Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 43
1 A. That is correct.
2
3 Q. Are the sheds in any way protected against invasion by
4 predators?
5 A. There is total exclusion of predators. They are sealed
6 units.
7
8 Q. What are the animals that predate chickens?
9 A. In the wild foxes and dogs, stoats, weasels, these
10 sorts of creatures.
11
12 Q. What about vermin?
13 A. The vermin that are found on poultry farms would be
14 rats and mice.
15
16 Q. Are they a problem in your growing sheds or not?
17 A. Rats are not a problem, generally, because it is very
18 easy to control them. Mice can be much more difficult and
19 mice can get into poultry sheds.
20
21 Q. Is that undesirable that they should do so?
22 A. It is undesirable because they can be the carriers of
23 disease such as salmonella and pasteurella.
24
25 Q. Do ordinary, what Ms. Steel would call "normal", chickens
26 get parasitic infestations?
27 A. The chickens that are kept in broiler sheds, the only
28 parasitic infection that we have take notice of is
29 coccidiosis.
30
31 Q. What is that?
32 A. It is a parasitic disease caused by a protozoan
33 parasite, intestinal condition, where we actually use an
34 anti-coccidiol drug in the feed to control it.
35
36 Q. What problems does it create for the birds if you do not
37 control it?
38 A. It can cause disease, it can cause mortality if we do
39 not control it.
40
41 Q. How effective is your control?
42 A. The effectiveness is very good and we do not normally
43 see the condition as a problem.
44
45 Q. Do you happen to know what parasites a chicken in a
46 farmyard might have that the chicken in the growing shed
47 does not have?
48 A. In the farmyard condition they can be affected by round
49 worms, tape worms and protozoa like coccidiosis.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, this is my last question before the
52 adjournment, with your Lordship's leave. I am going to
53 leave the sheds until after lunch. (To the witness): The
54 broiler chicken, in its journey from the hatchery to the
55 slaughterhouse, does not have the opportunity to procreate,
56 does it?
57 A. No.
58
59 Q. In your view, does that constitute an interference with or
60 deprivation of its normal patterns of behaviour?
