Knowledge Transfer

Ask BPEX
Ask BPEX is a section on the website offering advice to producers. This is one of the recent questions posed on the site.

I run a 2600 place straw based nursery unit in close proximity to a number of residential properties. Please could you advise on best practice to control flies?

Traditionally flies are thought of as a seasonal problem. However now, with the tendency for warmer, wetter weather all year round, frequently they can become a year round issue. Therefore on-going control programmes are essential to keep fly populations at low levels.

Whether it is the common house fly, blue bottle, stable or fruit flies good housekeeping and levels of hygiene can go a long way towards helping to keep fly populations down, but sometimes this is just not enough. When further measures are necessary there are a variety of methods that can be used including fly traps, baits, paints, knockdown or residual sprays and biological predators. A crucial factor for any control programme is to break the life cycle and therefore it is necessary to use both larvacides at the breeding sites, as well adulticides. Whichever product(s) you are using read the product labels and use them correctly, ensuring that these are appropriate for the species you are trying to control and the stage, frequently you will need to use a combination of products. Follow the instructions do not take shortcuts, use the correct rates and remember you may need to alternate products during the year, resistance can develop quite rapidly.

To ‘ask BPEX’ a question, or see other previously asked questions, click here.

New Work Instructions Issued
Two more work instructions have been uploaded to the BPEX website, number eight covers handling and restraining pigs while number nine looks at preparing a farrowing arc. These are available to download or if you would like versions that you can edit to suit the practices on your unit contact us and we can email them to you.

VLA Surveillance Report
Monthly surveillance reports from the VLA are now available on the BPEX website. Defra funds the VLA pig surveillance work under the Veterinary Surveillance Strategy and the reports include enteric, respiratory, systemic, reproductive, skin and musculoskeletal observations. The July report includes incidences of bracken poisoning, rotavirus in piglets up to 5 weeks of age and Streptococcus suis type 2.
To view the latest report click here.

Nitrate Regulations and Maps
Defra has published regulations extending the areas of England designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) from 55% to around 70%. This reflects the Government's decision to continue designating the zones on a selective basis rather than adopt the whole territory approach of some Member States.
The Regulations also make changes to the Action Programme specifying actions which farmers in NVZs must take to reduce and prevent nitrate leaching and run-off to waters from manures and fertilisers.

Maps showing the revised areas will be available via the OPSI and Defra websites, and at http://nvz.adasis.co.uk/maps  from early next week. Farmers will have until 31 January 2009 to lodge an appeal if they believe their land has been wrongly designated.

Aside from the measures in the Action Programme which will apply in NVZs, farmers nationally will be encouraged to apply good practice in their use and management of nutrients.  An updated Code of Good Agricultural Practice will be published in the autumn which includes guidance in this area.

PCV2 Update
Given the current rate of funding the £1.5m put aside for the project by BPEX is expected to last until the end of December. It is up to producers to make sure they get their claims in so they don’t miss out because when the money’s gone, that’s it. BPEX is beginning to look at the data with 981 vouchers returned so far with performance data. The results will be announced on the second day of the PVS meeting - the morning of the 14th November. This will be a joint NPA, BPEX, PVS session on disease eradication and PCV2 projects.

Marketing News

Morrisons Pick Celeb Chefs
Morrisons has agreed to make use of the celebrity Chefs Choose Pork recipe booklet.  On avg 100 leaflets per store are due to be on display in all stores from w/c 15th Sept.

Sausage Week Update
Launch of British Sausage Week, by our mystery celebrity, will take place next Friday 12th September.  He will do a day of regional and national radio interviews. Circulation of launch press releases to all regional and national media will have already been sent, so information about the week including details of our celebrity, will start to appear in the media from next week. Promotional activities for the week are also beginning to gear up with the Landmark Banger product competition.

Entries have been flooding in with well over 130 products entered already, but if you want to enter there’s still time, just download the form from the website www.britishsausageweek.com and send it in asap, as the judging takes place in a few weeks time, 17/18th Sept. 

