This is your last chance to nominate somebody to win the prestigious David Black Award this year. The closing date for names to be put forward is the end of this month. Go to the BPEX website for a nomination form to put forward the person you believe has made an important and sustained contribution to the British pig industry.

Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the week - Digestion

Look out for poor digestion and scours associated with the use of new crop grain over the coming weeks.

Colostrum: Food for Life

BPEX has just printed the latest sheet in the Action for Productivity series on this important topic. Piglets are born with very few antibodies and rely strictly on the sow's colostrum to obtain them in the defence against bacteria and viruses. Producers should aim to optimise colostrum production by the sow, make sure that piglets suckle within 6 hours of birth and ensure that every piglet gets a fair share of the colostrum (minimum 100 ml in first 16h). This factsheet provides further information on the topic including management guidelines for achieving these targets. Download the sheet here or contact BPEX (01908 844734) to have a copy posted out to you.

Soya Alternative Sought

A research project has just started looking at creating a win-win situation for the British pig industry by cutting costs and lessening environmental impact.

The £1.5 million Green Pig project is investigating the potential of using home grown legumes in the diets of growing and finishing pigs.

The Defra-LINK project brings together plant breeders and growers, pig feed manufacturers, producers and industry organisations such as BPEX

BPEX pig technical manager Dr Pinder Gill said: “The aim is to find a home-grown feed as an alternative to soya which will closely match the needs of a pig.

“The benefits should be lower costs for producers and a better environment as this feed would not have to be transported anything like as far as soya.”

The three-and-a-half year project has three academic partners Scottish Agricultural College (SAC),University of Nottingham and National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB)).

There is also support from ten partners: Union Nationale Interprofessionelle des plantes riches en Proteins (UNIP), BOCM Pauls, Evonik/Degussa, Genesis QA, Harbro, Premier Nutrition, Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO), BPEX, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and the Soil Association.

Stocking Rates - PCV2 Vaccination

Stocking rates continue to be a cause of concern. Whilst PCV2 vaccination is expected to improve growth in finishers, you need to take care not to compromise this by overstocking if mortality rates decline significantly. A reduction of 5% in mortality will leave an extra week’s worth of pigs on farm in a breeder-feeder. Until the long term benefits of PCV2 vaccination are recognised and realised, the balance between numbers on farm increasing due to reduced mortality and reducing due to faster growth, a careful watch must be kept on stocking rates.

Action to Improve Productivity

The latest in a comprehensive series of practical tips for pig keepers have just been published by BPEX.

The two latest Action for Productivity sheets cover hospital and recovery pen management and the importance of water supply. The sheets are from the Knowledge Transfer team whose members work out in the field giving practical help to producers.

The hospital pen sheet includes management guidelines, what the pig needs, nutrition, nursing and recovery. The next, on water, looks at availability, requirements, drinker height and quality.

BPEX Director of Pig Industry Development Mark Wilson said: “A lot of the points made in these sheets are very straightforward but they have the potential to make a major difference.

“With things they way they are in the pig industry today even the smallest improvement is important and these sheets offer the chance of improved productivity.

“They are not meant to be put in a box file and left on the shelf but to be put up on the unit where everybody can refer to them regularly.”

The Action for Productivity sheets can be downloaded from the BPEX website (www.bpex.org.uk) and hard copies are available by contacting Michelle Horan on 01908 844734 or any member of the KT team, contact details are on the BPEX website, www.bpex.org.uk

Marketing News

Pig Issue DVD

Production of the Pig Issue DVD is at its final stage now as the last piece of filming took place in Norfolk and Suffolk. The focus was on Foodservice and included an interview with Richard Bacon. And as part of that filming media interest was gained from BBC Radio Norfolk & Suffolk plus SGR Suffolk FM.  Along with three regional titles, Norwich Evening News, Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times. The aim of the DVD is to showcase the pig industry through 3 ‘mini’ films, focusing on the Supply Chain, Foodservice and Public Procurement.

MP Farm Visits

A huge thank you to all concerned in either providing names and details or offering their services.  We have 2 confirmed visits for early Sept in Banbury and Sherwood, four more are just sorting out dates in Sept & October.   This is a mechanic to engage both MPs and the local media and will primarily provide photo opportunities for the regional press and an opportunity for farmers to further ensure the interests of the pig industry, particularly on welfare, are firmly on their constituency MPs political agenda.

