Shortage of skilled butchers is behind the worrying cull of pigs
YOU may have read, or seen on the news, snippets about a potential mass slaughter of pigs on English farms.
And you may be thinking, “Well, what’s the problem because they’re going to be killed anyway, so why does it matter?”.
Pigs are unlike other livestock such as cattle and sheep because they get to the size required by the retailer (who knows what the customers want) quite quickly.
If they’re not taken then, they can soon get too big for the handling systems set up in abattoirs and too big for retail.
But remaining on the farm is difficult because the next piglets are taking their place and soon you can end up with a large backlog.
This backlog of animals still needs housing, feeding and looking after, creating extreme worry, potential for disease and financial cost to the farmer involved.
The farms are not set up for slaughtering animals and if they have to carry out this threatened cull, the carcasses cannot go into the food chain.
That is because there are many food chain checks and inspections carried out in abattoirs that cannot be done on the farm.
And what is done with the resulting carcasses? Buried? Burned? When food banks are going short?
Yet pork from abroad is still entering this country and being sold on our supermarket shelves.
So why do we have this problem?
A shortage of skilled butchers in the processing plants, shortage of lorry drivers for delivery and the fact it is hard to export with extra border checks involved but very easy to import as there are no reciprocal border checks, as yet.
You should be concerned because this lets in pork and pig products from countries where illegal methods are used in the production and where welfare standards are so much lower than over here.
Farmers are already giving up and leaving the industry and morale is at rock bottom.
Animals cannot be switched off while the economy resets and we train up a workforce to fill those necessary jobs, even if people are available and willing. If you want to help, then buy British food products and, I would hope, supermarkets could give priority to British products on supermarket shelves.
● Farmers can benefit from a £27 million pot to invest in productivity-boosting equipment as the Farming Invest
ment Fund opened last week.
Farmers, foresters and growers from across England are urged to apply for grants to buy equipment and infrastructure to help to improve efficiency and help the country ‘build back greener.’
This could include solar powered electric fences, water treatment systems that use ultraviolet light rather than chemicals and cameras for monitoring livestock. The fund will be split across two strands: The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund will focus on smaller grants for equipment from a set list, including electronic seeders and chemical-free disinfection systems. Secondly, the Farming Transformation Fund will cover more substantial technology, with the potential to transform business performance.
This will focus initially on water management with grants available to improve water use on farms for things like crop irrigation and constructing onfarm reservoirs.
Farming Minister Victoria Prentis said: “I’m pleased to offer support to eligible farmers through the new Farming Investment Fund.
“Investing in new technology and equipment on farm has a real impact on productivity and yields, as well as a benefit for the environment.”