Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 62
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you.
2
3 MS. STEEL: So five years ago more of your pigs would have been
4 tail docked? You said you were trying to build up a
5 knowledge of strains?
6 A. Yes, but I am now talking about general of all our
7 suppliers in that context. Our own farms, no, I would say
8 we have been very much in the arena we are for the last 10
9 years.
10
11 Q. What about your suppliers then, more of them would have
12 tail docked five years ago?
13 A. Possibly.
14
15 Q. Well, it stands to reason, does it not, that if you are
16 building up, you are keeping a check on which strains ----
17 A. Yes, it is possible there were more 10 years ago.
18
19 Q. Is that the same case for teeth clipping, that that is done
20 less often now than it was five years ago?
21 A. No. I would say that teeth clipping has always been
22 very, very discretionary. There are some people who do not
23 teeth clip. Their teeth do not have the problem. It is
24 all down to management.
25
26 Q. So that is something that is down to management rather than
27 breeds?
28 A. Yes, down to management that is definitely.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: So is tail docking more prevalent outside of your
31 own direct farms are you better than the average?
32 A. I would like to think we are. We have not obviously
33 done a survey on the whole of the UK, but I would reckon we
34 would be in definitely the top 10 per cent in the country.
35 I honestly cannot answer that. It is very difficult to
36 answer.
37
38 Q. So the other 80 per cent of the pigs that you buy in for
39 the slaughterhouse, they will have a higher percentage of
40 tail docking, tails docked, than you would from your own
41 farms?
42 A. Yes, that would be fair to say.
43
44 MS. STEEL: No further questions.
45
46 Re-examined by Mr. Rampton.
47
48 Q. My Lord, my re-examination will be very short and when
49 I have completed it there is something I wish to say to
50 your Lordship before the Defendants say anything more.
51
52 Mr. Bowes, a very few things. Do you remember those films
53 you were shown excerpts from during the course of today?
54 A. Yes.
55
56 Q. The one with pigs in stalls, perhaps a sow in a farrow
57 crate, the one we saw this afternoon with rotting corpses
58 afterbirth, dead piglets, deformities, death, illnesses and
59 stress. Do you remember that one?
60 A. Yes, I do very clearly.
