Marketing News

Summer Newsletter
A summer newsletter has recently been circulated to 4500 secondary schools.  A summary of the features include; a case study of a farmer; promotion of the pig tales posters; digi bites (mini video clips) availability; plus the availability of a range of recipe books.  For a copy please call 01908 844247 or download by clicking here.

Pork is on the Menu
A recent visit to the Taste Festival in London saw more than 40 of London’s most exciting restaurants showcasing their menus to a range of foodie consumers, writers and journalists. Each restaurant offered three of their dishes for sampling and pork was very well represented with over 10 dishes, involving a variety of pork cuts from pigs heads to trotters and sausages to belly, plus pork from a spit-roasted pig.  From the samples tried they all showcased pork in an excellent way, all were tender, tasty and imaginatively served.  There were also demonstrations by a range of celebrity chefs who have their own restaurants.  There are another two of these events happening around the country, Bath (3-6 July) and Birmingham (10-13 July). For further information go to www.channel4.com/taste

Pork Watch Data
New Pork Watch data has been uploaded onto the BPEX website. It has been reported for the past 6-8 months, that the British share of pigmeat on retailers’ shelves remains fairly static. Overall, around three quarters of pork is home produced which, against a background of tightening supply can be seen as a positive. For the full report click here.

Knowledge Transfer

Vaccine Voucher Scheme Takes Off
The BPEX PCV2 vaccine project has been a runaway success with applications for the scheme covering more than 280,000 sows.
The project was launched just over two months ago to tackle rapidly a major industry health problem and uptake has been little short of phenomenal.

BPEX Director of Pig Industry Development Mark Wilson said: “I have been amazed at the speed with which this project has taken off.”
The objective of this research project is to measure the effects of PCV2 vaccination of sows or piglets on herd health, welfare, mortality and physical performance by unit, region and on a national scale.

As a research project, in return for providing vouchers, producers are providing BPEX with summary details of the previous month’s breeding and feeding herd key performance.
BPEX, veterinary practices and the pharmaceutical companies involved will then be able to offer clear scientifically-based advice on the cost benefits of using PCV vaccines. The application form for the project is available to downloaded from the BPEX website, www.bpex.org.uk

Tip of the Week: Boar Libido
Boars do not like to work in hot conditions. Start serving early in the day so that it is completed while the temperature is relatively low. Keep in mind how much of a shift from usual serving time this will be and, if necessary, alter weaning time accordingly to maintain optimum timing of insemination.

Lactational Oestrus
Have you noticed sows coming on to heat during lactation? Some of the triggers for this include a disruption to suckling, boar contact, flush feeding and stress.

If you have noticed lactational oestrus on your unit we would like to hear from you to see if we can identify more specific trigger factors and help to resolve the problem. Contact the KT Team: kt@bpex.org.uk or speak to your regional KT Manager.

Heat Stress
Simple, practical advice is what pig farmers want most and that's what they are getting in the series of Action for Productivity sheets produced and distributed by BPEX.

If you can’t find your copy of the Heat Stress sheets (indoors: no.3 and outdoors: no. 4) from last summer, or just want a couple of extra copies, contact BPEX (kt@bpex.org.uk) or download them from the website here. Also look out for two new sheets which will be available shortly.

BPEX Workshops
Over the past couple of years the BPEX KT Team has run a wide range of well-attended workshops across the country. Summaries of all of these interactive workshops are now available on the BPEX website, with handout packs/relevant material available to download in most cases.

If a group of you in the same area are interested in any of these workshops then the KT Team will be happy to run it. If you have different requirements the workshops can be customised to your needs, or new ones can be developed. For further details click here or email: kt@bpex.org.uk.

National News:

One-Stop Shop for Meat Figures
The best way of figuring out the red meat industry is to turn to the figures in the UK Yearbook 2008.

Building on the success of last year’s first edition which was well-received by all sectors of the industry, this comprehensive reference is packed with 140 pages of invaluable industry data, some of it with historical comparisons going back 20 years.

As well as for the UK as a whole, much of the data is available separately for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including farm costings for selected production systems.
In addition to the many tables of industry data, the UK Yearbook also includes details of how the Common Agricultural Policy currently applies to the UK, and density maps illustrating the distribution of livestock.

It has been produced by the Economics team at AHDB meat services and Senior Market Analyst The UK Yearbook 2008 is available to UK customers for £40 (overseas £50); customers ordering five or more copies will receive a discount of 25 per cent.  To order, email jayne.dines@ahdbms.org.uk, or phone 01908 844396. 

