Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 31


     
     1        death from other causes?
     2        A.  Yes, that is correct.
     3
     4   Q.   Just so that we have it, I think I remember it correctly,
     5        the 42 day old birds are the females?
     6        A.  That is correct.
     7
     8   Q.   The ones that wait on are the males?
     9        A.  That is right.
    10
    11   Q.   Just one further question about culling, whose decision is
    12        it that a bird needs to be culled?
    13        A.  The decision rests entirely with the stockmen on the
    14        farm.
    15
    16   Q.   Does that require training or experience?
    17        A.  It does require training and experience.  The area
    18        managers that I referred to earlier would be involved in
    19        helping a stockman on the farm to make a decision about
    20        whether a bird should be culled.
    21
    22   Q.   Finally on this topic, how often, so far as you know, does
    23        it happen that a bird which has died in a shed is missed by
    24        the stockman and is left there until the shed is cleared at
    25        the end of the growing period?
    26        A.  It is very unlikely that that should happen.  It is
    27        very much part of a stockman's duty to walk the sheds
    28        several times a day and pick up any dead birds.  We are
    29        obviously very aware of the dangers of leaving carcasses in
    30        poultry environment/index.html">litter, and so the people have been told that it is
    31        a dangerous practice to do that and it is just not
    32        acceptable to do it.
    33
    34   Q.   Dangerous for whom?
    35        A.  The dangers have become apparent over the last few
    36        years where poultry environment/index.html">litter has been -- the normal practice
    37        is to use poultry environment/index.html">litter as a fertilizer to spread it on
    38        the land; if carcasses are allowed to decompose in the
    39        environment/index.html">litter, they can produce an organism which produces
    40        botulism, and if the cattle graze on the land they can pick
    41        up botulism from that source.  So, obviously, we want to do
    42        everything to avoid that happening.
    43
    44   Q.   Is that a form of botulism in the cattle which can be
    45        transmitted to humans?
    46        A.  No, it is not.
    47
    48   Q.   But it will not do the cattle any good?
    49        A.  Well, it will kill the cattle.
    50 
    51   Q.   Yes, quite.  So far as the other chickens in the shed are 
    52        concerned, does the presence of a dead body constitute any 
    53        hazard for that?
    54        A.  It obviously constitutes a health hazard to the
    55        chickens.  They are inquisitive by nature.  They will peck
    56        at carcasses and if the bird has died from an infectious
    57        cause we, obviously, would want to discourage that.
    58
    59   Q.   Dr. Gregory measured, I think he measured or he said, that
    60        the level of lighting in the sheds is about 80 lux; is that

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