeover from 2.5 grain cartridges had
57 been since he became the quality assurance manager, so that
58 was some time within the last five or six years. That was
59 on page 48 of day 98 that he said that.
60
