Day 093 - 28 Feb 95 - Page 17
1 is big. They produce billions of chickens a year. You are
2 asking a specific question about Tysons. My opinion, they
3 are about the best in the world, at everything they do,
4 what they do.
5
6 Q. So have you seen debeaking at other firms?
7 A. Other firms?
8
9 Q. Yes, other companies?
10 A. Yes, I have.
11
12 Q. Did they debeak 1/64th of an inch as well?
13 A. Pretty close.
14
15 Q. Or was it more?
16 A. Pretty close.
17
18 Q. So, as far as you are aware, it is standard in the
19 industry?
20 A. There are no standards in any industry. Practices and
21 management practices change throughout the world.
22 We have a very diverse world. When you speak about an
23 industry so wide, it so much a wide range. There is a lot
24 of people do not debeak at all.
25
26 Q. Right. Those that debeak, would you say that the vast
27 majority in the USA are using the same technique of
28 debeaking as Tysons are?
29 A. I would say that, yes.
30
31 Q. Yes. The same measurements?
32 A. About the same, yes.
33
34 Q. Do you know whether that has changed over the past five
35 years or so?
36 A. It probably has not changed.
37
38 Q. You think it ------
39 A. What has changed is whether or not they debeaked and it
40 is due to the better nutrition information that now has
41 been made available to everybody.
42
43 Q. Previously what happened if you did not debeak the
44 chickens?
45 A. Previously, when?
46
47 Q. Before these nutritional changes, what would happen if you
48 did not debeak the chickens?
49 A. You could have problems. And this goes back to the
50 farmers that do not have a high level of expertise, you
51 could have some cannibalism with the chickens because there
52 is a deficiency of calcium or protein.
53
54 Q. It is affected by boredom as well, is it not?
55 A. No, it is not.
56
57 Q. When you say farmers that "do not have a high level of
58 expertise", are you saying that if Tyson had not debeaked
59 the chickens they would not have had these problems?
60 A. No. You are totally wrong. Tyson has a very high
