Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 17


     
     1
     2        On page 45, still on day 20, Dr. Gregory was asked, "Does a
     3        calf when it is prodded with a goad sometimes cry out?"  He
     4        said, "I have known bellowing to occur when goads are
     5        applied in an abattoir situation, yes."  Question, "So if
     6        another cow hears another cow bellowing out would that
     7        cause the first cow distress?"  He said, "In all likelihood
     8        the cow hearing it would interpret that as an alarm call,
     9        yes.  Cows were sensitive to noise in general, clashing and
    10        banging and, depending on the noise, it could cause them
    11        distress."  He said something about the frequency, or the
    12        wavelength.
    13
    14        On page 46, referring to plant A, which I think was the
    15        Midland Meat plant, I can't remember now, (Pause).
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   What is the point anyway?
    18
    19   MS. STEEL:   Just that he said he had referred to the goads
    20        being used as the cattle came through the holding pens and
    21        Mr. Morris asked him whether or not the other cows would be
    22        aware of the cow in front of them, and he basically said,
    23        yes, and that if the goad was used and the cow cried out
    24        the other cows would be aware of that.  So, that is going
    25        to add to the stress and distress that the cows suffer.
    26
    27        He said on page 47 that typically a goad would be used in
    28        order to get an animal under the guillotine gate when the
    29        stunning pen is vacant and they want to fill it.
    30        Basically, it was being used up to the point they were
    31        going in the stunning pen, and that there could be other
    32        cows around.  He said that it was not unusual for cattle to
    33        be reluctant to go into the stunning pens.  That is page
    34        47, line 25.  He said at line 29, "I would say with all
    35        cattle once a gate is lifted you have to prompt the animal
    36        to go on, it does not jump in there."  He said, "You can
    37        just walk behind the animal and that might be sufficient,
    38        but if it refuses to go even under those circumstances then
    39        typically a prod would be used."
    40
    41        On page 48, he said that when the cow was stunned there
    42        would be a loud noise associated with the discharge of the
    43        cartridge and that the other cows outside the stunning pen
    44        would be able to hear that loud noise and that could put
    45        them off wanting to go into the stunning pen themselves.
    46        He said there were lots of other noises within the
    47        abattoir, quite a lot of equipment made of metal so there
    48        was metal to metal contact noise, and that was the bit
    49        where there was often a radio on.  "The pneumatics in an
    50        abattoir are often prone to making a lot of noise, for 
    51        instance on elevating platforms." 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have all that, you need not go through it.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:   OK, just generally that there was a lot of noise in
    56        the slaughter house.  He said at page 49, line 9, that he
    57        agreed that it would not be surprising if cows became
    58        stressed because of the noise.  He was asked whether or not
    59        he had seen cows become very agitated before going into the
    60        stunning pen and he said, "Yes, I think the most common

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