Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 15
1 Q. Then it says: "At some farms", remembering that he is
2 supposed to have work there from 1987 to 1993, six years in
3 all, "up to 500 or 600 dead birds would be found. 200
4 to 250 dead would not be unusual, rare to be less than 50
5 dead". Would you like comment on that paragraph,
6 Dr. Pattison?
7 A. I think he must be referring to some instances in
8 1989/1990 when we had a severe epidemic of Gumboro disease
9 which did kill large numbers of broilers at the end of
10 their lives, and there were some very severe mortalities on
11 farms which would have been observed by catching teams, so
12 this could have happened.
13
14 Q. Yes, for a period of how long?
15 A. The epidemic lasted for something like a year to 18
16 months. Gradually, we got the disease under control and
17 the mortality has progressively diminished.
18
19 Q. What about the last sentence of that paragraph, "it was
20 rare to be less than" -----
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you said previously that it arrived
23 in the United Kingdom in 1989 and did not get it under
24 control under 1992?
25 A. Yes, under complete control, yes.
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: But is it a declining mortality incidence?
28 A. We have gradually over that period we were able to
29 import vaccines which progressively helped to reduce the
30 mortality, so it was a progressive reduction over that
31 period.
32
33 Q. We notice in the penultimate paragraph he is reported as
34 saying: "Gumboro disease was a common problem". Do you
35 see that?
36 A. Yes.
37
38 Q. For how long was it a common problem?
39 A. Well, it was a common problem between 1989 and 1992.
40
41 Q. For how long would it be accurate to say that the numbers
42 of birds which would die in their last period from Gumboro
43 disease would number as many as 500 or 600?
44 A. Well, this occurred on only certain individual farms
45 during that period. Some farms were very severely affected
46 while others were unaffected, so I think specific instances
47 are being quoted here.
48
49 Q. On average, leaving aside the effect of Gumboro disease for
50 that period, on average, how many birds would you expect to
51 find dead in a shed of 20 or 25,000 at the time of
52 catching?
53 A. At the time of catching, at the end of the flock, the
54 number would be 30, 40 and it could be as many as 50 which
55 is the figure that is quoted here.
56 Q. So, at the most, 0.2 per cent?
57 A. That is correct.
58
59 Q. Then he goes on, or is thought to go on: "Litter in sheds
60 can be up to a foot deep". How often does that happen?
