Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 13

     
     1        A.  They do but, in fact, the Gumboro disease was much more
     2        severe in laying birds being reared for egg laying.
     3
     4   Q.   In battery cages?
     5        A.  No, no, on deep environment/index.html">litter housing.
     6
     7   Q.   They are quite intensively stocked on deep housing as well?
     8        A.  Well, again it is all relative but the Gumboro was much
     9        more severe in that type of bird.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is a typical stocking density for laying
    12        hens on deep environment/index.html">litter housing?
    13        A.  I am not very sure, to be honest.  I would have to
    14        check on the figures because I do not deal with this type
    15        of bird day-to-day.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, I understand that.
    18        A.  I just know that this particular -- the laying birds
    19        did have some very severe losses.
    20
    Q.   That might have been to do with the particular strain of
    22        the bird?
    23        A.  Absolutely.
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:   Do you know why that was, why the layers were
    26        particularly affected?
    27        A.  Well, as I have just agreed with the Judge, the laying
    28        strain is genetically quite susceptible to Gumboro disease.
    29
    30   Q.   More so than the broiler?
    31        A.  Yes.
    32
    33   Q.   On the subject of daily inspections, the Codes of Practice
    34        mention the welfare of individual birds, do they not?
    35        A.  Yes.
    36
    37   Q.   You would accept, would you not, that it is not possible
    38        under the broiler system to check for the welfare of
    39        individual birds?
    40        A.  We do not check every bird individually.  We check the
         flock as a whole and look for individuals which are
    42        different.
    43
    44   Q.   So if they were all suffering you would not notice?
    45        A.  Of course you would.
    46
    47   Q.   If an ex-employee said:  "For the first few weeks when they
    48        are still small you can walk through the sheds easily and
    49        do all the culling you need to because it is easy to spot a
    50        little chicken with a broken leg or a broken wing, pull its 
    51        neck and get rid of him straightaway, but for the last 
    52        three or four weeks you cannot hardly walk through and the 
    53        cull birds just get left behind", would that surprise you?
    54        A.  Yes, I think it would, yes.
    55
    56   Q.   That would surprise you?
    57        A.  I mean, have read that particular comment and
    58        I disagree with it.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Remember the film when the men were cracking