With little singing experience, but fuelled by enthusiasm and bacon sandwiches, the farmers hope to bolster the affection for traditional British pork products from pies to sausages, in song.

Farmers are losing more than £20 on every pig sold (US$39.09). The UK pig industry is under severe financial pressure due to unprecedented rises in feed prices a factor of soaring global cereal prices and higher fuel costs. Competition from biofuels, increased demand from Asia and drought in Australia are also to blame and the .

"It's a lighthearted way of drawing attention to a very serious issue,"said Yorkshire pig farmer Richard Longthorp. "If this doesn't stop, then as sure as eggs is eggs, then our industry is going to disappear," he added.

The song - which reworks Tammy Wynette's classic with a porcine theme - is intended to alert the public to a sector that producers say is being pushed to extinction by greedy supermarkets and rising feed prices.

The song goes:
"Stand by your ham. Sausages, pork and bacon
Help us stay in business, Because our pigs are worth it
Stand by your ham..."