Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 42
1 teams are making continuous improvement.
2
3 Q. What percentage of the birds that are injured on arrival,
4 or have visible injuries at the time of their arrival, in
5 the processing plant are determined to have been injured
6 before or during catching?
7 A. It is very small numbers for each load. In actual
8 percentage terms, I could not give you any figures.
9
10 Q. What are the numbers for each load?
11 A. There are usually small numbers in each load.
12
13 Q. 50, 100?
14 A. No, less than that -- may be 10 or 20 per load.
15
16 Q. What number are determined to have been injured during
17 transport?
18 A. We cannot tell the difference but we call them
19 catching-related -----
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Answer that question first, please.
22 A. It is impossible to tell whether an injury has occurred
23 during catching or during the transport, so we simply call
24 them catching-related injuries.
25
26 MS. STEEL: You said in your evidence-in-chief it does happen
27 that birds are injured when they are caught to be taken to
28 the processing facility?
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. So they are not all culled at the farms, are they?
32 A. Well, sometimes an injury that occurs during catching
33 is not appreciated at the time.
34
35 Q. You said in your evidence that there was absolutely no
36 reason why broilers should have their heads caught and
37 crushed in the drawers when they are taken for
38 slaughter. If that is the case, how do you explain the
39 high incidence of head injuries at Sun Valley?
40 A. The case where that has happened is negligence on
41 behalf of the catching teams. As I said to you before, the
42 welfare and the standard of that operation can only be down
43 to the people who actually do the job.
44
45 Q. So in every load there is negligence, is there? It is the
46 fault of the catchers?
47 A. Not in every load.
48
49 Q. Every load would have some injuries, would it not?
50 A. Of the head crushing injury, no, I would say not.
51
52 Q. So every load would have injuries of some kind or other?
53 A. The most common injury is a haemorrhage in the leg or,
54 extreme cases, dislocation of the hip joint. That is the
55 most common injury.
56
57 Q. That is caused by picking them up by the legs?
58 A. That is, yes.
59
60 Q. How frequently do head injuries occur?
