New BPHS Scheme

The BPHS has proved such a hit with farmers and vets a new improved three-year scheme is starting on July 1, 2008.

BPHS provides members, their vets, abattoirs and funding partners with regular, objective and detailed post-mortem health assessments from pigs submitted to 14 specialist pig abattoirs in England.

To date the BPHS team of specialist pig vets has reported on more than 12,000 consignments of pigs. Analysis has shown units which started with higher than average scores for enzootic pneumonia, pleurisy and milk spot liver have all been making good progress in reducing the number of pigs affected.

With feed prices rising good herd management has never been more important in order to maximize efficiency and profitability.

A survey of scheme members found they all discussed BPHS reports with vets when reviewing pig health and performance.

More than 60% of producers and 80% of vets have been taking action on farms to tackle health issues using information from their reports.

In practice, the scheme has helped individual businesses develop and implement health improvement plans resulting in improved physical and financial performance.

The new scheme comes with the additional benefits of the opportunity for vets to take extra samples, increased number of assessment days, consultations with vets about conditions they have observed in the abattoir and better defined detail on pleurisy.

You can find our more about the scheme by logging onto www.bpex.org.uk

Marketing News

Shoppers Back Animal Welfare

In an omnibus on-line survey (YouGov) which ran on 14^th May on the subjects of Welfare and Choice, some 2000 consumers said they really value their choice of high welfare pigmeat and are still willing to pay a bit more to keep it.

The survey will serve to update our consumer research, provide a new news hook and also potential rebuttal against the argument that consumers do not want to pay more for food.
 

To optimise coverage of these results we intend to use Alex James to promote them in the media on 4 June. Alex is an ex pop star (of Blur fame) who has become a well known  'foodie' celebrity, an award winning cheesemaker, small time pig farmer, TV presenter and a broadsheet columist! Plans include a half-day of radio interviews, followed by regional and national press interviews.

Text Campaign

A thank you email has been sent to nearly 4,000 people this week to thank them for their support and to update them on the results. They were the people who opened up their Stand by Your Ham emails and took action by texting their radio stations to play the song. As part of the text an offer was made to receive our latest recipe book as a token of our appreciation, which has lead to a flood of email requests.

Waitrose Support

The in-store magazine Waitrose Food Illustrated has produced a 7 page feature about their ‘Save Our Bacon’ campaign, which details how 6 top chefs are backing the campaign. 

Fergus Henderson says ‘We’ve got to take responsibility for the great British Pig’; Angela Hartnett says ‘We shouldn’t be importing when we’ve got great-quality bacon here’; Jimmy Doherty says ‘It’s a crisis but it’s not too late. 

Consumers need to demand British pork.  If it doesn’t say British on the label, don’t buy it’; The Hairy Bikers say ‘In an ever-changing world there are things that you need to hang on to, and our pork is a core part of our culinary culture’; and Tom Aikens says ‘Chefs will have to know where their food originated, how the animals were treated and killed.  It’s part of our responsibility’.

Online Selling

For levy paying pig farmers or farm shops who sell direct to the public through their own websites, a new page is being created on the LovePork.co.uk website for consumers to be able to easily find local pork suppliers who deliver to your door.  Please email info@ahdbms.org.uk if you are interested and we will send you a form to complete.

Free Point of Sale Material

From recent requests and enquiries it seems many farm shops are not on our mailing list for free promotional material, which includes among many items, posters, recipe leaflets and campaign information.  If you would like to receive these on a regular basis please email enquiries@ bpex.org.uk or call 01908 844107.

Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the week - Biosecurity

Visitors should be told the biosecurity requirements and be prepared to stick to them well before they arrive at any pig farm.
 

Safeguarding pig health is a high priority and it is important that farmers consider where the real risks are to draw up sensible rules and make sure visitors abide by them. The ‘rules' can differ depending on circumstance and not all visitors can be expected to know them for every farm they visit - it certainly does no harm to remind more regular visitors. Advance warning and proper signage in appropriate areas are helpful. An Action for Productivity factsheet on this topic is available here.

Stop Tail Biting

Tail biting leads to widespread abscess formation within the carcase, leading to carcase condemnation. A third to a fifth of tail-bitten pigs are predicted to require euthanasia, one fifth will be condemned at slaughter (NADIS 2006).

S.T.O.P. is a project aiming to help farmers deal with tail-biting outbreaks and reduce the risk of future outbreaks. Farms can be nominated by vets, producer groups or themselves, to take part in the project.

S.T.O.P. visits identify and target the main risks triggering the outbreak and give tailored advice. Priorities are to control existing outbreaks and prevent tail biting outbreaks recurring. All farm visits and advice are free. Farm identities will not be provided to any third party.

Information collected stays anonymous and will be used to help provide the industry with better information and understanding to help reduce the impact of tail-biting outbreaks.

