Page 585 of articles about news in Swine news

Rising demand for locally grown meat and falling grains prices has led to a turnaround in the fortunes of WA pig farmers. About 18 months ago, producers across Australia were preparing to cut their breeding herds as total farm losses of up to $5 million were recorded each week.

Santa Catarina, the principal state producer of swine in Brazil, could again begin exporting pig meat to Russia, after the ban which was initiated at the end of 2005. (Original in Portuguese. Read Google translation here).

The Spanish government have passed new normatives with the aim of stabilizing the zones which have reached a very low prevalence of Aujeszky’s disease, and of continuing to advance the qualification of herds in order to increase the territory which is free from the disease. (Original in Spanish. Read Google translation here).

The Council has taken note of the request made by the Belgian delegation supported by several delegations regarding the situation on the pig meat market. The Belgian delegation drew the Council’s attention and the Commission to the difficult situation on the pig meat market and called upon the Commission to urgently introduce support for private storage and the temporary introduction of export refunds for fresh and frozen pig meat. The United-Kingdom and the Netherlands opposed to any additional support measures. The Commission representative stated that its services were closely monitoring the market and that additional support measures were not judged relevant at this stage.

Québec pork producers were the first in the agricultural world to voluntarily adopt an agro- environmental plan back in 1997. Under its terms, they have been governed ever since by some of the most stringent regulations in effect anywhere. The recent survey results allowed the FPPQ to review its action plan and to determine that a number of important objectives had been reached.

Comission Decision of 20 March 2009 amending Decision 2003/135/EC as regards the eradication and emergency vaccination plans for classical swine fever in feral pigs in certain areas of the Federal States of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Senate has approved Ron Kirk as the United States Trade Representative this week. This is a cabinet position and Ambassador Kirk will serve as President Barack Obama's principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on trade issues.

Comission Decision of 20 March 2009 amending Decision 2008/855/EC as regards animal health control measures relating to classical swine fever in Germany.

Danish Crown's slaughterhouse in Horsens has been temporarily closed following fears that a pig sent to slaughter may have been suffering from highly contagious swine fever. The pig was from a farm near Århus. There are relatively frequent swine fever fears in Denmark, but the country has not seen an outbreak of the disease since 1933.

To partially offset the slight decline in Philippine hog production in 2008, total pork imports increased by 38 percent from the previous year, mostly pork fats and skins for further processing. In October 2008, the Ebola Reston Virus in local pigs was initially reported in two commercial farms in the Philippines. The Philippine government announced plans to immediately depopulate the affected hog farm to prevent the further spread of the virus. San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage conglomerate in the Philippines, announced plans for a $100 million expansion of their hog operation.

This natural ability of some ancient natural oils -- from geraniums, cloves, wild oregano, cinnamon and thyme, for example -- offers promise in finding alternatives to antibiotics used in animal feed, according to researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) who are leading the study in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Guelph. The first focus of AAFC's research has been testing these oils as alternatives to dietary antibiotics in swine production. The results showed that many of the essential oils killed the "bad" bacteria without destroying the "good" bacteria in the intestinal tract.

New salmonella cases have been found on Finnish pork and poultry farms, as authorities grapple to deal with the country's worst outbreak in 14 years. Finnish food safety authority Evira said on Wednesday the bacteria has been found on two more poultry farms and a pig farm, bringing to 13 the total number of farms identified since February, when the outbreak began.

Livestock producers who find organic production an entirely different animal than what they're used to can now turn to a Purdue University resource for help. The Organic and Alternative Livestock Production Systems Web site provides a wealth of management and production tips for transitioning into the growing industry segment. Consumers also can learn more about organic products and where to purchase them in Indiana.

The Russian Government has reported on the agreement with Russian oil companies that in spring 2009 these companies will sell diesel fuel and low grade gasoline to farmers at fixed prices. Prices are fixed at the January 15, 2009 level: 13,823 RUR ($395) per metric ton of diesel fuel and 12,589 RUR ($360) per metric ton for gasoline.

The seventeen members of the new Pig Meat Supply Chain Task Force, set up to identify the biggest challenges faced by the industry and suggest solutions, met for the first time yesterday. The group is working to improve the resilience of the supply chain through: • investigating how a standardised code of practice for clearer labelling could be introduced; • improving pig herd health; • examining how to increase the amount of produce reared to higher British welfare standards bought through Public Sector procurement; and • addressing the regulatory burden on the supply chain.

Blue-ear pig disease has spread to new areas of the central Quang Nam province of Vietnam, said the Animal Health Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Wednesday. The epidemic has struck pig herds in 31 communes of four districts of the province, said the department.