Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 22


     
     1        old.  That was their age when they went to slaughter.  And
     2        the reference for that is day 88, page 26, lines 1 to 12.
     3        There was actually a bit of a confusion there about how old
     4        they were when they went for slaughter, but that was the
     5        finally agreed figure, 25 to 26 weeks old.
     6
     7        Just with reference to that point about the piglets being
     8        weaned and taken from their mothers, I have just found a
     9        reference here about the fact that pigs are very sociable
    10        animals.  That is what Mr. Bowes said, pigs are very
    11        sociable animals.  That was day 88, page 10, line 16.  And
    12        that once the pigs were weaned they tried to keep the
    13        groups of pigs together.  And he said they would be
    14        transported together and that they tried to slaughter them
    15        together.  So it is a recognition of what would happen if
    16        the pigs were left to their own devices, they would
    17        basically stay in their family units.
    18
    19        He said that the sows come on heat and are taken to the
    20        boar about -- well, he said just over twice a year.  That
    21        was on day 88, page 21, line 60.  And that the gestation
    22        period is three months, three weeks and three days.  And
    23        that the pigs can come into estrous three days after having
    24        a piglet.  That was day 88, page 22, line 9.
    25
    26        The outdoor stream of pigs, the sows would have their
    27        piglets in outdoor farrowing arcs.  That was day 88, page
    28        22, line 17.  But the indoor pigs, the indoor stream, he
    29        said that an indoor unit consists of a farrowing house, a
    30        dry sow house and wheat strawed weaner pens, and that is
    31        what we call a unit, that is a weaner production unit.
    32        That was day 88, page 53, line 50.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Page 53?
    35
    36   MS. STEEL:   Yes, line 50.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   He said that in the ----
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Can I ask you, is there any challenge to the
    43        accuracy of Mr. Bowes' account of what actually happened on
    44        his farms?   I mean, obviously there may very well be a
    45        dispute about the effect of it all and whether it is
    46        satisfactory at all.  I would like you to tell me at some
    47        stage what inferences you think I can and cannot draw about
    48        pigs reared elsewhere for Bowes.  But is there any
    49        challenge to Mr. Bowes' honesty in recounting what the
    50        procedures were? 
    51 
    52        I mean, I only ask it because you are going through it, 
    53        perfectly understandably, as far as I am concerned, as if
    54        this is actually what happened, and so it is helpful for me
    55        to know if there is a challenge to it.  You have raised the
    56        problem or the question of what happens to the indoor
    57        weaners, but I think that resolved itself at the end of the
    58        day.  I think there was confusion earlier on.
    59
    60   MS. STEEL:   Generally, unless I say so, I am not, in terms of

Prev Next Index