Phone 07824 406952 or email (stop-tb@bristol.ac.uk) for more information on the project and/or to book a visit for affected farms.

Value From Manure and Slurry

Pig manures and slurries contain useful quantities of essential and minor plant nutrients providing a greater mix of nutrients than many manufactured fertilisers. The benefits to crop yield and soil quality from using organic manures under rotational systems are supported by the experience of many farmers. Farmyard manure (FYM) in particular contains a large proportion of organic matter, which improves soil texture, workability and quantity of water available for uptake by plant roots whilst improving drainage characteristics, a feature particularly important under low rainfall. Organic manures also enhance soil bio-diversity encouraging a wider range of species (e.g. insects and birds) to our countryside. Despite much research and anecdotal evidence, some of these additional benefits are difficult to quantify, especially in terms of economic value. Some of the key benefits and limitations are summarised here.

Vacancy at Leeds University

This post for a research technician is available for three years to provide critical technical support for two research groups working on aspects of molecular and cellular virology. The projects are funded by the BBSRC and the Wellcome Trust, and will involve cell culture, cDNA cloning, PCR mutagenesis, western blotting, plasmid purification and a broad range of other biochemical, molecular biological and virus/cell culture procedures. Applicants must hold a degree in a biological science, ideally with substantial research experience in biochemistry/molecular biology, with preference for virology. Good communication skills, data management and IT skills and a positive attitude to collaborative work are also essential.

University Grade 5 (£19,263 - £22,332 pa); it is likely that an appointment will be made at £19,263 as there are funding limitations that dictate the level at which the appointment can start.

Informal enquiries to Dr Julian A. Hiscox, tel +44 (0)113 343 5582, email j.a.hiscox@leeds.ac.uk or Dr. John N. Barr tel +44 (0)113 343 8069, email j.n.barr@leeds.ac.uk. To apply online please visit http://www.leeds.ac.uk and click on 'jobs'.  Alternatively, application packs are available from Alex Bateman, tel +44 (0)113 343 8040 email fbsjobs@leeds.ac.uk. Closing date: 20 June 2008

National News:

NADIS Latest

One of the most common conditions of unweaned piglets recorded by NADIS veterinary reporters for pig farms is Coccidiosis – a cause of scour in pigs above 1 week of age.  The standard control measure used is Baycox given as a preventative dose to young pigs.  The product is not licensed for pig use and is thus only applicable under specific veterinary advice.

The aim of Baycox is 2-fold:

1. To kill the developing parasites preventing them progressing to harmful stages
2. In doing so, allowing the pig to develop immunity to prevent reinfestation.

To achieve both purposes, the timing of treatment is critical.  The aim is to dose piglets 96 hours after infection is first picked up, which in most cases is immediately after birth.  If done too early immunity will not occur; if too late it will not effectively kill the developing parasite.

It is therefore essential that dosing be done daily in the farrowing houses, including, where necessary, at weekends.  It is not effective to nominate 1 or 2 days each week for dosing, unless induced farrowing produces all pigs on the same day.

Export News

For the latest export report click here.

International News:

Growth in Pork Trade

World trade in beef and pork are expected to grow by more than 40 percent by 2017 while poultry trade expands by just below 40 percent, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Increased import demand for beef and pork will be dominated by OECD countries while Asian developing countries will drive poultry import gains, the study predicts.
 

Between now and 2017, average global prices for both beef and pork are expected to rise by about 20 percent, while wheat and corn prices rise 40 percent to 60 percent and oilseed prices increase by more than 60 percent, as compared to average prices from 1998 to 2007.

Quake Hits Chinese Pork

The earthquake that rocked China on May 12 could decrease pork production by up to 4 percent, slightly boost national pork prices and support continued pork imports over the next six to eight months, according to USDA's agricultural office in Beijing.

While the epicentre of the earthquake in China's Sichuan Province was not a main swine and pork production area, some large production areas nearby were impacted with an estimated four million to five million hogs either killed by the earthquake or slaughtered due to lack of feed or water supplies, USDA analysts in Beijing said in a report. Longer-term impact will depend on how quickly water, energy and transportation services can be restored.

International Prices

Click here for the latest international prices

Football and the Pig Industry

The Euro 2008 football competition is taking place in Austria/Switzerland in June 2008.  If the past is anything to go by, we are likely to see some strong increases in producer prices in these countries during the period of the competition.

The last four major sporting competitions in Europe have been accompanied by price increases in the host countries compared with the EU average, as the following charts show. The magnitude of the relative increase is likely to be influenced by the number of people attending the competition and the relationship of this to the size of the normal domestic market in the host country.  The large domestic market is likely to have been why the relative improvement in German prices was the least marked of the four. 

The moral of this tale is that pig meat is the food of choice for discerning sports fans.