Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 40
1 days is around 6 to 6.5 percent and around 1 percent of
2 those birds would have been culled and he said mortality to
3 40 days -- sorry, 42 days is normally about 4 percent. And
4 the reference for that is 89, 30, 52.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
7
8 MS. STEEL: 30 to 35 birds "would be one day's mortality" for
9 one shed. That was on day 102, page 38, line 45. And we
10 would say that the fact that that is considered acceptable
11 shows really the callous disregard for the welfare of the
12 birds, that they have to live in the conditions that
13 produce that kind of a death rate.
14
15 Dr. Patteson agreed that ascites was one of the major
16 causes of mortality in flocks, that was on day 91, page 50,
17 line 33, that it accounted for 10 to 15 percent of the
18 total deaths, and he agreed that it was caused as a result
19 of the rapid growth of broilers with the result that they
20 were too big for their lung size, and he admitted that this
21 only occurs in broiler chickens. That was on day 89, page
22 52, line 5.
23
24 Obviously this is a condition which certainly in this
25 country has been brought about by the deliberate policy of
26 breeding birds for rapid weight gain with no concern for
27 the effects that that has on their health overall.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
30
31 MS. STEEL: Dr. Patteson also admitted that from 1989 to 1992,
32 which covers the period of the alleged libel, gumboro
33 disease was a common problem. He said that between 1989
34 and 1991 Sun Valley were losing 2.5 percent of all of the
35 birds every week over and above the normal mortality
36 rates. That was day 103, page 12, line 38. And that the
37 problem was not really brought under control until 1992.
38 He agreed that broiler houses provide the ideal conditions
39 for the rapid spread of viral diseases like gumboro. That
40 was on day 103, page 12, line 58.
41
42 And just referring to the evidence of John Bruton, the
43 former poultry catcher for Sun Valley Poultry who we called
44 to give evidence, Mr. Rampton asked Dr. Patteson about a
45 statement which appears in the notes which I have made of
46 the evidence which John Bruton was to give, saying at some
47 farms up to 5 or 600 dead bird would be found, 200 to 250
48 dead would not be unusual, and it would be rare to be less
49 than 50 dead. That was when the catchers went into the
50 sheds to begin the process of loading birds on to the
51 lorries to take them for slaughter.
52
53 Dr. Patteson answered: I think he must be referring to
54 some instances in 1989, 1990 when we had a severe epidemic
55 of gumboro disease which did kill large numbers of broilers
56 at the end of their lives and there were some very severe
57 mortalities on farms which would have been observed by the
58 catching teams so this could have happened. So he
59 confirmed the evidence of our witness about the large
60 numbers of dead birds found in the broiler houses.
