Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 29
1 would have an enormously reduced output of meat, because
2 the system just turns the animals into animal machines,
3 even the so-called free range and freedom schemes, because
4 you are pushing far too many piglets and far too much
5 intensive reproduction into a young animal. As soon as it
6 comes on heat, its first heat, it is pushed into this
7 production. That is why you have to cull the sows at such
8 a young age.
9
10 Q. When you say "too many piglets", is that too many piglets
11 for a sow to look after or what?
12 A. Yes, she cannot mother so many, and also it takes it
13 out of her. It is the sheer wear and tear.
14
15 Q. So one solution would be to -----
16 A. To reduce the pressure, to go back to the more, to go
17 back to animals that were not travesties that have been
18 bred for these curious activities.
19
20 Q. To have smaller litters?
21 A. Smaller litters and actually breeds that were more
22 suitable for the condition. If you are going to put them
23 outside, you are not going to be very successful with a sow
24 or with pigs that have been bred for the particular purpose
25 of an intensive indoor system.
26
27 If I could illustrate that? You see, the tendency is to
28 look for breeding in of very prolific pigs, curiosities
29 really like there are certain Chinese breeds that they are
30 very fertile and fecund; there are other animals that have
31 properties where they are more suitable for the outdoors
32 like, say, Durocks and so on. But then you are not going
33 to get, perhaps, so much saleable meat out of them. It is
34 really a question, I would say, of breeding with intents
35 that are malign as far as the animals are concerned.
36
37 Q. When you say this breed -- I did not catch the name
38 actually -- that was more suitable for outdoors, in what
39 way is it more suitable for the outdoors?
40 A. It is more robust for our sort of conditions; tends to
41 have rather more fat cover where the customers are not so
42 keen to have it and therefore -----
43
44 Q. How does that help them?
45 A. It helps in two ways because the pig is not a very
46 insulated animal, particularly if it is a modern breed with
47 so little fat over its body. Also, it protects the fat, as
48 with all of us, protects us if we hit something, you know,
49 if we have a bump. The pig in nature is fairly well
50 endowed. It has not a very good covering of hair in the
51 present breed, so it has not even got a good thatch, if you
52 like, to protect it there.
53
54 Q. Mr. Bowes mentioned about sunburn, are there breeds that
55 are more susceptible than other breeds to sunburn?
56 A. Yes, that follows from what I have just answered,
57 because if the pig has plenty of hair covering, then its
58 skin is less likely to suffer from the sun, the same way
59 as, say, a bald man is more likely to suffer from sunburn
60 on his pate than someone who has a good thatch of hair.
