Day 115 - 06 Apr 95 - Page 07

     
     1
     2   Q.   That is a beneficial animal practice?
     3        A.  Yes, I am glad to see those practices are being
     4        observed.
     5
     6   Q.   You notice that they used hydraulic lifts to remove the
     7        weaners from the field to the finishing shed, the Suffolk
     8        unit, yes?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   You noticed that they used hydraulic lifts in their
    12        transporters to the slaughterhouse?
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:  Recently.
    15
    16   THE WITNESS:  I am not sure, my Lord, whether this applies to
    17        all the pigs that they handled, because now you are going
    18        to the slaughterhouse.  Also, I noticed that that practice
    19        of using lift trucks was only introduced, I think, in the
    20        last few years, although that has been pushed and urged on
         the industry, well, since the late 1970s.  It is practised
    22        much more in some other countries.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  You were not in court, I think, when Mr. Bowes was
    25        giving his evidence, were you?
    26        A.  No.
    27
    28   Q.   Was that because you were not expecting to give evidence
    29        about pigs?
    30        A.  I am not, quite frankly, sure what I was expected to
    31        give evidence for.  This was no reflection on the
    32        Defendants, but you understand from my statement and so on,
    33        things have been a bit hectic.  I was not exactly sure, but
    34        I could not have come when he was giving evidence anyway.
    35
    36   Q.   I see.  You noticed, did you, the use of water in the
    37        slaughterhouse, not simply to keep the pigs calm, but so
    38        that they could play with the jets; did you notice that?
    39        A.  Yes, I did.  That gave me a great deal of concern,
    40        I must say.
    41
    42   Q.   Why?
    43        A.  Well, I have concern over that matter, though it is
    44        here an issue where, perhaps, welfare and hygiene clash,
    45        because if the pigs are wet or if warm water is sprayed on
    46        them, it certainly has the effect of calming them, but if
    47        they are wet the danger in electrical conditions of
    48        slaughtering is that the current will track, instead of
    49        going through the organs which it is supposed to do, which
    50        have a fairly high resistance, it will take an easier path, 
    51        if you like, through a circuit which is the moisture which 
    52        is contaminated with dirt and, therefore, is quite a good 
    53        conductor on the skin.
    54
    55        For that reason in the short time I had available I looked
    56        to confirm my impressions in the latest edition of Meat
    57        Hygiene published by Dr. Gracey and Dr. Collins.  It says
    58        here:  "The electrical resistance of the hair and skin may
    59        be lowered by ensuring the electrodes are kept moist by
    60        immersion in brine".