Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 44


     
     1        getting really tired now.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Take a minute or two's break and then try and
     4        carry on for a bit longer.
     5
     6   MS. STEEL:   Thanks.
     7
     8   MR JUSTICE BELL:  I have no objection to you, if you get tired,
     9        sitting down and carrying on addressing me sitting down.
    10        But if you do that, just do your best to keep your voice
    11        up.  (Pause)
    12
    13   MS. STEEL:   The Farm Animal Welfare Council report on the
    14        welfare of broiler chickens talks about the inspection of
    15        the stock.  It is on page 18 of the report.  It says in
    16        there that the council accepts that:
    17
    18        "...it is not possible for the stockman to look after each
    19        bird individually during routine inspection, but a good
    20        indication of flock health should be gained.  The stockman
    21        should pass close enough to all the birds for him to see
    22        them clearly and for the birds to be disturbed and move
    23        away from him.  This should enable him to identify the
    24        majority of the chronically sick, weak and dead birds which
    25        should all be removed from the flock. We recommend that
    26        during inspection the lighting level is sufficient to
    27        ensure that all the birds are clearly visible and
    28        encouraged to move.  This level will need to be
    29        considerably higher than the 20 lux suggested in
    30        paragraph 38 as suitable light intensity is likely to be
    31        around 200 lux."
    32
    33        They then make the actual recommendation that the
    34        inspection should be carried out twice a day and the
    35        stockman should go within three metres of every bird.
    36
    37        The first thing is, obviously -- I mentioned the point
    38        earlier -- that despite the fact that the lighting at
    39        Sun Valley can be turned up to 200 lux, Dr. Patteson said
    40        the routine inspections were done at 20 lux, which the
    41        committee does not consider to be acceptable.
    42
    43        On top of that, the number of birds that an individual
    44        stockperson has to inspect is just incredible.  There is no
    45        way that the stockperson could possibly do a thorough
    46        check, or anything near a thorough check, on the health of
    47        the birds in the broiler sheds.
    48
    49        Dr. Patteson said that the number of units per farm varies;
    50        the ideal number would be five or six.  He said that the 
    51        biggest one has 13 units and the smallest has one.  That 
    52        was all on day 90, page 8, line 5.  He said -- and these 
    53        are units of 20,000 to 25,000 birds -- and he said that for
    54        a typical size farm with five units on, the staff would be
    55        three people; for a 13 unit farm, perhaps five people.
    56
    57        "The farm managers on all our sites live on site, so they
    58        are on call 24 hours a day.  The normal system is to have a
    59        manager, assistant manager and then a poultryman or maybe
    60        two or three poultrymen, according to size of the farm.

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