Finding Latest Feed Info
LIFFE Nov ‘09 futures fell by £2.75/t to £110.25/t.  UK, delivered soyameal (Ex-mill, Liverpool) was trading around £254/t last week which is a £114/t premium to CBOT soyameal. Latest global forecast for soyabean production is 50Mt in 2009, against 47Mt in 2008. Weather conditions in the near future will be key to total production levels in both countries. Click here for more.

Knowledge Transfer
Tip of the week – Holiday Cover
Start thinking about organising AI, weaning and holiday cover for the Christmas and New Year period. Make sure work instructions are to hand and that you have enough staff to cover. A number of work instructions can be downloaded here.

BPEX Wall Planner
The 2009 wall planner is now available! If you have not received one in the post and would like to, contact Michelle 01908-844734 to request yours. This large wall planner includes monthly reminders, contact details of the knowledge transfer team and a due to farrow calendar.

£650 Training Grant
Ladies interested in furthering their career in agriculture by enhancing their skills are able to receive up to £650 in the form of a training grant. Agriculture is one of eight environmental and land-based industries where women are under-represented in the workplace.

Seeking to redress the balance, Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for the environmental and land-based industries, is leading the latest, government-backed, Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative.

Lantra’s National Programme Manager, Lyndsay Bird, said: “Our pilot scheme, which ran from 2007 to 2008, was hugely popular and over 98% of trainees gained qualifications. This success has led to the Women and Work programme being implemented for another four years.” 

Open to self-employed, or part and full-time employees, the various courses on offer intend to help women further their careers. The £650 grant must be matched by an equal commitment from the employer in terms of a £250 cash commitment, mentoring and training time.

If you are self-employed or working full or part-time in forestry and environmental conservation and would like more information about Women and Work contact Lantra Connect on 0845 707 8007, email connect@lantra.co.uk or visit www.lantra.co.uk/WomenandWork.

Producer Group Map
A new interactive producer group map can now be found on the BPEX website. The map highlights where each BPEX producer group is in the country so that you can easily see where your nearest one is. The map provides details of meeting times and locations as well as contact details for the KT Manager responsible for organising the meeting. To check out the map click here.

Marketing News
Gammon PR
MTJ will feature a new gammon advertisement in the issue of December 5 promoting the consumer PR activity with Lesley Waters. And to promote the activity even further a Gammon poster is being produced for butchers to request for use in their stores. For details on how to cook gammon go to http://www.lovebacon.info/BaconCookingGuide.asp
For some gammon recipe ideas go to http://www.lovebacon.info/documents/Butchers-gammon.pdf

Smithfield Christmas Fair
Being held at the Bath & West Showground.  In support of the BPA there will be a butchery demonstration of a shoulder of pork and a cooking demonstration of the cuts obtainable from the shoulder. The focus will be on slow cooking with pork, and what good value using pork shoulder cuts can be over the Christmas period.  Demo times are Fri 5 Dec @2.30/3pm & Sat 5 Dec @ 2pm, to be held in the Theatre located within the Food Hall.

Festive Hog Roasts
Calling all pig farmers!  As part of the ongoing Pigs Are Worth It campaign BPEX is planning a series of festive hog roasts in and around major UK cities. The aim of these events is to demonstrate the fact that pig meat and pig meat products outsell turkey at Christmas* which stresses its central role in a traditional Christmas meal. 

The PR team will encourage consumers to choose high welfare QSM pork products this Christmas.  The team is looking for farmers who would be willing to take part in this activity, whether they have hog roast facilities or not! 

The plan is for events to take place either week commencing 8th December or week commencing 15th December 2008.  Your commitment would involve:

• Roughly a day of your time to attend a Festive Hog Roast event close to where you live
• Photographs at the event, potentially with your local MP
• Media interviews with local newspapers and / or radio stations
• Hand delivering hog roast butties to local radio stations (maximum of 3)
  The BPEX PR team at Good Relations will be organising the events and media interviews. If you decide to take part, you will be briefed by a member of the team.

If you are able to provide a day of your time in either of those weeks and would like to participate please contact Ekta Sopal at Good Relations or telephone 0207 861 3154.

Poor Show For British Bacon
Could do better might be written at the bottom of the latest report on how much home-produced bacon and pork are used by Government departments.

The latest DEFRA report highlights the proportion of domestically produced food used by Government departments and supplied to hospitals and prisons.

Though some departments have made significant improvements in sourcing good quality, home-produced pork and bacon, including the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and DEFRA, too many others are using imported produce.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), for example, is concerning having reversed their trend in sourcing British origin pork from 24% to 6% and using 100% imported bacon. This trend for using cheaper, imported bacon is evident amongst many other departments too.

