Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 06

     
     1        that are non-aggressive, that are lean for the modern day
     2        housewife with the consumer not wishing to buy too much
     3        fat, and also we look for them to have their correct growth
     4        rates etc. and also the same in the bores as well.
     5
     6   Q.   The same with the bores?
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   Did you have a visit, you did, I think, from Dr. Neville
    10        Gregory of Bristol University, I think, in April 1993?
    11        A.  Yes.
    12
    13   Q.   Have you read his report, so far as it concerns your
    14        company?
    15        A.  Yes, I have.
    16
    17   Q.   He mentions that he was told that your pigs are Halothane
    18        negative?
    19        A.  Yes.
    20
    Q.   Can you explain what that means and, if it is right, why
    22        you have that characteristic?
    23        A.  Yes, that is one point I probably missed in the last
    24        question I should have come up with.  The Halothane gene
    25        has been a problem in pig production for many years
    26        throughout the world.  Dr. John Webb (with whom we work
    27        very closely of the Cotswold Pig Company), he has been able
    28        to eliminate the Halothane gene.  So, thus, we buy pigs
    29        without the Halothane gene.  When one has pigs with the
    30        Halothane gene, unfortunately, those pigs become very
    31        easily very stressful.  If one does a comparison with what
    32        goes on in Europe compared to what goes on in this country,
    33        there is a vast difference, because you can have the pig
    34        with the Halothane gene which are very prevalent in the
    35        Peitran pig, and up to seven to eight per cent of the pigs
    36        can arrive at the slaughter point dead.  In this country
    37        the figures are very, very much lower.
    38
    39   Q.   What are your figures for dead on arrivals, a percentage?
    40        A.  Percentage, .002 per cent, somewhere round there.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  0.2?
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON: .002.
    45
    46   MS. STEEL:  Can I just ask something, there was a word I did not
    47        catch.
    48
    49   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, it is the name of a pig; I did not catch it
    50        either? 
    51        A.  Pietran, P-I-E-T-R-A-N. 
    52 
    53   Q.   What nationality of pig is that?
    54        A.  I would say he originates in Belgium, sir.
    55
    56   Q.   Anyhow, he is Halothane positive?
    57        A.  Yes.
    58
    59   Q.   There are problems with stress.  If pigs get stressed en
    60        route from farm to slaughterhouse, it can mean they may be