Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 26

     
     1        10 minutes a day that would be adequate compensation for
     2        being enclosed in dry sow stall?
     3        A.  No.  I would say that on the Continent, of course, cows
     4        are kept in dry stalls as well and some, a few in this
     5        country, and that also is not adequate for them.
     6
     7   Q.   How much of her life would a sow spend in a dry sow stall?
     8        A.  She would spend it there for most of the time she is
     9        gestating which is about 115 days, is it not, after she has
    10        been made pregnant, the piglets have been taken away and
    11        she has been weaned off.  So, she would be kept there until
    12        a day or two before she is going to farrow.
    13
    14   Q.   We heard from Mr. Bowes that she would then be put in the
    15        farrowing crate.  After the piglets that she has given
    16        birth to have been weaned, what happens then?  Do they go
    17        back into the dry sow stall?
    18        A.  Yes.
    19
    20   Q.   When would that be in relation to after coming out of the
         farrowing crate?
    22        A.  I am talking now of a system that depends entirely on
    23        the sow stall.  Do you understand, that there are many
    24        variations of the pig scene now because in the last year
    25        since particularly supermarkets got interested in tender
    26        lean and various sort of tender sweet and various so-called
    27        welfare systems, there have been outside systems.
    28
    29        They have been developed because to some extent what the
    30        farmer has to do with the capital cost of housing per pig,
    31        and sometimes outside systems are cheaper to run on that
    32        aspect than having to build buildings, particularly now
    33        that questions of ventilation and so on have imposed more
    34        expenses.  So, a lot of sows are still kept in this system
    35        but I just make those reservations so that the court can
    36        bear them in mind.
    37
    38   Q.   We have heard that the dry sow system is being phased out.
    39
    40   MR. RAMPTON:  I do not understand this, my Lord.  I do not know,
         as I said yesterday, whether Dr. Long has been able to read
    42        Mr. Bowes's evidence, but he said that his company had
    43        never ever used dry sow stalls.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  Yes, for the very limited -----
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, but he said something about a small
    48        percentage of suppliers.
    49
    50   MR. RAMPTON:  Suppliers had done, yes. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He gave some evidence as to when that was. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  Mr. Rampton said "exactly".  Is he making some
    55        point?
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, carry on.  What I am going to need at the
    58        end of the day, as Mr. Rampton knows and I think you
    59        appreciate as well, is something of -- you said you wanted
    60        tips for final speeches, well, this is an example -- an