Finding Latest Feed Info
LIFFE wheat futures have rallied since the previous report published on the 22nd December 2008 with prices closing £9/t higher at £107.75/t on Friday 2nd January 2009.  Wheat futures in the US have been supported by gains in soyabeans and weakness in the dollar whilst the maize market has made modest gains.

Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the week – Piglet Hernias
Improve creep temperature: This will prevent piglets lying on top of each other when huddling. Lying on top of each other can have two effects:

1) They can irritate and pull on the umbilical cord causing inflammation
2) One piglet lying on another increases the pressure in the abdominal cavity and any weak spot will be aggravated which may result in a hernia.

Reduce risk of navel ill: Infection can cause umbilical hernias so never cut or pull the umbilical cord. Leave them to dry naturally; iodine spray is a sensible measure to reduce infections.

Trained staff in the farrowing house: Only allow experienced staff to assist during farrowing; do not pull the piglets out with great force especially during a contraction.

Always pick piglets up by the back leg and support under the rib cage.

Cost of Production Workshop
Reducing the cost of production is essential to improve competitiveness; can this be achieved through co-op buying and co-op thinking like many dairy units do?

At this workshop Gaynor Wellwood will discuss how South Hams Dairy Co-Op started, what they achieve and the benefits a co-op can bring over and above group purchasing. Geoff Saville will also speak on pig co-ops in Europe and how group buying works. This is a great opportunity for producers in the South West to learn from a successful co-op, as well as providing the opportunity for discussion. It is an open workshop and everyone is welcome!

When: Tuesday 20th January 6:30pm, buffet to start
Where: The Devon Hotel, Matford, Exeter, EX2 8XU.

To book your place please contact Helen Thoday on 07973 701202 or email Helen.thoday@bpex.org.

Check Out VLA Reports
Monthly Veterinary Laboratory Agency (VLA) surveillance reports for pigs can be viewed on the BPEX website. The Defra Food and Farm Group funds the VLA’s pig surveillance work as part of the Veterinary Surveillance Strategy. Reports include enteric, respiratory, reproductive and systemic diseases as well as diseases of the nervous systems. To view the latest report click here.

Virtual Farm Walk
LEAF’s Virtual Farm Walk, aimed specifically at children, is now live! It is a great opportunity for youngsters to find out all about farming and the environment. There are lots of fun things to do on this walk, with fascinating facts about farms and the animals and plants that live on them. You can visit many different parts of the farm, meet the animals and look at the machinery. You can even go pond dipping! So dig out your virtual wellies and visit www.virtualfarmwalk.org

Marketing News

Popular Pork!
Many consumer magazines on sale this month are featuring pork in one way or another.  Waitrose: New In Season/Products/Ideas magazine states that all Waitrose pork is British and from outdoor bred pigs, including bacon, sausages and ready meals plus it features five recipes using either pork, bacon or sausages. 

And the Winter Cookbook features six recipes with a great picture of raw pork on the back page promoting their all British claim. 

Delicious features the Jamie Oliver programme in the TV Dinners section and there are a number of pork based recipes scattered throughout the magazine.

BBC Good Food features a question on how to cook pork chops, Phil Vickery is featured as a supporter of the Pigs Are Worth It campaign alongside information on the Jamie programme and James Martin cooks slow roasted belly of pork. 

Olive magazine features the Jamie programme in two articles and there is a feature on an award winning Norfolk butcher as one of their food heroes who makes Wild Boar sausages.

Learn to Cook Pork Properly
Fresh magazine features a 2page spread highlighting the competition and tour happening in February, where Liz McClarnon and BPEX’s Home Economist will be touring the country demonstrating how to ‘Cook Pork Properly’.  To win tickets to see this demo go to www.lovepork.co.uk and complete the entry form.

Jamie Oliver TV Programme
Support promotional material has been produced in the form of retail on pack stickers to be used by a couple of the top five multiples; vinyls, posters and recipe booklets for independent retailers will be distributed to over 5000 outlets by w/e 16th Jan.  For further details of these and the cutting specifications go to www.porkforbutchers.co.uk. The programme is on air on Thursday, January 29 at 9pm on Channel 4.

Bacon Connoisseurs Week
The third Bacon Connoisseurs week takes place in March, however we are calling on all producers of bacon to enter the competition to find Britain’s Connoissuer Bacon. Go to www.lovebacon.info for an entry form and more info on the week.

National News:

Radio Boost for Pigs
Westminster Hour on Radio 4, on Sunday, Jan 4, carried a lengthy piece on the pig industry based on the EFRA Committee – whose report is published next week. There was also an interview with producer Fred Henley who did a magnificent job of highlighting the problems faced by the industry.

