Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 26


     
     1   Q.   This farm that you saw, is it supplying McDonald's?
     2        A.  I have not got a clue.
     3
     4   Q.   They said to you it was the best, it seemed to be the best
     5        possible -- the standard that they had reached there was
     6        the best standard in America, as far as you could see, or
     7        you were told?
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He cannot possibly say that.
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  No, he did say -----
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am going to ignore all the hearsay when we
    14        come to the end of the case.  If he has not seen the other
    15        plants, by all means -- it is fair to assume that whatever
    16        he saw was better than what was there before because,
    17        presumably, that is why they put in a new plant.  But I do
    18        not seem to be getting very far on what was there before.
    19
    20   MR. MORRIS (To the witness):  Can I ask you one question about a
    21        farrowing crate?  Would it be practicable to double the
    22        width or treble the width of a farrowing crate so the pig
    23        could turn round?
    24        A.  Of course, it could, but that would be totally to the
    25        detriment of the small pigs that are born.  You would lose
    26        more pigs, quite definitely.  We can give you a straight
    27        comparison.
    28
    29   Q.   So the whole purpose of the farrowing crate -----
    30
    31   MR. RAMPTON:  Wait a minute, "a straight comparison" -- might he
    32        allowed finish his answer.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, finish the answer.
    35
    36   THE WITNESS:  I can give you a simple, straight comparison of
    37        pigs in the farrowing crates in our intensive system is we
    38        get many more saviour of pigs than we do the pigs in an
    39        outdoor arks on the outdoor system where the sow is left to
    40        make a nest, if you like, and then you got the space that
    41        you are speaking of and the sow will, undoubtedly, lie on
    42        more pigs then.
    43
    44   MR. MORRIS:  So the whole purpose of a farrowing crate is to
    45        prevent the pig from turning round?
    46        A.  No, no, no.  The purpose of the farrowing crate is for
    47        the benefit of the new born piglet.
    48
    49   Q.   By preventing the ---
    50        A.  Save the new born piglet. 
    51 
    52   Q.   -- by preventing the ----- 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, because something is so you have gone to
    55        concluding that it is its purpose.  The purpose is, as
    56        I understand it, that you not have such a wide space at the
    57        bottom that the piglets can end up under their mother.
    58        That is why you have a relatively narrow farrowing crate?
    59        A.  Yes, but also the sow, sir, as I explained, they
    60        gradually go out but the bottom part is adjustable.  That

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