Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 50


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you keep your voice up, if you are
     2        answering Ms. Steel?  It has happened with other witnesses,
     3        because you are both on the same side of the court.  So
     4        keep your voice up.
     5
     6   THE WITNESS:  My answer is, in the beef industry it depends on
     7        the quality of the feed that you give to the animal,
     8        whether or not they gain more weight or less weight.  You
     9        can have good pastures, good grass and the animals will
    10        gain weight at very fast grow rates.
    11
    12        You have also have to consider the environment.  You also
    13        have to consider the diseases.  There are a lot of factors
    14        that come into place that will determine how fast the
    15        animal will grow.
    16
    17   Q.   Presumably, they are not all the same breed, are they?
    18        A.  Yes; that is another point; there is different breeds,
    19        and there is a lot of breeds.
    20
    21   MS. STEEL:   You have specifications about the amount of fat
    22        that is permissible in beef?
    23        A.  That is correct.
    24
    25   Q.   Is it right to say that there is a difference between, say,
    26        the average grain fed cattle and the average grass fed
    27        cattle, in terms of the fat percentage of the beef?
    28        A.  It could be.  There is a lot of factors to be taken
    29        into consideration.  It could be; it could be not.  For
    30        example, I have seen cattle in Argentina, as well as
    31        Australia, that are as good as any cattle that I have seen.
    32
    33   Q.   I am not talking about health; I am talking about in terms
    34        of fat percentage?
    35        A.  I am talking about the amount of fat, yes.  That is
    36        what I was talking about.
    37
    38   Q.   The fat to protein ratio?
    39        A.  That is what I meant.
    40
    41   Q.   So when you say you have seen cattle, you are talking about
    42        in the slaughterhouse, are you?
    43        A.  All over, as in cattle.  I have seen analysis -- you
    44        name it.
    45
    46   Q.   You are not specifically talking about cattle that you have
    47        seen out in the pastures or feed lots?
    48        A.  What I am saying is that I have seen cattle that comes
    49        from pastures, that have -- for instance, Alfafa, very high
    50        level nutrients who are supplemented with some kind of 
    51        feed; they come, they grow for a period of about two, three 
    52        years.  They have as much fat as cattle that comes from 
    53        feed lots.  It would depend on the quality of the
    54        nutritional level, the age of the animal, the environment
    55        in which he grew, the type of the breed that the animal
    56        grew, the type of zone and the area in which the animal
    57        grows.  There are areas where animals are subjected to a
    58        lot more stress, or not the same quality of animals.  So it
    59        is not -- you cannot make a general assumption.  That is
    60        difficult.

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