Benn Backs Better Labelling
Supermarkets and companies need to label products more clearly to show consumers exactly where their food is coming from, says Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.
Mr Benn said British agriculture should produce as much as possible to ensure food security and urged people to "buy more British and eat more British" to create demand for home-grown goods.

But under current EU legislation a pork pie made from Danish pork could be labelled British if it was processed in this country - a system he described as "nonsense".

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, he said the Government was pressing for improvements to European rules to show where an animal is born, reared and slaughtered.

He also said he was planning to meet representatives of the food industry in a bid to bring in voluntary country of origin labelling.

RSPCA Campaign
The RSPCA is launching a campaign on Monday urging the major retailers to adopt agreed definitions of production, such as free range, outdoor bred and outdoor reared.

BPEX has been working with the RSPCA on the issue as labelling is an extremely important issue for the British pig industry. The need for clear, honest and unambiguous labelling of pork and pork products has been at the centre of the British pig industry’s activity in recent years. More recently there has been growing public interest in this and particularly the definitions behind the use of terms such as “free range”, and “outdoor reared”.

NADIS Latest
It has long been recognised that the outdoor stockman’s equivalent of a power washer is a box of matches with burning of bedding and moving of arcs applied in farrowing areas to prevent the carry over of disease from one batch to the next.

However, in persistent weather that has been a feature of the last month or so, it can prove very difficult to burn bedding even using an accelerant such as diesel oil or paraffin.

In such circumstances the only option – which must be applied – is to manually remove the old bed from the paddock and transfer it to a midden.

Cold, wet weather will tend to create stress on the young piglet and poor hygiene will open the door to infectious disease.

Virgin Backs British
First Class breakfasts on Virgin Trains will be made of first class British produce. The highest quality pork sausages, from outdoor reared pigs, made with fresh herbs and natural casings, form part of the breakfast on all Pendolino trains to and from London Euston until 09:59 on weekdays. The sausages will be served alongside outdoor reared sweet cure Suffolk Crown bacon with free range Yorkshire Farm eggs on a potato rosti.

The meat for the sausages comes from outdoor reared Hampshire Cross Bred pigs, sourced from farms in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and East Anglia. The bacon is also from outdoor reared pigs and is processed by Suffolk Crown in Bury St Edmunds.

Making Sense of Volatile Markets
The British livestock industry has been through a volatile time over the last year as a result of the turbulence in global commodity markets, but what does 2009 have in store?

Trying to make sense of it all can be a daunting task but that is what Outlook 2009 conference is aiming to do.

The event is jointly hosted by BPEX and EBLEX and includes speakers of international repute.

The morning session will include Richard Brown of GIRA Consulting who will examine global corporate strategies in the meat industry.
He will be joined by Prof Robert Pickard, Chairman of Which? to look at the place of red meat in a balanced diet and Defra chief scientific advisor Prof Robert Watson who will tackle the challenges facing the industry such as climate change, the environment, food production and security.

In the afternoon, parallel sessions will cover the outlook for the pig market and for cattle and sheep. Speakers here include Karsten Fleming, economic analyst for the Danish Meat Association and Padraig Brennan, senior business analyst with Bord Bia.

Head of the economic and policy analysis group for AHDB meat services Stephen Rossides said: “Last year dramatically highlighted the uncertainties and growing volatility on world markets and has also brought to the fore the issue of food security.
“While 2009 is likely to be calmer, important challenges remain and we shall seek to explore these together. Anyone seeking to make sense of these developments and challenges will want to be at Outlook 2009.”

Outlook 2009 takes place on Tuesday, February 3, at One Great George Street, Westminster. For further information contact Rita Webb on 01908 844138, email: rita.webb@ahdbms.org.uk.

International News:

Labelling Hits US Pig Trade
Country of Origin Labelling has hit the trade in live pigs in North America. For example, the United States imported more than 10 million Canadian hogs and pigs in 2007 and the total for 2008 was just over 9 million. Translating the fourth-quarter figure to an annual equivalent suggests 2009 live swine imports will be roughly 6.5 million to 7 million head, the lowest tally since 2002.

Pigs in Profit in US
Modest gains in hog prices and lower cost of production should return hog producers to profitability in 2009 after six consecutive quarters of losses, according to Purdue University Extension Economist Chris Hurt.
In 2008, the estimated cost for average farrow-to-finish producers was near $53 per live hundredweight with prices about $48, resulting in losses of about $5 per hundredweight or near $15 per head. For 2009, costs are expected to approach $50 with prices about $51, for profits of $1 per live hundredweight or about $3 per head, Hurt predicted in a report.

International Prices
Click here for the latest international prices