Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 23
1
2 Q. I am going to come back in more detail later on to the
3 methods which you at Sun Valley use to deal with this
4 problem, but before I get there, while we are still on
5 breeding, are there any breeds available at the present
6 time which have been bred for sort of super strong legs to
7 support the weight?
8 A. No, there are differences in breeds in the likelihood
9 in which they will develop leg problems, but there are no
10 meat producing breeds that one could say have been produced
11 specifically to totally eliminate leg problems.
12
13 Q. Are there any on the way, so far as you know?
14 A. It is something, yes, that the breeding companies are
15 working on and I think we have already seen an improvement
16 in that genetically induced leg problems are much less
17 frequent than they used to be.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say "genetically induced leg
20 problems" do you mean ones which the bird is born with
21 rather than ones which may develop in the course of its
22 life, do you?
23 A. Yes, that is correct, and it is really to distinguish
24 them from the infectious causes of leg problems which can
25 happen in any farming operation after they are hatched.
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: Is that a convenient moment?
28
29 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, certainly. I am going on to chicks next.
30
31 (Short Adjournment)
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: Chicks or, rather, hatching chicks, Dr. Pattison,
34 how many chicks are hatched at Sun Valley on an ordinary
35 working day?
36 A. We hatch for four days of the week in the order of
37 200,000 chicks each day.
38
39 Q. Those chicks are hatched, are they not, in incubators?
40 A. They are, that is correct.
41
42 Q. They are not hatched by the mother sitting on the egg?
43 A. No.
44
45 Q. So that these chicks which are hatched out of the eggs in
46 incubators never, in fact, see the hen that laid them?
47 A. They do not, no.
48
49 Q. Or, for that matter, the cockerel that impregnated the hen
50 that laid the egg?
51 A. That is correct.
52
53 Q. Leg problems again: Is there anything that you can do at
54 the hatchery to reduce or prevent the incidence of leg
55 problems in later life?
56 A. In the hatchery, the careful handling of chicks is
57 important in ensuring that you do not cause any damage to
58 the chick's legs which might affect them later on. It is
59 important to ensure that the legs, that the chicks are not
60 disturbed too much so that the legs -- there is a condition
