NPA confirms pig culling has begun in small numbers
The National Pig Association (NPA) has said it is aware that culling has started on a handful of farms, with fears this could become more widespread “unless solutions are found.”
The news comes after representatives from across the UK pig sector came out to protest at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester to raise awareness of the current issues and to seek support from government.
NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said: “We know of a handful of farmers who have had to cull some pigs – around 600 we are aware of in total.
“There has been no mass culling yet – although I do believe this is the next stage in the process. As you can imagine this is hugely difficult for the farmers involved and to date none are willing to speak to the press about it.”
NPA have reported that some farmers are choosing to use knackermen, as “they just can’t bear to do it themselves and don’t want ask their staff to do it.”
The association have reported farmers having pigs rolled at a rate of 25-30% per week. NPA have warned that, at this rate, “contingency plans [will become] exhausted, the pressure will build, requiring a large-scale welfare cull.”
According to NPA, processors have stressed that they are operating at the maximum capacity that staff numbers allow and, in some cases, they have taken steps to ease the backlog by putting on extra kills, delivering lower returns to producers in order to keep things moving.
“We need rapid improvement”
NPA chairman Rob Mutimer added: “There are now producers actively euthanising piglets – they have run out of room.”
Mutimer went on to say that the current issues are much worse on some farms than others. He said: “Things need to improve rapidly before the next pinch point.
“Pigs are normally being brought forward now ahead of Christmas. We must see some improvement in all supply chains soon, otherwise we are going to head into the reduced kill at Christmas and people won’t be able to cope as they have already filled their contingency plans.”
NPA continues to seek help from the government and the supply chain to help ease the backlog, in particular:
- It is calling on government to introduce temporary visas for butchers to increase capacity in pork plants, at least in the short-term
- It is asking retailers to prioritise British pork over imported EU pork – amid concerns retailers are turning to cheap pork currently available in large volumes in the EU, which, in some cases is diverting essential butchery resource.
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