Crisis in pig sector deepens as welfare cull tops 30,000

The pig welfare cull has reached 30,000 animals as post-Brexit labour shortages and the impact of Covid-19 continue to limit throughput at abattoirs and processors.

The grim total was hit after 10,000 pigs were reported to have been culled in East Yorkshire this week.

Vets and animal health officials have been carrying out the cull on welfare grounds to relieve pressure on farms which are running out of space to accommodate pigs.

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Yorkshire-based specialist pig vet Duncan Berkshire said culling healthy animals had devastated everybody working in the industry.

“To suddenly be looking at a wasted animal’s life when we’ve done everything we can to make sure they’ve had the best life possible is just abhorrent,” he told the BBC. “I hope we never see anything like this again.”

The National Pig Association (NPA) said the labour shortage meant some abattoirs had been running 25% below their usual capacity.

As a result, an estimated backlog of more than 100,000 pigs had built up on farms across the UK.

Pressure building

Yorkshire-base pig farmer Kate Morgan revealed how the backlog had hit her farm.

“I have spent whole weeks crying,” she said, describing the pressure the family business was under.

“We refuse to have healthy pigs culled so we are doing all we can to accommodate them in straw pens and yards rather than see them killed for nothing.”

In October, the government said it would allow 800 foreign abattoir workers into the UK on temporary visas, but recruitment efforts have failed to attract numbers.

Ms Morgan urged the government to engage with working farmers to see for themselves the devastation.

“We welcome the package of measures introduced in October, but they have not been taken up by processors and so failed to make an impact on the ground,” she said.

Other measures such as payments to abattoirs to slaughter more pigs and put them into cold storage had also failed, she added.

Processors were fully occupied with the Christmas production and didn’t want to put carcasses into cold storage at this time of the year, Ms Morgan suggested.

“But something has to change – we cannot go on like this. We have weaners in pens next to finishers so our normally strict biosecurity measures have been compromised.

“The effect on herd health and management means the impact of this crisis will go on for months, even years, if nothing is done urgently.”

Ms Morgan’s comments echoed those of NPA chief executive Zoe Davies earlier this week.

Serious losses

Speaking at a major food security summit in London on Tuesday (14 December), Dr Davies said the primary producer had suffered most and was losing about £35 a pig.

“Some processors have taken pigs at less than half contract prices, knowing that the farmers are desperate to get rid of them to make some space,” she said.

“The contracts that they have appear to be worthless, and there is no penalty applied to the processor for failing to take the pigs.

“Our supply chain is clearly broken. This situation has arisen through no fault of the farmer and has resulted in them taking the brunt of the pain. Politicians are just not listening and ignoring what is going on. How can this be right?”

Dr Davies warned of a mental health crisis if nothing is done urgently. “January is going to be a car crash. Farms will be going out of business and the impact on mental health will be devastating.”

She urged farms facing difficulties to make use of the Farm Community Network (FCN), which can supply financial advice as well as other help.

“Difficult decisions will have to be made and charities like FCN are there to provide support,” she said.