Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 54
1
2 Q. -- quite a severe problem?
3 A. It is not a severe problem when you consider the
4 percentages.
5
6 Q. On your figures it would be around about 250 birds a shed?
7 A. Well, two per cent of that, yes.
8
9 Q. No, not two per cent of that. 500 birds would die in a
10 shed, on your figures?
11 A. No, no, you have got the wrong calculations.
12
13 Q. There is 25,000 in a shed?
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It would be 4 or 500 depending on whether it
16 was 20,000 or 25,000?
17 A. OK, I thought it was 40, around 40.
18
19 Q. If you can anthropomorphise to this extent, if we get to,
20 say, six or seven weeks of age, what proportion of a
21 broiler's natural lifetime would be that? I know it is
22 difficult to say because, for better or worse, they do not
23 survive until the end of their natural life. But,
24 presumably, research has been done and studies which gives
25 you an idea of what a broiler would normally live to.
26 Because, if I know that, I can, just as an exercise,
27 compare it with human mortality figures up to the age of
28 five, for instance, if I can relate it one to another.
29 A. I cannot -- when we talk with percentages, especially
30 when you compare it to a bird in a natural environment --
31 by that I mean outside -- the percentages will be probably
32 slower because the animals will die of a lot of other
33 reasons, so that the percentage, when we compare the same
34 problems side by side, the problems in a house, in a
35 broiler house, will look to be higher. But, if you compare
36 the mortality rate which is what we are really looking for
37 will be a lot smaller in a growing house than what it is
38 outside in the environment. I am not considering predators
39 and other sources of death, just specifically from
40 diseases.
41
42 MS. STEEL: The natural life-span is about five to 10 years for
43 a chicken, is it not?
44 A. Yes, it could be.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: So, is the mortality rate in a broiler shed a
47 significant indicator? I mean, if the mortality rate was
48 high in a broiler shed, would that to you be something that
49 would be cruel? For the welfare of the bird, is the aim to
50 keep the mortality rate down as low as possible?
51 A. It is -----
52
53 Q. Set aside the economic reasons and all that kind of stuff?
54 A. Besides the economic, it is difficult to say what you
55 mean by "cruel". My definition of cruelty, if we do it
56 with negligence, if there is negligence, there is something
57 better we can do, that would be cruel. There are animals
58 that are going to get sick because that is Mother Nature
59 plays that role. Have we been cruel with them -- no,
60 absolutely not.
