Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 12
DAY 233
HOWARD LYMAN, Examined:
1 What is the system for clearing out feedlots, clearing the
2 manure from feedlots?
3 A. The manure and feedlots were only cleared out after the
4 animals had gone to market. It was normal to have animals
5 in a pen for a year. In that period of time, the only
6 thing you would do is go in with a dozer, pile up the
7 manure; it would stay in the pen until the animals went to
8 market, and then you would go in and clear it out. But,
9 basically, all of the manure that was in a pen in a year
10 stayed there.
11
12 Q. How often would the manure be piled up within the pen?
13 A. Probably every three months.
14
15 Q. How does that affect the welfare of animals?
16 A. Well, if the weather co-operated, it was fine. If the
17 weather did not co-operate, I have seen it where the
18 animals were standing in slop one to two feet deep. I have
19 even seen animals drowned in the manure in pens.
20
21 Q. Is that more unusual?
22 A. That is not unusual. It is unusual for them to drown;
23 it is not unusual for them to be standing in one to two
24 feet of manure.
25
26 Q. "I have seen cases where large numbers of animals have died
27 from drowning, suffocation, freezing, disease and
28 starvation because they restricted the freedom to move to
29 shelter while there was time before they became trapped.
30 These occurrences are never reported to the general public,
31 because they would cause a tremendous backlash against the
32 present system."
33
34 The conditions that you are talking about, are they
35 industry wide and still -----
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can I go back to one matter in the previous
38 paragraph? What about the snow in feedlots; is that
39 because of drifting or just lack of protection from winds
40 carrying snow, or what?
41 A. If you put up protection for the winds, then it
42 basically puts a place where you end up with drifting snow;
43 and in our area in Montana it was not unusual to get one to
44 two feet of snow at a time; it always came with winds.
45 When it came, it would drift in the pens. It was not
46 unusual to have animals suffocate from drifting snow in
47 Montana.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Ms. Steel was asking you about the
50 occurrences which you refer to in the next paragraph. Ask
51 your question again, please.
52
53 MS. STEEL: Obviously, there might be differences in the
54 weather across the United States, but, in your experience
55 of farms right across the United States, generally
56 speaking, are these typical of what might happen or are
57 they unusual?
58 A. It has been my experience, as I have travelled across
59 the country, that all large feedlots have become involved
60 in occurrences like this. This is not unusual. It is part
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