Finding Latest Feed Info
In its latest report the USDA stated that world wheat production is relatively unchanged from the previous month’s forecast of 682.1million tonnes, with  Argentina’s crop estimate cuts being offset by increases in production for Russia and Ukraine. CBOT Soyameal prices have fallen slightly to £208.33/t for August 09.  CBOT soybean futures fell over the previous week to £246.56/t on Friday 13 February, as profit taking from the previous week’s gains and bearish weather forecasts for Argentina put pressure on the market.

Marketing News

Record Breaking Entry
The Three Counties Showground in Malvern saw 47 butchers entering a staggering 314 products this week.  The overall winner was a Young Butcher, aged 22 from H Dayus Family Butchers who scored a perfect 100/100 with his Traditional Pork Sausage.  The quality of all the products entered was so good that 124 gold awards were given and in total 92% of the entries received either a gold, silver or bronze award.   It was also a record for the number of Young Butchers, who entered the Young Sausage Maker category of which 7 out of the 26 entered achieving gold awards. 

To enter the next event on 11th March at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton go to www.porkforbutchers.com or call Jackie 01908 844107

Calling YOUNG Butchers
BBC Three visited the BPEX product evaluation event at the Three Counties Showground this week and drummed up lots of interest in their search for the UK's top young talent.  The ambitious new television programme, Young Butcher of the Year 2009, celebrates the millions of young British workers whose skills aren't the kind to win them a million pound recording contract.  Young Butcher of the Year is part of a new BBC Three series celebrating young trade talent across the country. It’s been dubbed ‘Chop Idol’ and it will celebrate our country’s young unsung heroes. If you are a talented young butcher we want to hear from you. Or if you know someone who fits the bill please get in touch.  We are looking for someone who can be a true ambassador for their trade, who is aged 16-25 years, up for a challenge and wants to show the world their skills!  Want to know more? Or  apply for an application form call 03700 101 616* or send a SAE to Young Talent Casting Team, Room 3136, BBC Television Centre, London W12 7RJ.   Age limit: Applicants must be 16 years of age and over on the closing date   Closing date: 6th March 2009

Facebook and Twitter Back Pork
Social internet sites Facebook & Twitter.com show support for the British pig industry.  Facebook has a number of pork interested groups set up who are showing various types of support for the plight of British pork farmers which includes, labelling and welfare issues, or just an appreciation of cooking with pork. If you wish to view these groups on Facebook their names are,  MMMMMMM Pork! - 225 members; Pork Belly (Roasted) appreciation society - 102 members; Great British Roast Pork - 53 members; Eat British Pork - Ban the sow stalls worldwide - 359 members; Abolish section 36, Trade Description Act 1968 - 170 members; I'm supporting Jamie Oliver's campaign to 'Save our Bacon' - 534 members.

Also Twitter.com a type of social chat room, has had 832 'tweets' in relation to pork in the last 4 weeks on the following subjects,68% around cooking pork, 13% around British Pork

Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the Week: Comfortable Piglets
When checking piglets, take a moment to notice how they are laying. Are they on their side with straight legs, side by side and just touching, or are they laying on their fronts? The way that pigs lay is a good indicator of how comfortable they are, even if they appear fine, if they are not lying on their sides with their legs stretched out, it could indicate a problem which needs investigating.

Open Farm Sunday – 1
Regatta, an Open Farm Sunday principle sponsor will be exhibiting at the Outdoors Show at the NEC, Birmingham on 27th – 29th March. They are really keen to help promote Open Farm Sunday to all the visitors and are planning to have a Claas tractor on their stand to give it the WOW factor! In addition to this, they would really like to have some farmers to help out on the stand to promote Open Farm Sunday and answer any questions. Regatta will provide entry tickets, and it will be a fun day out to see the latest outdoor gadgets and clothing, as well as promote your Open Farm Sunday events! If you would be willing to help out on one of the days please contact Roly Puzey via email roly.puzey@leafuk.org or telephone 07764 201333

Open Farm Sunday – 2
If you would like to know more about Open Farm Sunday and would like to meet other farmers who've hosted an Open Farm Sunday event and learn from their experiences, then come along to one of our workshops. We will be giving you lots of great ideas on a whole range of topics including - Generating interest and publicity; Avoiding jargon, handling tricky questions and awkward visitors; Activities to make farm walks fun and memorable; H&S and lots more. The workshops will run from 2pm until 4.30pm and will consist of a farm walk, followed by a cup of tea and slice of cake! To see when and where these workshops are taking place click here or contact LEAF on 02476 413911.

Preparing Pigs for Slaughter
Housing, careful handling, group size, stocking levels as well as loading and transportation can all have a major influence on the welfare of the finished pig and financial returns for the producer.

ADAS, together with BPEX and Vetscore, are to hold 10 early evening workshops (5 pm to 7.30 pm) with refreshments from early February which are free to all producers, unit staff and members of the wider pig industry.

Besides focusing on the on-farm management issues, the most common problems seen in the abattoir will be shown and discussed how they impact on the health and welfare of the live pig.

Meetings are taking place in Yorkshire on the following dates: 24th Pocklington and 24th Boroughbridge. If you are interested in attending please contact Lynne Holmes on 01522 751374 or email lynne.holmes@adas.co.uk  to book your place. You will be able to collect PIPR points at these events.