The Yearbook is part of a wide range of publications and services from the Economics team of AHDB meat services.  For details, prices and an order form see www.mlceconomics.org.uk/publications.htm.

Pig Industry View of World
Confidence levels in the British pig industry have, unsurprisingly, fallen according to the results of the latest survey by BPEX Ltd.

It showed although 70 per cent of producers had maintained or improved their competitiveness, their optimism had been significantly eroded.

There is a similar picture from the processing sector, however, half anticipated increasing investment over the next 12 months, which is at odds with producers who said they were investing 75% less.

There is also a contrast shown where processors are looking to invest to increase efficiency when producers are mainly having to spend money to cope with changing environmental rules and repairing buildings and facilities.

The question about factors limiting output has seen a major shift with producers citing raw material costs and finance, whereas last year it was simply the physical capacity of buildings.
Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the BPEX website www.bpex.org.uk.

Young Pig Producers Dinner
The first young pig producers dinner is at the Ramada Fairfield Manor, Skelton, York on Thursday, July 10 starting at 6.15pm.

The guest speaker isn Rick Sanderson, Pork Chain Business Development Manager for PIC (UK). Rick has a wealth of experience in all areas of the modern UK pork chain having started with Dalgety agriculture, moving to Dalehead and then Grampian Country Foods before joining PIC. Rick will give an insight into meat quality, what influences buyers’ choice and the carcase balance.

This will be a good opportunity to meet regional pig producers and have a good discussion about what happens post farm gate.
To confirm your place or if you have any queries please call: Lis Ravn (BPEX)  0789 165 6784 or Zoe Davis (NPA) 07790117091.

Pig Market Trends
Pigs can be produced to a heaver weight without compromising the lean meat percentage of the carcase.  This is the conclusion drawn in the June issue of Pig Market Trends, published by the AHDB meat services Economics team.  Carcase weights in the UK tend to be lower than in the other major pig meat producing states of Europe. 

However, with the high cost of feed, producers will need to access their daily live weight gain to determine the best economic weight at which to sell their pigs. 

For information on how to subscribe to Pig Market Trends, or to receive a free sample copy, contact Jayne Dines at jayne.dines@ahdbms.org.uk

Join BPHS
Have you joined the British Pig Health Scheme yet? The new one starts on July 1. It 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 have reported on more than 12,000 consignments of pigs.

A survey of members found all farmers surveyed discussed the BPHS reports with their vets when reviewing pig health and performance. More than 60% of them and 80% of vets have been taking action on farms to tackle health issues using information from their reports.

You can find out more about the scheme by logging onto www.bpex.org.uk or calling 01463 233184. There is also a DVD available explaining how the scheme works, which can be obtained by calling 01908 844734.

International News:

Tallow Reclassified
Proposals from the European Commission to amend legislation to recognise the value of tallow as a fuel, removing it from the realms of complex and inappropriate waste controls, have been welcomed by the NFU.

The revised text of the Animal By-Products Regulation clarifies that animal by-products can be used as a fuel in the promotion of sustainable energy generation and states it is not a waste disposal operation.

NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: “This is a hugely significant and welcome step by the Commission. Burning tallow as a fuel in rendering plants in compliance with the Waste Incineration Directive was costly and bureaucratic, coupled with the nonsensical situation that the only alternative practice for abattoirs was to burn fossil fuels.

“This will help the rendering industry to keep costs in check at a time when energy prices are soaring. We look to the Council and the Parliament to make a timely decision on these proposals so that we can draw a line under the uncertainty which has plagued the industry for the past three and a half years.”

Dutch Pig Organisations Combine
The activities of the Dutch organisations Van Gennip KI, PIC and Hypo/Parvak have joined together under the new name Preferent KI.

Preferent KI aims to distinguish itself by focusing on cost price reduction and by delivering semen from both reproductive and terminal boars with a very high health status.
The new national organisation will work under cooperation with KI Twente, where the production and distribution of Preferent KI genetics will be handled.

Smithfield Campofrio Merger
In the footsteps of Vion last week and Moy Park this week, Campofrio and Smithfield Foods Europe are merging. The new group will be called Campofrio and Campofrio will hold 51.5% and Smithfield Foods 48.5%.

Smithfield had already a large stake in Campofrio (23%). The new group will be huge with major interests in Spain (market leader), Romania, Russia, France, the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. The merger is not fully confirmed yet but both groups have declared, they have started active talks.

International Prices
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