"It would be a shame if people believed that the power of one voice was all the poultry industry has to teach us," says Nick MacIvor of pig building specialist AM Warkup. "Poultry producers bring the same single mindedness to the way they apply husbandry methods to all aspects of meat and egg production."

The vast majority of broilers, ducks and turkeys are finished in standardised controlled- environment buildings and in most instances to a printed management guide.

"Given the prevailing feeling in the pig industry and the chronic need for significant investment in environmentally-controlled rearing and finishing accommodation - a similar approach as that practiced in the poultry industry - this could give as much of a lift and encouragement to pig farming as the NPA has.

"Such standardisation has also allowed arable farmers to invest in and gain from many aspects of the poultry industry without necessarily having the initial skills to go it alone. This is a lesson that I would urge the pig industry to benefit from - there are many arable farmers whose businesses would gain in all sorts of ways by returning to 'traditional' mixed farming," concludes Mr MacIvor.

Source: AM Warkup - 17th January 2006