Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 30
1 A. Yes, I would think it might be 10 per cent, it depends
2 with different breeds. It is important, from the welfare
3 point of view, when are you mixing animals, as I have said,
4 they jostle about a lot, and it is important to make sure
5 that you do not mix horned animals with a strange group of
6 animals that have not got horns, because there is a danger
7 (and the Farm Animal Welfare Council mentions this
8 particularly) that the ones with the horns will get the
9 advantage and will injure the ones that are not so
10 equipped.
11
12 Q. So how prevalent is dehorning?
13 A. That is pretty rare now. I am not actually sure --
14 that has to be done now by a vet, I think.
15
16 Q. Do you know if it was more than rare in the 1980s?
17 A. It was commoner then, yes.
18
19 Q. When you say "commoner"?
20 A. I think it would be one or two per cent on farms.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is that, when it was commoner or now
23 that it is pretty rare?
24 A. Dehorning, that is, sawing the horn off.
25
26 Q. But you said that it was pretty rare now; it had to be
27 done, you thought, by a vet?
28 A. Yes.
29
30 Q. Then you were asked about the 80s, and you said it was
31 commoner then?
32 A. Yes.
33
34 Q. Then you mentioned one to two per cent. What I was not
35 clear is whether you were saying when it was commoner in
36 the 80s, it was one to two per cent or now?
37 A. No, no. I would have said it was one to two per cent
38 10 years ago. It is a guess, but different breeds, you
39 see, different areas have different customs.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Is it something that gives you welfare concerns,
42 dehorning?
43 A. Yes, it can be accompanied by a loss of blood, great
44 loss of blood.
45
46 Q. What about pain?
47 A. Yes. It is done, should be done, with an anaesthetic,
48 but again it is a question that you know when, perhaps
49 I should say, when I go to the dentist and the dentist
50 said: "This is not going to hurt", I do not know that
51 I believe it. So, it is difficult for me to say the same
52 for what animals feel exactly.
53
54 Q. Before we go on to slaughter, you have mentioned quite a
55 few cattle diseases. Do you have any concerns about the
56 treatment of cattle diseases in terms of either the
57 cattles' welfare or human health?
58 A. Well, yes. From a therapeutic point of view, it is a
59 pretty rough-and-ready form of therapy. There is not a
60 national health service for farm animals. Very often farm
