Day 098 - 07 Mar 95 - Page 04

     
     1        or not?
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  OK, I will come back to that.  Is it mostly dairy
     4        cows or ex-dairy cows that supply to McKeys from Midland
     5        Meat Packers?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   Is that 100 per cent?
     9        A.  I would say as near as 100 per cent as could be, yes.
    10
    11   Q.   Mr. Rampton said something about nine, 10, 11, 12 year-old
    12        dairy cows, you said something like:  "No-one requires that
    13        sort of meat"?
    14        A.  Yes, but the point I am making is that McKey buying
    15        only the forequarter of the animal, yes, would sell the
    16        hindquarter away somewhere else, and the sort of cow you
    17        are talking about I think is the older "blue cow", as they
    18        describe it and as nobody wants that type of hindquarter,
    19        it is a self-governing thing that ......
    20
    Q.   So when you get cows of that age, of nine or above, where
    22        does the meat go to, generally?
    23        A.  I do not honestly think we buy animals of that age for
    24        reasons I have just said.
    25
    26   Q.   So would the maximum be up to around about eight years old
    27        then?
    28        A.  I would say that the maximum (and I am guessing at the
    29        moment) but around five.
    30
    31   Q.   Around five?
    32        A.  Yes.
    33
    34   Q.   What, the average would be around five?
    35        A.  I just think the average would be -----
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Hold on.  He has just said the maximum
    38        so  .....
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  Around five is an average?
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is not what he said.
    43
    44   MR. MORRIS:  I am asking the witness.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We will check.  Do you mean that the average
    47        of the older cows is around five or do you mean that that
    48        is the maximum?
    49        A.  I would -- around five would be the maximum age,
    50        generally speaking.  I mean, I obviously do not know the 
    51        age of every animal that we buy. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  So is there a problem with the quality of the meat
    54        of cows that are over, say, seven years old, or something,
    55        or over five years old, in fact, if you set that as your
    56        maximum for some reason?
    57        A.  I suppose it depends on your criteria for quality.
    58        Older cows have a, sort of, we were saying yesterday, a
    59        different kind of fat, which is, I suppose, generally
    60        undesirable.  It depends on your criteria for quality.