Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 42
1 materials used in the food for the chickens which produce
2 wet and sticky droppings in poultry and obviously we would
3 wish to avoid those." He referred to using enzymes in the
4 feed to improve the digestibility of the ingredients and
5 said that they seemed to help the working of the environment/index.html">litter,
6 they found a big improvement in environment/index.html">litter conditions since
7 they started to use the enzymes in the food.
8
9 Just with reference to the point that I made a minute ago,
10 Mr. Rampton actually asked on day 89, page 36, line 18 --
11 this is directly after the question about the improvement
12 in environment/index.html">litter conditions after changing to use enzymes in the
13 feed -- "What problems do you face if the environment/index.html">litter is too wet
14 too damp?" Dr. Patteson said, "If the environment/index.html">litter is damp, for
15 whatever reason it makes it very uncomfortable for the
16 birds. They can develop sores on the feet or sores on the
17 hocks causing hock scabs." Mr. Rampton asked, "Is hock
18 burn, as I think it's called, directly related to the
19 humidity or dampness?" Dr. Patteson said, "Hock burn is
20 related to the wetness of the environment/index.html">litter."
21
22 So clearly, there have been changes coming in since the
23 time of the alleged distribution of the fact sheet which
24 have reduced some of the problems, although obviously, we
25 say, they are still considerable problems and cause
26 considerable suffering to the birds that are affected.
27 I think that it is, effectively, a recognition by Dr.
28 Patteson that the conditions that lead -- or the fact that
29 birds suffer from these problems such as hock burn is
30 unacceptable and that it should be prevented, and I am sure
31 if there were not financial considerations to be taken into
32 account it would be prevented, and it could be prevented.
33 But, obviously the problem is not going to be solved while
34 the industry is intent on cramming as many birds as
35 possible into as small a space as possible in order to
36 maximize their profits.
37
38 Just on that point, another thing that Dr. Gregory said was
39 that infectious causes of leg problems were "problems
40 common to the industry", and that was on day 90, page 58,
41 line 51.
42
43 If I just say, about the photographs which I put to Dr.
44 Patteson that I had taken, there is a reference to them on
45 day 90, page 39. First I asked about the hock burn being
46 more of a problem with the old type drinkers and Dr.
47 Patteson said, "Yes, it was a problem from time to time if
48 you had any significance drinker spillage." Then I asked
49 him to look at the photograph, and he said that the bell
50 drinkers that were shown in the photograph were the type
51 that he had been talking about.
52
53 On page 41 of that same day, I asked him about the feed
54 system which was shown in the photograph and he said that
55 the feed system - line 3, "The feed system is a track
56 feeder which we call a Dutchman feeder, it is a trough
57 which had a chain at the bottom. It is one of the more
58 old-fashioned types of system." He said they are now being
59 phased out in favour of more modern systems which have the
60 advantage of far less spillage, and the other problem with
