Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 14
DAY 233
HOWARD LYMAN, Examined:
1 without stopping.
2
3 Q. Is that something that is unusual to Montana, that kind of
4 distance?
5 A. I would say that Montana, probably, is one of the
6 worst, because of the size of the state and no slaughter
7 facilities. But if we look at feeder cattle, for example,
8 calves that are brought that are going to Nebraska, Kansas,
9 Colorado, those calves will be on the truck an equal amount
10 of time; and there are many cases; this is not unusual.
11
12 Q. Can I just ask -- Mr. Morris asked you something briefly
13 about what happened when you tried to set up a co-operative
14 slaughter facility. What is the position with the
15 ownership of slaughterhouses in the USA?
16 A. The slaughterhouses in the USA today, there are three
17 to four, the top ones, that control 80 to 90 per cent of
18 the industry.
19
20 Q. Of the top -----
21 A. The top three to four slaughter corporations control
22 80 to 90 per cent of the fed cattle that are slaughtered in
23 the US today.
24
25 Q. Do you know the names of those companies?
26 A. The top three would be Cargill, Con Arga and IBP.
27 They, today, will -- those three control 80 per cent. The
28 difficulty that we found when we were trying to start a
29 slaughter facility is that if you did not have access to
30 the consumer market, you could go ahead and kill the
31 animals, you could get them in, but, if you did not have
32 the marketing rights to sell them, it was a stumbling block
33 that we could never overcome. Those marketing rights were
34 totally controlled by the people at the top of the chain.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Fed cattle being animals fed in feedlots?
37 A. Correct.
38
39 MS. STEEL: The Montfort plant in Colorado you talked about, is
40 that owned by one of those companies?
41 A. The Montfort plant and all Montfort plants were sold to
42 Con Arga; they own them today. Montfort is a segment now
43 of Con Arga.
44
45 Q. Continuing with the reading: "When animals reach the
46 slaughter facility, the only concern is to kill as many in
47 as short a period as possible. The animals are terrified
48 at the slaughter plant and the cruelty inflicted on the
49 animal in their last moments on earth is indescribable.
50 I believe if viewing of slaughter was required to eat meat,
51 most folks would become vegetarian."
52
53 Can you explain what you mean by "terrified", the animals
54 being terrified at the slaughter plant?
55 A. The first thing is the smell. If anyone or any animal
56 goes to a slaughter plant, the first indication you are
57 there is the smell. It is much different than anything
58 else. You know exactly what it is.
59
60 The second thing is that when the animals go up the runway
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