Cull warning as ‘disaster’ looms

THE UK is heading into an “acute welfare disaster very quickly” with the country facing a “mass cull of animals”, the chairman of the National Pig Association has warned.

Rob Mutimer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The problem in the industry has got very considerably worse over the last three weeks. We are within a couple of weeks of actually having to consider a mass cull of animals in this country.”

It comes as the Government says it is “continuing to work closely” with the pig industry amid a reported shortage of butchers, which could impact food supplies over Christmas.

Ministers are considering plans to ease visa restrictions for up to 1,000 foreign butchers, according to The Times.

Mr Mutimer said pig farms of all sizes were running out of space to keep their animals, “which is a real worry coming into winter”.

Asked what a culling situation would involve, he said: “It involves either shooting pigs on farm, or taking them to an abattoir, killing the animals and actually disposing them in the skip at the other end of the chain.

“So these animals won’t go into the food chain. They will either be rendered, or if not, sent for incineration. So it’s an absolute travesty.”

Mr Mutimer added that his pigs were usually around 115kg when they went to slaughter, but were now getting up to around 140kg.

“The pens and the sheds and everything just weren’t designed for animals of this size and we’re really heading into an acute welfare disaster very quickly,” he said.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was aware of labour shortages.

“We understand the importance of seasonal labour and we are aware of the challenges that the pig industry has faced in recent months because of the Covid-19 pandemic and labour shortages, and Defra has been working closely with the pig and processing sectors during this time,” he said.

“We are keeping the market under close review and continuing to work closely with the sector to explore options to address the pressures industry is currently facing.”

The Times reported that the British Meat Processors Association said the industry was short of about 15,000 workers, which has forced its members to just focus on keeping supermarkets stocked with basic cuts of meat.

A BMPA spokesperson was quoted as saying: “We really should have been producing Christmas food from about June or July onwards this year and so far we haven’t, so there’ll be shortages of party foods and things like pigs in blankets. Anything that is labourintensive work could see shortages.”

The newspaper said Home Secretary Priti Patel had resisted the move to recruit foreign butchers.

A Home Office spokesperson told the PA news agency: “We are closely monitoring labour supply and working with sector leaders to understand how we can best ease particular pinch points. Similar challenges are being faced by other countries around the world.

“We want to see employers make long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad. Our Plan for Jobs is helping people

We’re really heading into an acute welfare disaster very quickly ROB MUTIMER

across the country retrain, build new skills and get back into work.

“The Government encourages all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and investment.”

The economy has been disrupted by several factors that have been bubbling away for months, including labour shortages, new immigration rules affecting HGV drivers and the lingering effects of the pandemic.