Page 567 of articles about news in Swine news

In a major turnaround from nearly going extinct a few years ago, Welsh pigs are set to have their own breed society and a Government-backed scheme aimed at commercial producers and increasing breeding sows from 400 to 2,000.

Fresh or chilled beef and veal production for January - April 2009 totaled to 21.3 thousand tons, down 41.6% from the same period of 2008 (36.5 thousand tons). Thereat, April production output was 6.1 thousand tons, as Ukrainian State Statistics Committee reports.

The Livestock Marketing Fairness Act, S. 1086, a new bill which its authors claim will "stop years of unfair and manipulative meat-packer practices that negatively impact ranchers and farmers," was introduced May 20 by U.S. Senators Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

A new internet portal has been launched today by FAO that will serve as a one-stop-shop for individuals and organizations searching for the latest information about the welfare of livestock. The Gateway to Farm Animal Welfare is designed to provide a reliable information conduit on legislation and research findings in the sector, as well as on animal welfare standards, practices and policies. Expected users are farmers and government officials, lawmakers, researchers, the livestock and food industry and non-governmental organizations.

Hog raisers and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have agreed to consider initiatives to improve productivity during a meeting in Quezon City. In a statement, the DA said it would step up the construction of cold storage plants, slaughterhouses and other postharvest facilities to cut growers’ postproduction losses and allow them to improve the storage of their products from their farms to the retail markets.

Australian crop production increased in 2007-08 in comparison to the previous year, but generally remains at among the lowest levels in five years, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Drought conditions and industry adjustments have also lead to a decline in livestock, with sheep and lambs at yet another historic low. Pig numbers fell to 2.4 million, their lowest level since 1982, reflecting continued pressure on the industry from production costs and imports.

The latest figures, covering the first three months of the year, show that exports of piglets from Denmark increased by 34 % compared to the same period last year. In total almost 1.7 mill piglets were exported during the three months.

The University of California (UC) has established the UC Animal Welfare Advisory Council to review issues of animal welfare related to animal agriculture and to promote the development of recommendations based on sound science to improve the welfare of livestock and poultry.

In its annual publication ‘Livestock, Meat and Eggs in the Netherlands’, edition 2009, the Productschappen Vee, Vlees en Eieren (PVE; Dutch Product Boards for Livestock, Meat and Eggs) provide a survey of the major developments in the Dutch livestock, meat and egg sectors. Text, figures and illustrations are used in the publication to provisionally assess the results of 2008.

Agriculture Minister David Carter has called for an urgent review of the welfare code for pigs after an animal welfare group secretly filmed alleged ill-treatment at a Levin pig farm.

Scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR), Norwich, have shown for the first time that salmonella relies on glucose for its survival; raising the possibility of vaccine protection against this food-borne illness and other disease-causing bacteria, including super bugs.

The Boards of Directors of PERDIGÃO S.A. and SADIA S.A. inform to their shareholders and the market that an association agreement has been executed today by and between both listed companies and the holding company HFF Participações S.A., which will hold the majority of common shares issued by SADIA, in order to allow, by means of the successive transactions described below, the combination of the operations of PERDIGÃO and SADIA. From the Association will result BRF - Brasil Foods S.A., with head offices in the city of Itajaí, Santa Catarina.

Scientists are investigating if alternative pig breeds can supply new, tasty meat products. Senior scientist Hanne Christine Bertram from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus University, is the leader of a 3½-year project that includes research in the woolly Mangalitza pig from Hungary and high-pressure processing of pork.

As Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported on Monday, in January-April 2009 Russia had produced 1m tons of meat, i.e. up 11.8% from the same period last year. Ready-to-cook meat product manufacturing output was up 7.2% to 442 thousand tons.

As of December 2008, there were an estimated 153 million pigs in the EU, which is 4 per cent lower than 12 months previously. But of greater concern is the fact that the breeding herd was reduced by 6 per cent to just over 14 million animals. Sow numbers in Germany, Denmark and Spain fell by 5 per cent, while there has been a similar decline in the number of in-pig gilts right across the EU.

The Department of Agriculture is to launch a new salmonella scheme in a bid to tackle worrying levels of the disease in the national pig herd. The EU average for salmonella taken from lymph node samples is 10.3pc. However, the figure for Ireland stands at between 15 and 20pc. Ireland tops the table when it comes to carcass contamination at slaughter, which stands at 20pc. The EU average is 8.3pc.