BPEX Weekly: November 27 2009

Marketing News

South West Winter Fair

This is being held on December 7 at Sedgemoor Auction Centre, Bridgwater, Devon and for the first time they are running a Sausage Competition, which BPEX is sponsoring.  For further information, click here.

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The countries racecourses are looking to source regional sausages for the food offering within the Jockey Club enclosure.  So next time you go racing check out the sausage & mash in the Jockey Club enclosure.

The Traditional British Sausage is aiming to achieve a PDO/PGI status, after a change in the application criteria.

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BPEX Foodservice Sector Manager Tony Goodger was a member of the advisory group for the provision of food and food services to the Olympic Games.

The group includes Sustain, Freedom Foods, NFU and the Office of the Mayor of London

Tony said there was a commitment to use the Red Tractor, which enshrines the five freedoms and assures high standards of pig welfare, as the standard for procuring pig meat products.

Compassion in World Farming is campaigning for Freedom Foods to be the minimum instead.

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Sainsbury and Tesco are offering a Buy one now and buy one later deal.

Tesco has unveiled a shock new eco marketing ploy - telling customers to "BOGOF and come back later".   Supermarkets are under fire for creating huge waste in "Buy One Get One Free" deals. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn wants BOGOFs axed, but Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is set to revolutionise the promotions. Customers buying perishable products like fruit or salad in a BOGOF promotion will be able to pick up a voucher instead of doubling up instantly. Click here for more.

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Anthea Turner gave Gammon a good mouth watering roasting this week, throughout the 19 regional radio interviews conducted on Tuesday.  And in the afternoon she recorded a web video chat which is currently being offered to interested foodie websites for use on their sites.  This will lengthen the life of the campaign and help drive interested people to the www.lovepork.co.uk website. There is now a Christmas Gammon takeover on the homepage, and a specific gammon page, where all the new recipes are featured and if you haven’t tried a recipe yet, then click here to have a go.

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Preliminary reults from the latest PorkWatch show the percentage of British Pork in Tesco has slightly increased to 63%(+3%), primarily their non-British pork consists of chops 10% and steaks 20%. The percentage of British pork in Asda has also slightly increased to 69%(+2%), primarily their non-British Pork consists of chops 12% and steaks 16%.

Following the Co-op's acquisition of Somerfield there has not been any significant increases in Somerfield towards the Co-op figures however in Phase 35 the percentage of British Ham in Somerfield increased to 79% (+65%) which is more in line with the Co-op figure

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In the finals of the HSBC Business Start Stars Awards the UK Foodhall which has won eight BPEX product awards over the last three years was announced the winner.

The UK Foodhall's business model is farm assured meat for school meals including four pork products. Their products are sold in 10,000 schools daily and they sell 50,000 QSM sausages a week.

Without doubt their business model is now being copied by other school food suppliers. The competition was judged by a panel of 10 business leaders chaired by Lord Digby Jones. The prize besides the prestige was £25k.

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BPEX publications, Pork the Meat for All Seasons, The Complete Guide to Pork for the Professional Chef and Great It's Lunchtime have been shortlisted for the Not For Profit Category in the 2009 CIM awards. The results will be announced in February.

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Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the Week - Replacement Gilts

Before being selected for the breeding herd, the mammary system and external genitalia of gilts must be screened. Look at the teats, there should be a minimum of six functional teats per side. Are the teat rows close to the midline of the abdomen? If there are too far apart only one row will be accessible to piglets when she lies down. You shouldn’t be selecting gilts with damaged, blind or inverted teats, or with teats which are unevenly spaced.

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Do you know about all the different opportunities available to you that are provided either directly from, or facilitated by, BPEX? If you want to know more about them check out the training area of the BPEX website. Here you will find a wealth of information about management training, on-farm training, PIPR, training awards, regional training groups and the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE)! Alternatively, contact Tess Howe at BPEX: tess.howe@bpex.org.uk.

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Have you got all of these records…?

Calculation of manure N farm limit (April 2009), Storage requirement (April 2009), Risk Map (January 2010), Temporary manure storage sites (January 2010), Fertiliser Plan (Now), Annual Field Records (Now), Imported and exported manure details (Now).

If you haven’t, come to a free event to find out more. For free and independent NVZ advice in the Thames and Southern region click here or call 0845 345 1302.

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Farms are dangerous places! And to help reduce the risk of fatalities – a health and safety training course for East Midlands pig farmers will run on 1st December 2009.

Nearly a fifth of worker fatalities happen within agriculture, yet less than 1.5 per cent of the working population are employed in the sector.

The health and safety training session will be held at Uncle Henry’s, Grayingham, Lincolnshire between 1.00 and 5.00 pm. Hazel Preece of Hazel Preece Consulting will lead the course, tailored specifically to pig unit staff. It will cover staff responsibilities and powers to prevent accidents – including handling pigs, mechanical safety, working at height and fire hazards.

Course costs are supported by Landskills East Midlands and therefore it is only £16 per person.  All trainees will receive a certificate of attendance and the course is registered with the Pig Industry Professional Register (PIPR), so attendees can earn PIPR points. To book your place on the course or to enquire about other training opportunities please contact Tess Howe at BPEX, 07779 321078 or Ermine Farms 01652 640316.

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A whole supply chain meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Health project is being held on 9th December 2009, 6:30 pm at Askham Bryan College of Agriculture YO23 3FR (York). 

All pig industry organisations are invited to attend, from hauliers to animal health companies, to breeding companies to banks.  

