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Welcome to this week's newsletter
We have 3 new features this week:
A Review of Large Group Housing
By Harold Gonyou and Lee Whittington. Prairie Swine Centre. Over the past 5 years the concept of large groups of grower-finisher pigs has expanded.
Summer Infertility - Part 3 of 4 - A Vets Perspective
Annie Davis from George Veterinary Group and Julia James from Larkmead Veterinary Group give us their perspective on the incidence of summer infertility, highlighting the main problems caused and key pointers on how you can help manage it on farm.
UK Pig Disease Quarterly Surveillance Report (to June 2007)
By Veterinary Laboratories Agency - This report monitors trends in the major endemic pig diseases and utilises the farmfile and VIDA (Veterinary Investigation Disease Analysis) databases.
Foot And Mouth Disease In The UK - Summary
The initial crisis caused by the foot and mouth outbreak seems to be coming to a close now. On Monday Livestock markets for cattle, sheep, and pigs were allowed to resume in England and Wales, outside of the Surveillance Zone in Surrey.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has also confirmed it has no objection to Merial re-starting manufacture of FMD vaccines despite the inconclusive reports seemingly putting the balance of blame in Merial's corner. Meanwhile Defra say they have received a new report from the Health and Safety Executive, but this will not be released until next week.
Read all the news here...(regularly updated)
 United Kingdom
PMWS and PDNS in the UK
UK - Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) Quarterly Surveillance report on PMWS and PDNS from April to June 2007.
Shoppers 'face meat price rises'
UK - Meat prices are set to increase as farmers pass on the burden of surging costs, a report has suggested. The warning comes days after consumers were told to prepare for rising bread prices as wheat costs hit records.
The looming food crisis
UK - Land that was once used to grow food is increasingly being turned over to biofuels. This may help us to fight global warming - but it is driving up food prices throughout the world and making life increasingly hard in developing countries.
Scottish livestock industry close to meltdown
SCOTLAND - Urgent prices rises are needed to avoid a meltdown of the Scottish livestock industry, the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) has announced.
UFU in push for price rises
NORTHERN IRELAND - The Ulster Farmers' Union will meet all the UK's leading supermarkets over the next fortnight armed with a report from the leading business consultancy Deloitte.
NVZ up for discussion in East Mids
The NFU has organised a series of meetings in the East Midlands on Nitrate Vulnerable Zones.
Assurance scheme IPPC-inspection bolt-on delayed
UK - A farm assurance bolt-on for IPPC inspections will not be available until spring 2009 at the earliest.
 Ireland
Feed price increases could cripple the Irish pig sector
IRELAND - The massive increase in feed prices has the potential to cripple the Irish pig sector, producers warned this week.
IFA Warns Us Not To Exaggerate Food Commodity Prices
IRELAND - IFA President Padraig Walshe said that some food commodity prices have risen substantially in recent months, and while this will have some impact on food prices and general inflation in Ireland, the impact should not be exaggerated.
 New Zealand
Imports threaten pork industry
NEW ZEALAND - A Massey University specialist in animal diseases says MAF's biosecurity risk analysis for the pig disease PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome) falls well short of what is required.
Pork belly trading pit slaughtered
NEW ZEALAND - The once raucous pork-belly trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, featured in the 1980s Dan Aykroyd-Eddie Murphy comedy Trading Places, will fall silent, swept aside by the rush to do business on screens.
 United States
Weekly Outlook: Pork Industry
US - The next 12 months appear to be near breakeven for pork producers with continuing uncertainties in feed prices and export markets, especially with regard to the potential for more Chinese pork purchases as disease pressure may reduce Chinese production, said a Purdue University Extension marketing specialist.
Weekly Roberts Report
US - Agricultural US Commodity Market Report by Mike Roberts, Commodity Marketing Agent, Virginia Tech.
Total red meat production up from last year
US - Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 3.94 billion pounds in July, up 4 percent from the 3.79 billion pounds produced in July 2006.
Market Preview: The China Connection
US - Weekly U.S. Market Preview w/e 31st August, provided by Steve R. Meyer, Ph.D., Paragon Economics, Inc.
Hog Outlook: Hogs Find Way to Markets
US Weekly Hog Outlook, 31st August 2007 - Weekly review of the US hog industry, written by Glenn Grimes and Ron Plain.
USDA reviewing radio frequency tags for national livestock ID
US - The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is reviewing several proposals for the production and delivery of 1.5 million radio frequency ear tags that are compliant with the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) standards.
US officials in Beijing to discuss ractopamine concerns
US - This week, a US/Chinese Agricultural Working Group is discussing ractopamine concerns in Beijing. While ractopamine is permitted in pork production in 23 countries, it’s banned by China and 159 other nations. China refuses to import hogs with the growth promoter.
Swine Health Issues Concern Producers and Regulators
TEXAS - The three little pigs may have built houses of brick, wood or straw to protect themselves against the wolf, but swine producers now work with pen design, housing construction and biosecurity measures to protect pigs against another wolf: wild (feral) hogs that can carry and transmit disease.
Net Farm Income Expected To Set New Record
WASHINGTON, DC - Although the Agriculture Department has revised its 2007 net farm income estimate up $20 billion to a record $87.1 billion on the strength of higher livestock and crop prices, the glass is only half full for America’s farmers.
Study suggests drug seepage not an environmental problem
US - Environmental activists have long criticised pharmaceutical use by hog farmers and veterinarians in treating swine disease, saying pharmaceuticals are being overused and errantly contaminating the environment.
