Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 30
1 I am sorry, I did not hear that remark.
2
3 Q. No, I do not know whether Mr. Rampton wanted to say
4 something.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, if you do want to say something,
7 Mr. Rampton, stand up and say it or make it so quiet that
8 no-one but Mrs. Brinley-Codd can hear.
9
10 MR. RAMPTON: I am sorry, it is just an observation -----
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Fortunately, my hearing is not as good as it
13 was and I cannot catch them but other people can.
14
15 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, it was not an observation of any great
16 weight.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Very well. (To the witness): You just
19 listen to whoever is on their feet and asking you a
20 question, please, Dr. Long. Do not worry about sounds off.
21
22 MS. STEEL: Just to finish that off, so that would be a
23 solution to the problem of sunburn?
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have the bald head point.
26
27 MS. STEEL: Right. Just going back to weaning, does the
28 weaning at such a young age, 21 or 24 days, have any
29 welfare implications for the piglets and the sows?
30 A. Yes. If we take the piglets first, they would
31 obviously benefit, like any young, in having more maternal
32 care. So, it is very early -- in human beings you can see
33 more or less the same as whether breast feeding is
34 continued for as long as the government suggests it good or
35 whether it is broken off abruptly, you can still keep the
36 babies alive all right. These babies, of course, are not
37 expected to live very long so, unfortunately, that aspect
38 of welfare does not come into it.
39
40 The question, really, is why does it happen at that time?
41 It is because the sow after she has delivered her offspring
42 will actually go on heat a few days later. This is only
43 oestrogenic heat. It is governed by a release of hormones
44 from the placenta and so on. It is not progestational.
45 So, she will not actually ovulate but the next time she
46 comes round, which will be about three weeks after she has
47 delivered the piglets, she will have an ovulatory heat.
48
49 Therefore, the farmer wants all the time, as I explained
50 before, to make sure that his animals, his mother animals,
51 are not empty because he is feeding them and they are not
52 actually producing offspring. Producing offspring is vital
53 in the pig industry because that is a weight of meat.
54
55 So, he catches, if he can, that first return and that
56 occurring at, as I say, about three weeks means that he has
57 to get the piglets off. It is governed by that. As far as
58 the sow is concerned, well, I think I have already told you
59 that the strain of over production is intensified by this
60 system, so she does not get a rest. Of course, if she does