The meeting will include:

• An update on Stage One activity towards collaborative pig health improvement
• Plus, discussion of what Stage Two could look like - the opportunity to contribute to the Stage Two funding application

Please click here then go the events section for a full agenda and click here to read more about Stage Two planning so far.  Please contact Sam Hoste by 3rd December providing your name(s) and contact details to reserve a place at the meeting: e-mail sam.hoste@quantechsolutions.co.uk or fax to 07092 395465.

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Pig industry workers in the Yorkshire and Humber region are benefiting from funding for staff development, available through the Yorkshire Landskills programme.  Pig producers and organisers running events, who have yet to access this funding, should contact BPEX to discuss the opportunities available to them.

Money is available for any kind of knowledge transfer activity and it is simple and easy to apply for – BPEX handles most of the paperwork on behalf of producers.  A total grant of £70,000 was awarded for pig producers in the Yorkshire and Humberside region, with a range of different events including on-farm training, veterinary workshops, farmer discussion groups, BPEX Knowledge Transfer workshops and management training.

To discuss the training options available producers should contact Tess Howe, BPEX Skills Development Manager, on 07779 321078 or e-mail: tess.howe@bpex.org.uk.

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Yorkshire vets Mark Howells and Frank Tobin are holding a Pig Club meeting next week to focus on ventilation troubleshooting.

Ventilation specialist John Chambers will kick off the meeting, outlining why ventilation is critical to performance, health and behaviour of stock. Then Frank Tobin will join John to debate different ventilation case studies as seen in practice and help producers work out solutions to specific problems on their farms. It is your chance to pose your questions to two experts from different backgrounds.

Open to all producers in the area, it is being held on Wednesday 2nd December at the Ramada Fairfield Manor hotel, Shipton Road (the A19), York, YO30 1XW. Time: 18:00 to 21:30.

Please contact Helen Clarke, BPEX, for more information and to put your name down to attend: 07973 701369 or email helen.clarke@bpex.org.uk.

Details and map can also be found on the BPEX events calendar.

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National News:

Tulip Blooms

Tulip has announced 270 new jobs with the creation of a state-of-the-art sausage manufacturing plant.

The plant in Bromborough, Wirral, Merseyside, will see investment of more than £12 million going into the site.

Tulip divisional managing director Peter Judge said: "We are delighted to be able to announce our plans to redevelop our Bromborough production facility.

"Clearly there is an awful lot of work to do before the new facility will be up and running but we are confident that we will be in a position to begin producing sausages at Bromborough in the first half of 2010."

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DEFRA has published a new Code of Practice for the control of salmonella in animal feeds.

This brings together three previous codes and updating these with current best practice and regulatory details.

The new code is entitled Code of Practice for the Control of Salmonella during the Production, Storage and Transport of Compound Feeds, Premixtures, Feed Materials and Feed Additives.

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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published the first EU-wide survey on MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in breeding pigs. The results indicate MRSA is commonly detected in holdings with breeding pigs in some EU Member States. The survey provides estimates of its occurrence and makes recommendations for further monitoring and investigation of the causes and implications of MRSA findings in pig holdings in the EU.
The survey was carried out in 24 Member States, 17 of which found some type of MRSA in their holdings with breeding pigs and 7, including the UK, with none at all. On average, different types of MRSA were found in 1 out of 4 holdings with breeding pigs across the EU, but the survey also says that figures vary greatly between Member States. MRSA ST398 was the most reported type of MRSA among the holdings with breeding pigs in the EU; some Member States also reported other types, but their prevalence was much lower.

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International News:

Herds Indoors!

A study by University of Missouri Extension pig experts shows moving pigs indoors has led to improved health and a higher-quality product for consumers.

Since the shift to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), veterinarians have seen a significant decline in parasites, said Beth Young, swine veterinarian with the University of Missouri Commercial Agriculture Program. Young spoke at the 2009 Swine Institute in Columbia, Nov. 10.

Young said many other diseases have seen significant decreases or eradication since the move to confined operations. The list includes swine dysentery, atrophic rhinitis, actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, brucellosis and classical swine fever.

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US pig producers could be looking at their third year in a row of losses and might consider locking in prices for next year given current futures prices, according to Purdue University Extension Economist Chris Hurt.

Hurt predicted pig prices will average about $46 to $47 per hundredweight next year, moving from about $44 in the first quarter to near $50 in the second and third quarters and back to the mid-$40s in the final quarter.

He said: "Given the assumption of $50 costs, this would still leave $10 of loss per head, the third year in a row of losses."

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WTO has just published a document on the total value of agricultural production per country from 1995 to 2008 that may be of interest. Click here for more..

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For the latest international prices, click here.

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This year the residual payment from Danish Crown is going to increase by 1.33 Eurocent to 9.33 Eurocent per kg slaughter pig. For sows 8.67 Eurocent will be paid which is the same as last year, according to the BPEX Export Report.
President of Danish Pig Producers, Torben Poulsen, says that it is better than expected and feared. Danish Crown ends its financial year with an annual result of €136 million compared to €133 million last year.

To see the full Export Report click here.

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A flatulent pig sparked a gas emergency in southern Australia when a farmer mistook its odours for a leaking pipe, according to officials.

After reports of a gas leak, fifteen firefighters and two trucks were called to a property in the state of Victoria.

"When we got there, as we drove up the driveway, there was this huge sow, weighing about a 120-odd kilos, and it was very obvious where the gas was coming from," said fire captain Peter Harkins. "We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny."

The pig's owner was "a little bit embarrassed to say the least," and it took fire crews a little while to compose themselves.

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