Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead has committed £700,000 of Scottish Government funding for four projects to be carried out over the next three years.

These are:

• A pig business network to improve benchmarking, collaboration and efficiencies across the supply chain;
  
• The appointment of a Pig Veterinary Adviser to offer practical on-farm advice on disease control and elimination;
  
• New guidance and one-to-one advice on slurry and waste management;
  
• Research to develop a test for mycotoxin zearalenone, a feed contaminant affecting breeding and growth rates, in pig tissues.

QMS has been asked to coordinate the projects on behalf of the Scottish Government and the Scottish pig industry.

QMS Industry Development Manager Andy McGowan said: “These projects can offer tangible, long term benefits for Scottish pig businesses.

“The pig business network will be run along similar lines to the Monitor Farm project for the cattle and sheep sectors, another initiative spearheaded by QMS and which continues to prove its worth to those directly and indirectly involved.

“The slurry and waste management project also offers excellent potential. There is an urgent need for pig producers to get straightforward guidance on the different options for managing wastes on their units so that they can comply with the new requirements for IPPC and NVZ rules. There may well be positive business opportunities here so we urgently need to explain the full range of options to inform their decisions and this funding will allow us to do this rapidly.

”Similarly, having a vet devoted to the needs of the pig sector will allow faster progress to be made in regional and national disease control and eradication, taking cost out of pig businesses.”

QMS has contributed to both the Pig Sector Task Force that was set up to recommend short-term solutions and a Strategic Review of the industry to examine long-term initiatives.

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