Pig industry struggling – time to save our bacon

Farmers have been hit by the dual blow of Brexit and Covid, writes Wiltshire dairy farmer Ro Collingborn

IN all the current tumult of the scandal that took place behind closed Downing Street doors during the height of the Covid lockdown, there is a greater crisis taking place on our farms.

Here in Wiltshire 30 years ago, we faced the demolition of the famous Harris bacon factory in Calne (built by my great-grandfather). Now we are facing the demolition of our bacon industry.

The dual blow of Brexit and Covid has led to acute shortages of both abattoir staff and butchers, disrupting the hitherto smooth supply line taking pigs from birth to slaughter. This meant that numbers of pigs entering the abattoirs was cut back, with the inevitable result of pigs backing up on farm, exceeding slaughter weights and payment bands. The finished pigs remained on farm, needing more expensive feed, labour and housing. As these pigs became overweight, the price per kilo dropped leading to losses which could not be recouped.

The Government has belatedly taken a few measures, like increasing the allowed number of butchers coming in from abroad for a short period, but this measure – too little, too late – has done little to alleviate the situation. The terrible outcome has seen finished pigs having to be slaughtered on farm, with about 35,000 slaughtered so far, and a backlog awaiting slaughter of 150,000 pigs. Average carcase weights were a record 94.12kg at the end of 2021, almost 9kg higher than 2020 when there was no backlog, with fat probe measurements now at a record level.

It’s difficult to fully appreciate the knock-on effect on the producers, whose sole aim is to provide their stock with a good life. Having to take their pigs to slaughter weight and then having nowhere to send them. Having to spend out on extra feed which then takes the pigs over the contracted weight. Eventually having to face the horrific conclusion that their prime stock has to be slaughtered on farm and then disposed of into the waste system.

What effect can this be having on farmers’ mental health and wellbeing, and how bitter and discouraged must they feel? No wonder many now see no future in the industry. Supermarkets haven’t helped as they take the opportunity to offer lower prices.

Pig welfare is taken extremely seriously in the UK. Pigs are sociable animals and thought to be as intelligent as dogs. They need an environment with stimulation and adequate bedding. Many pigs are now kept in an outdoor system where they can fully express natural behaviour and wallow happily in mud baths when they feel like a scratch and a dip.

These are the kind of farms, we should be saving and embracing as a nation. Compare this with conditions in Denmark, where more than 60% of our bacon comes from, and sows are routinely tethered, a practice illegal in the UK. Straw bedding would be rare there, with most pigs kept on slats.

When a pig is near to giving birth, she has a primeval need to make a nest. Sows abroad are commonly kept in farrowing crates, unable to turn round, and only move a short step backward and forwards.

They are unable to express maternal behaviour towards their young, and may be kept confined right up to the time their offspring are weaned. In a free-range farm in the UK, the sow can nest build and look after her piglets.

Yet the current crisis is likely to lead to an eventual shortage of UK pork and bacon, and a flood of imports at lower prices and lower welfare standards. It’s not what we want as a nation or as farmers. We care about pig welfare, and greatly deplore the current state of affairs.

When our industry is opened up to imports of pigs from further afield, we can be sure they have been kept in conditions that are illegal here. In a future trade agreement with the Pacific Rim, it’s likely we will be importing pork from Mexico, with its huge factory farms, routinely using antibiotics critical in human medicine.

These farms are creating many issues for their local environment. Around the world, millions of breeding sows spend nearly all their lives in two-foot-wide gestation crates. Even Ireland, our nearest neighbour, has few free range farms.

Sadly, when Carrie Johnson whispers in her husband’s ear “make sure you save our bacon”, she’s not thinking about pigs – at least not the fourlegged ones!

■ Ro Collingborn is a Wiltshire dairy farmer and has been dairy chairman of the Women’s Food and Farming Union, on the Milk Development Council, the Veterinary Products Committee, the RSPCA Council and is currently a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Director

> Pigs are sociable animals. They need an environment with stimulation and adequate bedding, says Ro