Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 21

     
     1   Q.   What I want is some idea of how many then go into beef
     2        production in this country?
     3        A.  Of those, I suppose about 2 million.
     4
     5   Q.   No.  Half a million, as I understand it, you say, go abroad
     6        for veal production?
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   How many stay in this country for beef production?
    10        A.  Per year?
    11
    12   Q.   Yes.
    13        A.  I am giving the figures, I would think it is about a
    14        million or a million-and-a-half.
    15
    16   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry, they would be calves that ---
    17        A.  That is a bit high.
    18
    19   Q.   -- are raised for beef production or are used as veal?
    20        A.  No.
    21
    22   Q.   Killed for veal?
    23        A.  No, there is very little veal production in this
    24        country.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is not very much in this country, is
    27        there?
    28        A.  Very little.
    29
    30   Q.   So, for every calf which goes abroad for veal production
    31        you are saying there are two or three stay here?
    32        A.  About two, I would think, who stay in this country.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Right.  Thank you.  We will have our
    35        five-minute break.
    36
    37                       (Short Adjournment)
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  Dr. Long, you were just going into some of the
    40        welfare concerns over the general condition of male
         beef  ---
    42        A.  Yes.
    43
    44   Q.   -- production.
    45        A.  Yes.  It may be that it goes through markets and
    46        dealers.  This puts a stress on the animals.  I should say
    47        that over the years we, as animal welfarists, have secured
    48        some successes and one of our successes has been to reduce
    49        the number of times a calf can be presented at market.
    50        That has been taken up by the RSPCA, the British Veterinary 
    51        Association, and that is some improvement -- I will not say 
    52        that is perfect -- but that loading and unloading of 
    53        animals causes great stress as well as the actual
    54        transport.
    55
    56   Q.   Hang on a second, before we go into markets, is that
    57        something that happens more often to the male herds?
    58        A.  It may occur at various times because there are various
    59        ways of rearing these animals.  They may go for veal, they
    60        may go as store animals at some stage.  "Store" means that