Pigs

pigs High cost of freedom farrowing systems

Pig Farmers will face £millions in extra costs for installing new farrowing systems, according to a housing company.

“Legislation on higher welfare farrowing pens – both in the UK and the EU – is inevitable. It’s a more a question of when, not if,” says Tim Miller, environment specialist with ARM Buildings.

Many pig farmers are already installing these systems and the true costs are now emerging,

Due to the larger pens, fewer sows will be accommodated in standard-sized buildings so, just to maintain the size of their breeding herds, farmers will have to put up new buildings, even if they convert existing houses.

“It is clear that the total cost to the industry, factoring in the extra equipment and other aspects, could easily top £200 million,” said Mr Miller who has been involved in probably more installations than anyone else in this sector.

He believes that, if the industry is not to be put at a disadvantage, pig farmers and their representatives, should ensure that governmental legislators are aware of the full extent of these costs, which can amount to as much as £6,000 per sow place – 30 to 40 per cent more than conventional farrowing systems.

“Most farmers I deal with are in favour of the higher welfare pens but there should be proper recognition of the eye-watering costs. When sow stalls were unilaterally banned in 1999, the UK industry virtually halved in size and production of pork and bacon was simply exported to the continent where it was produced under the same systems that were banned here,” he said.

A challenging winter has been followed by a strong recovery in Britain’s pig market

The pig industry in Scotland continues to face a complex set of challenges emanating from the temporary closure of the key pig processing site at Brechin in January. According to the latest market commentary by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), along with the legacy of extremely challenging market conditions faced across the UK last winter, pig producers in Scotland have been faced with additional uncertainty, with Brechin now operating at around 50% capacity.

Iain Macdonald, QMS Senior Economics Analyst, said that the coming months will prove critical for the long-term confdence of pig production in Scotland.

“After a challenging winter of depressed pig prices and rising production costs, the pig market has recovered strongly between spring and summer 2021. Indeed, from a low of 138.5p/kg in February, the GB price for standard pig carcases (SPP) climbed by 15.5% to reach 159.9p/kg in the week to July 10th.”

Between mid-February and early July, the increase was double that of the historic trend, taking per kilo prices from around 2% below the fve-year average to 5.5% above it.

However, there have been signs of the market beginning to soften as we approach the traditional summer high, with the rate of increase slowing.

To assess the prospects for the autumn, Mr Macdonald says that we frst have to look back.

“Since the SPP was introduced in 2014, farmgate prices have fallen between July and December in fve of the seven years. In 2020, the decline was the strongest of the period. The exceptions were 2016 and 2019, when surges in pork imports to China had boosted the global market.

“Prospects for the second half of 2021 are once again likely to depend on global market forces, with the 2020 fall coming despite frm domestic retail demand.”

Highlighting global exposure, Defra’s meat balance sheets estimate that around 30% of UK pigmeat production was exported in 2020, up from around 25% in the middle of the last decade, while 50% of total UK market supply was imported, down from an average of 55% from 201519. High levels of trade refect differences in consumer demand, with imports and exports balancing supply and demand across the product mix.

“Effectively all of the UK’s pigmeat imports come from the EU,” said Mr Macdonald. “Producers in the EU saw even sharper price declines last winter, with GB prices averaging around 25% above EU levels between October and February. While reduced demand from the catering sector limited import volumes, falling EU farmgate prices did pass through to the cost of importing pigmeat to the UK, and the option of a cheaper alternative will have pressured prices across UK supply chains,” he continued.

Like in GB, EU prices made a sharp recovery in spring 2021, narrowing the price gap between GB and the EU to around 5% between mid-March and midApril. The average price of imports to the UK also began to rebound.