Foreign meat to carry labels soon
US - New labels that consumers will see attached to meat, produce and peanuts beginning next fall could shed light on something many food producers would rather leave in the dark - the national origin of the food Americans buy.
 China
China Sees Control of Pig Disease
CHINA - The government of China says much progress has been made in efforts to control the spread of blue-ear pig disease. Government officials said last week that forty-seven thousand pigs were infected in July.
Vaccine production boost as China steps up PRRS control
BEIJING - China will increase the monthly production of blue-ear pig disease vaccine to 300 million ml in September from 250 million ml to meet nationwide demand, said an official with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).
Beijing, Fearing Unrest, Moves to Curb Sharp Rise in Food Prices
CHINA - Steep food prices have pushed inflation in China to its highest level in a decade this summer, causing hardship for millions of low-income families.
 Malaysia
States told to set up pig farm zones quickly
MALAYSIA - State governments should speed up the process of allocating areas for pig farming, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid.
 Canada
Pork Commentary: Mr. Smithfield Goes to China
CANADA - This weeks North American Pork Commentary from Jim Long.
Mandatory COOL Accelerates Need for Expanded Canadian Hog Slaughter Capacity
CANADA - The chair of Manitoba Pork Council says, the sooner hog slaughtering capacity can be expanded in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the better it will be for the entire Canadian hog industry, writes Bruce Cochrane.
Hog Industry Investigation Remains On Schedule
CANADA - The Manitoba Clean Environment Commission reports its investigation of the environmental sustainability of the province's hog industry is on schedule and is expected to conclude by year's end, writes Bruce Cochrane.
Producers Encouraged to Consider Alternatives as Feed Grain Costs Rise
CANADA - A Manitoba based swine nutritionist says hog producers will be looking at a wide range of alternatives, as the cost of the more traditional feed ingredients continue to rise, writes Bruce Cochrane.
Centrifuge separation offers manure nutrient management option
CANADA - Centrifuge manure separation, a technology which is new to western Canada, is proving an effective option for reducing the phosphorus content of swine manure.
 Georgia
Abkhazia Culls Pigs to Fight Swine Fever
GEORGIA - Authorities in breakaway Abkhazia said that they would cull the local pig population to contain the spread of a devastating pig disease, African Swine Fever (ASF).
 European Union
EU pig prices: Confidence returns!
EU - Pig prices are heralded to develop in a friendly way now, after they were found to stabilise across the European finished pig market last week.
 Viet Nam
Epidemic causes pork price to skyrocket
VIET NAM - The pork price in HCMC is skyrocketing as widespread pig diseases in the past eight months have causes the herd to contract and the supply to dwindle, saud an an official from the city's Department of Trade.
Province declares itself pig disease-free, resumes pork trade
VIET NAM - Authorities in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam said Thursday with no new blue ear disease outbreaks among pigs in the last 21 days, pork transport and trade had resumed.
 Armenia
Specialists fear outbreak of deadly plague among Armenian swine
ARMENIA - In the last 10 days nearly 800 pigs have been destroyed in the provinces of Lori and Tavush of Armenia in suspicion that the swine could be infected of African plague (African Swine Fever).
 Philippines
Pork exporter still not fully accredited
PHILIPPINES - One of the two companies tapped to pioneer the country’s first attempt at exporting pork has failed to get permanent accreditation from the government because it still lacks some requirements, said a meat inspection official.
 Germany
Crisis point fast approaching for the German pig industry
GERMANY - For 10 consecutive months German pig producers have been operating at an average loss of €7 per weaner sold.
 South Africa
Pigs to be culled to combat outbreak
SOUTH AFRICA - Five thousand pigs from small farms in Caledon, Worcester and Malmesbury will have to be culled during the next few weeks to combat the outbreak of a deadly porcine disease.
 Taiwan, Province of China
World's heaviest pig sacrificed
TAIWAN - The world's heaviest pig has been sacrificed as part of a religious ceremony, sparking fury among animal welfare groups.
 Uganda
Bageya turns to pigs
UGANDA - Former Busia resident district commissioner George Patrick Bageya has turned to rearing pigs on his 100-acre farm.
Company news
Breakthrough discovery signals new hope in the battle against livestock parasites
BELGIUM - At last week's World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) Congress, Novartis Animal Health presented promising data on what is potentially the first new livestock anthelmintic class in 25 years, offering renewed hope for farmers struggling with the devastating economic effects of parasitic worms in livestock.
VMD 'Has No Objection' To Merial Re-Starting FMD Vaccines
UK - The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has confirmed it has no objection to Merial re-starting manufacture of foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccines from stored, inactivated antigens at our Pirbright Centre.
JSR Genetics: On Target For Success In The Ukraine
UKRAINE - Encouraging productivity figures from Vira 1 - the newly established pig enterprise located in the Volyn region of the Ukraine -are already indicating the wisdom of their recent investment in JSR Genetic's breeding stock.
CALLMATIC 2 is 'most promising' says US judges
GLOBAL - An innovative electronic sow feeding system for group-housed sows has been given the thumbs-up by US pig producers.
Web link shows pig farmers how to save feed costs
UK - With hard-pressed British pig farmers facing sharp increases in feed costs — in addition to pressure on pig prices caused by foot-and-mouth disease restrictions — Yorkshire-based pig-breeding company, ACMC, has set up a web link offering a practical way of making significant feed savings.
That's all for this week!
Ed. |
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