Page 568 of articles about news in Swine news

USDA revised second-quarter hog prices downward, to reflect price weakness in April and negative effects of H1N1 flu virus in May. June prices are expected to recover from May lows. First-quarter U.S. pork exports were 1.033 billion pounds, 6.6 percent below a year ago, but more than 30 percent above first-quarter 2007. First-quarter U.S. pork imports were 205 million pounds, 5.5 percent lower than last year, with imports from Mexico accounting for a significant share of the decline. Live swine imports were almost 40 percent lower in the first quarter than a year ago.

China and the Philippines have emphasized that their ban on Canadian pork imports are restricted to hogs and pork from Alberta only.Both countries have enforced the restriction following the incidence of of a H1N1 infection in a hog herd in central Alberta's Clearwater County.

Effective Jan. 1, 2011, the new law will prohibit gestation crates for sows and veal crates for calves. LD 1021 was sponsored by Senator John Nutting (D-Androscoggin County), Senate Chair of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. It passed the committee and both chambers unanimously.

The new law of alimentary safety adopted by China, which comes into effect on June 1st 2009, establishes, among other points, that all companies that export food and drink to China must be inspected by the national authorities. (Original in Spanish. Read Google translation here).

Last year Russian pork production totaled to 2m tons, while the consumption was 2.75m tons. The shortage was offset by the imported meat. If the consumption is down 20%, the demand for pork will amount to 2.2m tons. Taking into consideration an 8% domestic production growth, it will be the volume Russian hog breeders will produce. Thus, we may refuse pork imports at all.

Last September researchers with University of Manitoba launched a two year project aimed at recovering magnesium ammonium phosphate, or struvite, from raw liquid or anaerobically digested hog manure for use as phosphorus fertilizer.

Feeding high levels of distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is not only proving to reduce feed costs for Canadian swine producers, but is also lending to "excellent" growth performance, according to Eduardo Beltranena, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.

Legislators in New York introduced a new bill that would prohibit the confinement of breeding pigs, veal calves and egg-laying hens by 2015. New York State Assembly member Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, introduced the bill.

The Italian Ministry of Agriculture was developing plans to assist Italy’s ailing pig breeding sector, which is being squeezed by continued high input prices and sharply reduced output prices. As a result, the Ministry has proposed significant government assistance for the pig breeders, which it calls “the pillars of Italian food industry.”

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has ordered the Bureau of Animal Industry to establish livestock disease-free zones in Mindanao to revive hopes of exporting pork to Singapore .

Scientists at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) have mapped the full genetic sequence of the virus found in swine from Alberta-a development that will help scientists around the world better understand the virus and its affects on animals.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture show an increase of 26% in meat consumption in the last 10 years, reaching 81.3 kg/person per year. The report indicates that every year the Chileans consume an average of 33.3 kilos of poultry, 25 kilos of pig meat, 22.1 kilos of beef and 900 grams of ovine, equine and caprine meat, which adds up to a total of 81.3 kilos. (Original in Spanish. Read Google translation here).

Ukraine has banned hog and pork product imports from regions of Southern Federal District of Russia. Pursuant to the Head of State Committee on Veterinary Medicine of Ukraine, Pyotr Verbitsky, the ban is linked with the registered case of African swine fever in Rostov region, which is almost 200 kilometers away from the border with the republic.

The national consortium for agriculture, alimentation, animal welfare and environment will be made up of two research organizations, CIRAD y INRA, and four schools of higher education, Montpellier SupAgro, the National Veterinary School of Toulouse, AgroCampus Ouest and AgroParisTech. (Original in French. Read Google translation here).

Russia has reported an outbreak of African swine fever at a private farm in the Stavropol region. A total of 79 out of 168 pigs have been found dead.

The Statistics Office of the European Union (Eurostat) has just published figures referring to the slaughter of animals during 2008.