Monthly VLA Reports
Check out the latest update from the VLA by clicking here, highlights include:

• Porcine proliferative enteritis and gastric ulceration identified in wasting pigs with signs suspicious of PMWS/PCVAD
• Swine influenza outbreak in growing pigs
• Postweaning diarrhoea reported
• Mulberry Heart Disease
• Erysipelas in outdoor breeding gilts
• Polyarthritis due to Streptococcus dysgalactiae equisimilis in pre-weaned piglets

NVZ Guidance
A number of errors have been identified in leaflets published by the Environment Agency in October 2008. Two examples which are of importance to the pig industry are in the definition of ‘organic manure N field limit '(page 12) where ‘an annual upper limit of…’ needs to be replaced with ‘an upper limit in any 12 month period of…’ and in Table 2 (page 4) where in row 8, after ‘amino acids’ add (low protein diet), in row 9, delete (low protein diet). For full details contact the Environment Agency 08708 506 506.

Defra have also provided the following clarification; some farmers, believe they cannot include land under agri-environment agreements such as Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Stewardship Schemes, and also set-aside land when calculating their compliance with the Livestock Manure N Farm Limit of 170 kg N/ha per calendar year in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs). This is not correct. Such land can be included because it falls within the description “land under management agreements”.

Deadline Looms
Producers are reminded that the deadline for submission of 2008 Pollution Inventory returns is 28 February 2009. Producers can make returns on-line on the Pollution Inventory Electronic Data Capture (PIEDC) system. Alternatively, blank copies of the form and updated guidance documents are available to download from the Agency's website here or from your local Agency Area contact. Paper returns should be sent to your local Agency office.

NFU DG Steps Down
The NFU Director General, Richard Macdonald, has announced his intention to stand down from his post later this year.  The announcement was made to the NFU's Council.

Mr Macdonald, said: "It is a huge privilege to hold this job and I have greatly enjoyed all of my some 13 years in post.  However, I have decided the time has come to give a bit more time to my family and other interests and I hope also to find some fresh work challenges.”

National News:

Exports Hit £160m
Pork exports have shown a dramatic rise over the last year according to new figures from BPEX.

Exports of fresh and frozen pork have risen by 20% over the last year, up nearly 20,000 tonnes to 118,300. Bacon exports also showed a big jump, going from 12,000 tones to more than 33,000 tonnes. Offals showed an 18% rise hitting 19,000 tonnes with nearly 40 per cent of that going to the Netherlands and almost 30% to Hong Kong.

The value figures are even more impressive with fresh and frozen pork up 42%, worth an extra £33 million while the value of offals are up 63% worth almost £3.5 million more. In total, exports of pork, processed pork products and offals were worth £160 million to the British industry.

BPEX Chief Executive Mick Sloyan said: “Exports are vital to the industry which is why BPEX is keen to expand the number of markets into which we sell. They have a very important role in adding value to both producers and processors.

“These impressive figures show that although sow carcase exports increased, the biggest rise was recorded for prime pork cuts.

“This is particularly encouraging following the restrictions put in place during the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2007. it also demonstrates the value of the Export Recovery Programme conducted by Defra and BPEX in early 2008.”

Tory Labelling Campaign
The Conservative party has launched a major campaign for honest labelling with backing from TV chef Clarissa Dickson-Wright. The campaigns include films which can be seen by clicking here. BPEX has also been campaigning for clear, honest and unambiguous labelling so consumers can make an informed choice. Proper labelling would go some way towards creating a more level playing field for English producers.

Pigs Featured on TV
Goldie's Brilliant Britain starring actor and drum and bass DJ Goldie, will be shown at 9am, 12noon, 5pm and 9pm on Tuesday 24th February on 'Blighty' which is on Sky 534 and Virgin 206.

The programme, which will be shown on BBC2 in the summer, features Alastair Butler and BPEX Foodservice Trade Sector Manager Tony Goodger.

International News:

Smithfield Restructures
Smithfield Foods' restructuring plan involving the closures of six pork processing plants and consolidation of independent operating companies reflects the company's ongoing efforts to integrate past acquisitions and improve cost structure — not the economic recession said President and CEO C. Larry Pope. He said Smithfield had been discussing such a plan for nearly a year, knowing the company was running several underutilised facilities and in many cases, plants also were duplicating operations, He said. "When we bought these companies, we knew we were going to have to rationalise some of these plants .It really has nothing to do with the recession."

Canadian Pig Census
The Canadian census of pigs on Jan. 1, 2009, was 12.4 million head, down 10 percent from last year and 17 percent down from the year before that according to a joint report by Statistics Canada and USDA. The Canadian breeding inventory, at 1.40 million head, was down 7 percent from last year and down 1 percent from last quarter. Market hog inventory, at 11 million head, was down 11 percent from last year and down 4 percent from last quarter.

Backing for Danish Piglet Producers
Danish Crown decided to lower the interest rate on contracts to finance purchase of piglets. The aim is to help farmers in the current difficult situation. It is nothing new that Danish Crown offers the suppliers to finance the purchase of piglets until they get slaughtered, but new is that the interest rate is halved from 7 to 3.5 percent. Contract financing typically will run over two to three months, from the purchase of the pigs until they are slaughtered. Danish Crown also decided to lower interest rates on interim payment of residual payments. The suppliers have the option to receive part of the residual payments against paying interest on the amount. (Sources, Landbrugsavisen, Danish Crown).

International Prices
Click here for the latest international prices