Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 22
1 old. That was their age when they went to slaughter. And
2 the reference for that is day 88, page 26, lines 1 to 12.
3 There was actually a bit of a confusion there about how old
4 they were when they went for slaughter, but that was the
5 finally agreed figure, 25 to 26 weeks old.
6
7 Just with reference to that point about the piglets being
8 weaned and taken from their mothers, I have just found a
9 reference here about the fact that pigs are very sociable
10 animals. That is what Mr. Bowes said, pigs are very
11 sociable animals. That was day 88, page 10, line 16. And
12 that once the pigs were weaned they tried to keep the
13 groups of pigs together. And he said they would be
14 transported together and that they tried to slaughter them
15 together. So it is a recognition of what would happen if
16 the pigs were left to their own devices, they would
17 basically stay in their family units.
18
19 He said that the sows come on heat and are taken to the
20 boar about -- well, he said just over twice a year. That
21 was on day 88, page 21, line 60. And that the gestation
22 period is three months, three weeks and three days. And
23 that the pigs can come into estrous three days after having
24 a piglet. That was day 88, page 22, line 9.
25
26 The outdoor stream of pigs, the sows would have their
27 piglets in outdoor farrowing arcs. That was day 88, page
28 22, line 17. But the indoor pigs, the indoor stream, he
29 said that an indoor unit consists of a farrowing house, a
30 dry sow house and wheat strawed weaner pens, and that is
31 what we call a unit, that is a weaner production unit.
32 That was day 88, page 53, line 50.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Page 53?
35
36 MS. STEEL: Yes, line 50.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
39
40 MS. STEEL: He said that in the ----
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can I ask you, is there any challenge to the
43 accuracy of Mr. Bowes' account of what actually happened on
44 his farms? I mean, obviously there may very well be a
45 dispute about the effect of it all and whether it is
46 satisfactory at all. I would like you to tell me at some
47 stage what inferences you think I can and cannot draw about
48 pigs reared elsewhere for Bowes. But is there any
49 challenge to Mr. Bowes' honesty in recounting what the
50 procedures were?
51
52 I mean, I only ask it because you are going through it,
53 perfectly understandably, as far as I am concerned, as if
54 this is actually what happened, and so it is helpful for me
55 to know if there is a challenge to it. You have raised the
56 problem or the question of what happens to the indoor
57 weaners, but I think that resolved itself at the end of the
58 day. I think there was confusion earlier on.
59
60 MS. STEEL: Generally, unless I say so, I am not, in terms of