Family Favourite Meal
On 10th Sept Meatmatters.com (a generic consumer PR activity supported by BPEX) will be launching a competition to find six of the best Family Favourite meals.  Looking for traditional and interesting recipes that invoke pleasant memories of family meals, the competition will be launched by Greg Wallace, of Master Chef fame.  He will hold a day of radio interviews on September 10th, and supported by consumer press activity the competition will be open until 1st November. 

The entry form will be available to complete online at www.meatmatters.com from Sept 10th.  The 6 winning recipes will then be given a contemporary twist and be featured in a recipe booklet which will be published in early 2009.

Sausage Competition
Entries to the Foodservice Sausage of the Year Competition increase - over 180 entries have been received for this year’s competition which will be judged during w/c 15th September prior to the final which will be held at Butchers Hall on Friday 24th October 2008.

Export Update
For the latest export marketing update, click here.

National News:

Website Poser
How much of the retail pigmeat price do producers receive?

The last 12 months have seen pig prices rise and the attention this week in the press has been on the rises in prices in the shops so how has the producers share of the retail price changed over this period?  You may have a hunch but you can get the facts from the farm gate retail price spread updated every month in the market intelligence area of the BPEX website - so was your hunch right? Click here to find out.

Sow’s Ear or Silk Purse?
Sow prices are currently running at almost double the level they were at this time last year due to increased demand for manufacturing meat.

To help producers keep tabs on what is happening in this important market, the average price being paid is now available on the BPEX website.  Prices are currently running at around 126p per kg dw which is nearly double what they were at the beginning of the year, having risen almost every week.

The price, updated every Friday, can be accessed through the Market Intelligence section of the BPEX website, www.bpex.org.uk, under the sub-section data.

Win a £125 Voucher
Fancy a voucher worth £125 for a Red Letter Day? Then sign up as a new entrant to the pig industry professional development scheme.

The Pig Industry Professional Register (PIPR) is the first continual professional development scheme to be launched in the livestock sector.

It is open to all staff within the industry, including students and people just joining the industry who are keen to develop their potential in the industry.

To qualify for the PIPR new entrant category – and the chance to win the voucher in a draw - you need to meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Be in full-time post-16 education
• Be registered on a Pig related course (including General Agriculture)
• Be working full time in agriculture, involving pigs, and be able to provide a supporting letter from your employer to say that they are supporting you with PIPR related training in order for you to gain 30 PIPR points which will then let you qualify to become a full member
  The new entrant category is free of charge. However, when you progress on to the full scheme you will have to pay the relevant membership fees.
  For further information, contact Richard Longthorp, email, rlongthorp@longthorp.com.

New FSA Vet Director
Liz Redmond has been appointed as the Agency's new Veterinary Director. She will join the Agency in December from her current post as Director of Animal Health and Welfare Policy at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland.

Liz started her career as a practicing veterinarian, working in rural practices in Australia and the UK. She later worked in Botswana, in the national veterinary diagnostic laboratory, running a large government field division. In 2003, after completing a degree in agricultural economics back in the UK, she became an assistant secretary at DARD. Her first post was Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, providing professional veterinary advice within the department. In her current role she has been leading on all aspects of animal health and welfare policy development in Northern Ireland.

International News:

Germany Opens China Market
China has lifted a ban on imports of German pork following two years of negotiations.
The German Agriculture Ministry said it signed a veterinary agreement with Beijing on Monday that is expected to pave the way for German pork exports to China. German exports are expected to begin once veterinary certificates have been created.

China had implemented the ban on fears of swine fever, although Germany contended that its cases were no more common than in other European nations.

Listeria Outbreak
The listeriosis outbreak that prompted Maple Leaf Foods to close its Bartor Road plant in Toronto and recall more than 200 ready-to-eat meat products has now killed 12 people, Canadian officials confirmed.

Seven more deaths remain under investigation by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
As a result of the outbreak, China announced it would halt imports of sausage casings from Maple Leaf even though they are not processed at the facility in question. A spokesman with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told Canwest News Service the agency was working to explain the situation to Chinese officials and resolve the issue quickly.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said once the outbreak is over, the government will supervise an independent investigation of the incident.

International Prices
Click here for the latest international prices