Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 27
1 is adjustable to the size of the sow.
2
3 Q. I think I have got there, but what it means is that the
4 piglet cannot find its way through and into a place where
5 the sow may lie on it?
6 A. No, no, it can find its way but by the mere fact of her
7 lying down flat on straw in a certain place, right, the
8 piglet, there is not any dips where the pig can roll down
9 underneath the sow -----
10
11 Q. If that is the situation, Mr. Morris is saying why not have
12 it six feet wide; you still would be on straw on concrete
13 with no dip for the piglet to end up in the bottom of under
14 its mother, why not have the wider confines of the
15 farrowing crate?
16 A. Because the sow, when she goes down, right, she goes
17 down gently in a farrowing crate. She leans slightly to
18 one side and she will go down gently.
19
20 Q. Because of the confines of the crate?
21 A. Correct, or because of the guidance of the crate, one
22 could say.
23
24 Q. You have to remember that, although one may know something
25 about these things and may have lent on the side of a
26 pigsty from time to time, one is not necessarily an
27 expert ---
28 A. No.
29
30 Q. -- in these matters.
31 A. But I am leaning on here for support also.
32
33 Q. So the sow goes down gently and it is a flat floor anyway
34 and the little ones can make sure they can get out from
35 under?
36 A. That is correct. She goes down more slowly.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: So, if there was a farrowing crate that was big
39 enough for a pig to turn round, would that be fine?
40 A. It has been tried, that, larger farrowing crates, and
41 you will get greater loss with your young pigs. You have
42 to adjust your farrowing crate to the size of your sows to
43 protect your young.
44
45 Q. So, from your long experience of talking to people, reading
46 literature, whatever, in the pig industry, farrowing
47 crates, basically, are set up to be generally just wider
48 than the width of the pig? It is not unusual, what you are
49 doing, in the world in using farrowing crates, for wherever
50 farrowing crates are used, that is the general situation as
51 to what you are doing at Bowes. You are not unusual, you
52 are not restricting the width more than in other places?
53 A. I am sorry -- I am an average breadth.
54
55 Q. Average?
56 A. Yes, I think there are variations because people have
57 different sized sows.
58
59 Q. From your experience, talking to people and reading stuff,
60 is that generally what the situation is in America?
