UK sow herd shrinking as pig sector left to flounder

The UK pig herd dropped by 22,000 breeding sows last year in response to the multi-faceted crisis currently gripping the sector.

Industry leaders are warning they expect numbers to continue to fall over the coming months.

Despite the fall in sow numbers, Defra’s December 21 Pig Survey shows there were 4.1m pigs on farm at 1 December 2021, which is 9% higher than a year earlier. 

The number of fattening pigs on farm rose to 3.7m, which is 356,000 more than were on farm in December 2020 and the largest December population for almost 20 years.

The survey shows the female breeding herd stood at 295,000 which is 6.9% lower than the 317,000 sows recorded in December 2020.

The biggest fall was seen in the number of sows in pig, which dropped by almost 14% from 233,000 in 2020 to 201,000 in 2021.

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There was also a 24% increase compared with December 2020 in the number of pigs classed as “other sows”, which is defined as pigs that were either being suckled or dry sows kept for further breeding.

This signals that producers have increasingly chosen to hold back from breeding.

‘Concerning’

Zoe Davies, chief executive of the National Pig Association (NPA), said the figures were concerning, but not surprising given the ongoing backlog of pigs on farms, record feed costs and falling pig prices.

For the first half of 2021, producers were losing an average of £25/pig, a figure likely to have grown in the final quarter.

“These worrying figures highlight what we have been saying about the need for action from government and the supply chain to prevent a serious and permanent contraction of the UK pig industry,” she said.

The NPA estimates that the drop in the number of breeding sows could actually be as high as 30,000 now, with many members reporting they have continued to cut herd sizes or get rid of sows to finish for others since 1 December.

“We fully expect a further contraction in the first half of this year, as for many producers, the situation is simply not sustainable.”

The NPA also estimates that there are currently 150,000 pigs backed up on farms because of the shortage of butchers in processing plants.

These are pigs which farmers are having to house and feed when they wouldn’t normally need to.

In some instances, farmers are also having to resort to on-farm culling.

The NPA is pushing Defra secretary George Eustice to convene a roundtable of producers, processors and retailers to try to thrash out solutions which tackle the backlog and help the sector before it is too late.