National News:
Cancer Claims Rubbished
Claims that people are cutting down on eating processed meat such as bacon because of cancer fears have been rubbished by pig industry body BPEX.

The World Cancer Research Fund made headline news a year ago saying eating three rashers of bacon a day could significantly increase the risk of bowel cancer.

However, the average person eats only two rashers a week – way below the WCRF danger level.

Now they have followed the report up by claiming a third of the over 55s are cutting back on processed meat and overall one in ten are cutting down as a result.

BPEX head of Marketing Chris Lamb said: “I trust the rest of their research has more substance to it than just a 2,000 people standard Omnibus survey.

"It is extremely disappointing that an organisation of such stature feels it has to resort to these tactics to try to make a point. If they were to ask we’d be happy to share our detailed knowledge.”

Latest figures from the TNS Worldpanel show year on year consumption of bacon has risen by 0.8 per cent overall and by 0.7 per cent in the 45 to 64 age group.

Looking at the younger consumers, those under 34 years showed an 11.4% increase, year on year.

Chris said: “The TNS Worldpanel involves 25,000 households whose shopping patterns are constantly measured to give an accurate picture of overall purchasing.

“The figures also show more than an amazing 90% of households continue to buy bacon despite the price rises of the last year.

“Bacon is still one of the nation’s favourite foods and bacon sarnies have been known to be so tempting that even vegetarians can’t resist them.”

MHS Strike Off
Following further negotiations an agreement has been signed by MHS and UNISON which effectively means the planned strike by MHS inspectors for next week has been called off.

Swine Dysentery Charter
The Swine Dysentery Producer Charter is an important new health initiative by producers in the East of England, supported by BPEX.

Controlling Swine Dysentry has the potential to save producers £thousands.  A Swine Dysentery Control Centre has been set up to track the disease, assist in recovery when breakdowns take place, and record when units become free from the disease.  It is one of a number of disease-beating measures expected to be rolled out around the country in the months and years ahead, always in cooperation with pig-keepers and vets, region by region.

The ultimate vision is to stamp out some diseases on pig units altogether.  To find out more about the charter click here.

NADIS Latest – Congenital Tremor
Congenital Tremor is occasionally reported by NADIS surveillance veterinary surgeons in the farrowing area.  By definition it is present at birth and presents an uncontrolled trembling of the muscles.  It can vary from mild to severe but in all cases, a definitive feature is that trembling stops when pigs are asleep. 

A number of causes are recognised including inherited/genetic factors, toxins affecting the piglets prior to birth and in utero viral infections including Classical Swine Fever.  In practice most cases are believed to be caused by an unidentified virus affecting naïve pregnant gilts and sows.  Over time, the nerve damage that is present will repair (but can take up to 8 weeks) provided the pig does not perish from starvation or crushing.  Support therapy and TLC are essential components of dealing successfully with the condition and minimising losses.

AHDB Corporate Plan
The AHDB corporate plan is now out with key stakeholders for comments and observations which will be taken into account within the final published version.

The business planning process is a bottom-up informed process within an agreed group planning framework.  The responsibility for setting the sector-specific strategies is delegated to the boards of AHDB’s six operating divisions, including BPEX, which are best placed to identify their sector priorities and devise and recommend appropriate strategies to meet those priorities. This corporate planning process brings together the three-year strategic plans developed by each sector board.

New Event For Pigs
The Royal Agricultural Society of England and ABN will be staging "Alternative Pig and Poultry LIVE" at Stoneleigh on Wednesday, 13 May, next year. The event is billed as 'A very different affair'. It is a brand extension of the biennial British Pig and Poultry Fair.

British Pig Health Scheme
Morrisons Spalding plant - asssessments scheduled for Friday 12 December will be moved to Friday 19 December due to unforeseen circumstances. BPEX apologies for any inconvenience.

International News:
EU GM Approval
If the European Commission approves Roundup Ready 2 GM soya as early as next Friday - which it could - it will be a record response and it will demonstrate Brussels’ determination to protect European Union livestock farmers from soaring soya prices.

From next year major soya-growing countries will be growing considerable acreages of second generation Roundup Ready soybean and if Europe has not approved the variety, shippers may refuse to import soya from these countries in case shipments fall foul of Europe’s zero tolerance rule.

Export Bulletin
For all the latest news on the export front, click here.

International Prices
Click here for the latest international prices

Tailpiece – Chocolate Bacon?
Two favourite foods – chocolate and bacon – have been combined in a bar which has chunks of applewood smoked bacon in milk chocolate. It sold out within 48 hours of going on sale at Selfridges.