Parliamentary record : Part I debates (02 October 1990)
Debates for 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990
1990-10-02
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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Debates
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/220324
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/699493
DEBATES - Tuesday 2 October 1990 A member interjecting. Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH: Yes, and they have not been consulted. Whilst I may not be the biggest goat producer in the Northern Territory, I would hazard a guess that 2bigproducers of goats in the Adelaide River area might have been consulted. However, I have had occasion to speak to one of these producers on a few occas ions recent ly and I bel i eve that, if he had been consu lted, he wou 1 d have raised the matter. As he did not do that, I assume that he was not consulted. I do not have any i nformat i on on the draft codes of pract ice re 1 at i ng to the other animals, but I dD have a list of some of the requirements that are recommended for the husbandry of poultry. Some of them make sense, but quite a few of them are way out. Mr Coulter: How many black leghorns are you permitted to keep? Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH: We are not up to black leghorns yet. It is recommended in this draft code of practice for poultry that all game birds be dubbed within 72 hours of hatching. When you dub a game bird, you cut off its watt 1 es and its comb to avoi d poss i b 1 e danger wi th cock bi rds when they reach adulthood. Fi rst of all, you have to be pretty ski 11 ed to sex chickens within 72 hours of them hatching. There are few people here with those skills. If you dub them before they are 72 hours old, you run the risk of having to repeat the exercise later. As a result, the bird would be subjected to the practice twice. Mr Coulter: It is not pleasant. Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH: In my experience, dubbing does not cause a great deal of stress to the birds. Mr Coulter: You wouldn't like it! Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH: I am not a cock bird. In relation to artificial insemination of poultry, the code recommends that competent, t ra i ned personne 1 be emp 1 oyed . There is a recommendat ion about blinkers. Blinkers are not recommended on chooks. You only put bl inkers on chooks when cannibal ism is rife among your flock. Cannibal ism is when 1 chook starts to peck the feathers and the fl esh of another. It can be pecked to death. Considerable attention is paid in this report to the temperature at which chooks are kept. It assumes that all the chooks are kept in cold climates. However, there are many chooks up north in the tropics. It indicates how long chickens should be under the heater etc. However, there is no mention of how to keep chooks cool in hot weather. The recommendation. that takes the prize relates to a consideration of what boy chooks and girl chooks do together. You can trim your rooster's toes, but you must do it before he is 72 hours old. You are allowed to take the last joint of each of the 2 inside toes on each foot of a male bird within 72 hours of hatching, if youthi nk he will mate. Thus, you have to sex your rooster before he is 72 hours old and decide that you will use him to mate with your hens. But, Mr Deputy Speaker, wait until you hear what you have to do with your hens! Before mating the hens, it is recommended that canvas saddles be made and fitted on them to prevent back and side injury. Have you heard of anything more silly? We do not do that with humans, let alone with chooks. 10 715