Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 70


     
     1
     2   Q.   Chickens indoors that are kept in intensively reared
     3        systems suffer from more leg problems, do they not, than
     4        chickens reared outdoors?
     5        A.  That could be.  Again, it depends on what is more
     6        intensive.  That could be the case, but you have to look at
     7        the entire picture, the entire physical condition of the
     8        bird and say, OK, which birds have more problems,
     9        physiological problems, if you want to, on the indoor or
    10        outdoors.  Those on the outdoors are more susceptible to
    11        less physical conditions than those that are indoors.
    12
    13   Q.   Those that are indoors have more leg problems than the ones
    14        that are outdoors, do they not?  That is a fact, is it not?
    15        A.  They could.
    16
    17   Q.   They do?
    18        A.  They could, yes.  It depends on the ----
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just answer Ms. Steel's question.  Maybe you
    21        accept what she is putting to you.  Maybe you disagree with
    22        it.  Maybe you do not know, but what you are being asked is
    23        do chicken broilers which are raised indoors suffer more
    24        leg problems than those who are reared outdoors?
    25        A.  OK.
    26
    27   Q.   First of all.  Then you may be asked why it is and you may
    28        say the ones outdoors suffer other things, but answer that
    29        question first of all.
    30        A.  In general you could make that assumption.
    31
    32   Q.   If I want a few hens to scratch around my farmyard
    33        somewhere in the mid-west, could I get hold of the same
    34        breed as Tysons and Cargill use for broilers or are they
    35        pretty exclusive to them?
    36        A.  No.  You probably get something else.  Those breeds are
    37        designed for the conditions in which they are going to be
    38        raised.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  The chickens that are in broiler sheds I believe,
    41        and I may be countered by Mr. Rampton I am sure if I have
    42        made a mistake, Mr. Pattison agreed that the leg problems
    43        would get worse the longer they lived and the heavier they
    44        got?
    45        A.  That is correct.
    46
    47   Q.   Yes.  So, if you decided that, for example, in the
    48        interests of animal welfare you felt it was fairer to let
    49        the birds live a longer time than six to seven weeks when
    50        they have hardly really started, could you with this 
    51        particular breed that you are using let those birds live 
    52        to, say, a year old? 
    53        A.  Yes, you can.
    54
    55   Q.   Could you do that?
    56        A.  Yes.
    57
    58   Q.   But when would the leg problems get really acute?  It has
    59        already had something like one per cent being killed for
    60        leg problems.  Would that increase?

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