Chefs Choose Pork

25,000 ‘the Chefs Choose Pork’ recipe booklets have been requested by Morrisons to use within their stores nationwide.  Produced as part of the consumer PR activity the booklets contain 5 recipes all donated by four featured chefs, Phil Vickery, Lesley Waters, Aldo Zilli & Antony Worrall Thompson.  Many of the other multiple retailers are also considering using the booklets or the recipes either within their stores or magazines as free reader giveaways, during September/October.

Professional Guide to Pork

Positive feedback continues to come in for this publication, which is on its second reprint. Marriott Hotels have declared it to be ‘excellent and the basis for our menu development work’ whilst Plantation Pigs has used some of the recipes and photography to promote their own pork and many catering butchers are using images (credited to BPEX) to improve the pork pages in their product catalogues. Contact Tony.Goodger@ahdbms.org.uk if you would like a copy or to use its imagery.

National News:

Another Success in China

News that the opening of the Chinese market to English pig meat has moved a step closer is a great boost for the industry says BPEX.

BPEX, together with Defra and the China Britain Business Council have been working for four years to gain access to the Chinese market – a process that was set back by Foot and Mouth Disease.

Now a protocol has been signed by both Trade Minister Lord Digby Jones and the Chinese Minister Li Changjiang.

BPEX Chief Executive Mick Sloyan said: “This is marvellous news for the industry and something for which we have been working very hard.

“The next step will be the inspection and approval of abattoirs and packing plants. We will be working with Defra and the Chinese authorities over the coming months and, once that is completed, the way will be open for pig meat to go to China.

“China is the biggest market in the world for pig meat and one which will pay a premium for parts of the carcase which are less popular over here. I would like to thank Defra and the British Embassy in Beijing who have worked very hard to make this happen.”

VMD Report Published

Defra has published the annual report on sales of veterinary therapeutic antimicrobials for 2007.

The report, produced by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), shows that total sales of therapeutic antimicrobials have decreased by 18 tonnes in 2007, compared with 2006. The report also includes data on the amounts of antimicrobials imported into the UK in 2007 under the VMD's import schemes. The figures for the pig industry follow the trend, showing a fall compared with 2006. To see the report, click here.

China Deal For ACMC

ACMC is to supply breeding stock worth over half a million pounds to China. The 525 pigs will be used to establish a new nucleus unit on a green-field site.

As well as providing pigs for its own use, the ShiJiaZuang Shuang Ge Food Co Ltd will also be supplying improved breeding animals to other pig farmers in the region, under a 15-year franchise arrangement.

Once established, the stock will be able to produce over one million slaughter pigs annually, normally finished at around 110kg liveweight.

Delivery of the animals — which includes Meidam and Volante damlines and Vantage FC sirelines — is scheduled to start this October. ACMC will be providing technical support for the nucleus herd’s genetic and general management programme in addition to a regular supply of semen.

The ShiJiaZuang Shuang Ge Food Co Ltd was state owned until early 2006. It is now privately owned by its 800 employees and ACMC will have an equity share. It is also opening a new slaughterhouse capable of processing 1,000 pigs a day.

Sow Prices on BPEX Website

The average price for sows is now available on the BPEX website.  Prices are currently in excess of 120p per kg dw and nearly double what they were at the beginning of the year, having risen almost every week.   Strong demand for sow meat on the Continent continues to drive the price higher.  In the first five months of 2008, UK exports of carcase meat (primarily sow carcases) were up 3,000 tonnes on the same period last year to 17,500 tonnes.  Germany is the main destination. 

International News:

US Firm Uses DNA Tracing

Nature's Premium Brand in the US, a leader all-natural fresh pork, has introduced DNA tracking for reliable and accurate traceability back to the farm where the animals were raised. Nature's Premium will use IdentiGEN's DNA TraceBack(R) system, a USDA Process Verified, DNA-based traceback system, for indisputable product verification.

US Market Update

As grain prices have continued to fall and hog prices have remained relatively firm, sow slaughter may be slowing in the United States.

"Our contacts indicated that sows are simply not available since corn and soybean prices fell dramatically during July and hog prices have rallied to annual highs in recent weeks," wrote livestock analysts Steve Meyer and Len Steiner in the CME Group's Daily Livestock Report. "The liquidation signals are not nearly as strong as they were just a few weeks ago."

The analysts noted that while U.S. sow slaughter has been 9.3 percent higher so far this year, sow prices have exploded in the past three weeks to reach their highest level of the year and surpass both last year's price and the five-year average.

International Prices

Click here for the latest international prices