Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 11

     
     1        particular breeding company we are collaborating with. So
     2        it could be achieved just by trying to select the walking
     3        ability of the birds at the parent stock level or
     4        earlier".
     5
     6        He went on to say on day 19, page 45, lines 21 to 27:
     7         "Breeds of birds are available that do not suffer from leg
     8        problems to such a great extent, so that something could be
     9        done fairly rapidly to improve the situation".  He said
    10        that if people did not want to use other sorts of chickens
    11        then that would be for commercial reasons.  Obviously, we
    12        say that that applies to Sun Valley and, by implication, to
    13        McDonald's, because they are not putting any kind of
    14        pressure on Sun Valley to do anything about improving the
    15        conditions for the chickens or the breeds of chickens that
    16        are used.  That quote was day 19, page 46, line 12.
    17
    18        I referred yesterday to the incidence of hock burn at
    19        Sun Valley Poultry, and I have not got a note to hand up to
    20        you for this point.  But on day 18, page 60, line 25,
         Dr. Gregory said that wood shavings were used most often as
    22        environment/index.html">litter, and he said that Sun Valley uses waste paper and
    23        they prefer that from their experience in connection with
    24        things like hock burn, and so he was told that it was
    25        easier to manage the environment/index.html">litter to produce a friable, dry
    26        environment/index.html">litter with that type of material than with wood shavings,
    27        and so they have a special modification to their system.  I
    28        can't remember the reference for this, but Mark Pattison
    29        did actually say that not all the units were using waste
    30        paper, and certainly I think we heard that from other
    31        sources as well.  I think it was from John Bruton, and it
    32        might have been visible in the video taken by Vicky Watkins
    33        as well, that the environment/index.html">litter was wood shavings rather than
    34        waste paper.
    35
    36        So, again, we say that is an example of how the units that
    37        Dr. Gregory was shown was not typical of Sun Valley units.
    38        I am sorry I can't remember, but I will try and dig it out.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Do not worry.
    41
    42   MS. STEEL:   The other thing that Dr. Gregory said about hock
    43        burn was on the same day and the same page.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:   That hock burns or ulcerated feet were associated
    48        with other factors like poor quality environment/index.html">litter.  He said, "If
    49        the environment/index.html">litter is wet or it gets what is called 'capped' it
    50        forms a sheet on top which makes it very greasy then you 
    51        can get a chemical irritant starting it off."   Obviously, 
    52        Dr. Pattison admitted that ten percent of the birds at 
    53        Sun Valley Poultry suffered from hock burn and that
    54        previously, prior to introducing the new feed rations, it
    55        had been 20 percent.  We would say this is basically a
    56        consequence of the industry choosing to keep the chickens
    57        imprisoned in sheds living on their own excreta for their
    58        entire lives rather than keeping them in facilities which
    59        could be cleaned out and where they could get access to the
    60        open air and the outside and walk around on normal soil.