LivestockUK pigmeat output to fall next year after this year's surge, AHDB says
AHDB expects UK pigmeat production to rise 4% this year to about 1.02 million tonnes, then drop 3.7% in 2027 as losses push farmers to shrink the breeding herd.
Source
Pig World
Reporting from this source, summarised, rewritten or translated and published under its name · 23 stories
Livestock
LivestockMPs press UK minister on evidence behind plan to end CO2 stunning of pigs
Members of the Commons farming committee told food security minister Stephen Morgan that Defra's proposal to replace CO2 stunning of pigs with argon or electrical stunning is out ahead of the evidence, with 15,000 pigs already backed up on farms.
LivestockSheffield-led ASF Nexus project to model and prevent African swine fever outbreaks
The UKRI-backed programme starts in Sarawak, Malaysia, and will combine virology, epidemiology, economics and behavioural science to build open prediction tools.
LivestockDanish farm council threatens legal action over a one-year freeze on pig farm permits
The freeze on new conventional pig farms and expansions, part of a reform to cut production and live exports, is due on 26 October; the Danish Agriculture and Food Council warns of compensation claims.
LivestockMeasure colostrum, not just vaccinate: a pig vet on the first hours of a piglet's life
Writing in Pig World, Yorkshire pig vet Louise Blenkhorn says farms should test sow colostrum with a Brix refractometer and check piglet intake by blood sampling, aiming for at least 200g per piglet.
LivestockMisting, a water-based air scrubber and zero-soya diets at an award-winning university pig unit
Harper Adams University's 230-sow pig unit, now weaning over 37 pigs per sow a year, lost no pigs to this summer's heat after installing evaporative cooling, and is trialling a filterless air-cleaning system that cut ammonia by 40 percent and finishing diets with no soya.
LivestockAHDB orders new study of what an African swine fever outbreak would cost Britain
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has appointed London Economics to update its assessment of the economic damage an African swine fever outbreak would do to Great Britain's pig sector, drawing on Spain's recent experience.
LivestockDenmark plans to shrink its pig export machine, and its farmers are alarmed
After the 'Pig Election', Denmark's government wants fewer live pig exports, a tail-docking phase-out by 2030, a 12-month freeze on new units and far stricter nitrate limits, while prices sit near £1/kg.
LivestockUK funds £54m of research on mRNA livestock vaccines, AI antigens and antimicrobial resistance
The UK government and UK Research and Innovation have set out 18 projects worth £54m to prepare for animal disease outbreaks, build next-generation livestock vaccines and tackle antimicrobial resistance on farms.
LivestockRed Tractor to consult on pig standards for heat stress, biosecurity and flexi-farrowing
The UK assurance scheme Red Tractor will open a consultation in November on revised pig standards, including a full standard for flexible farrowing systems and stronger biosecurity against African swine fever.
OpinionOpinion: a Highland pig farmer fears Scotland's independent producers are near the end
In a Pig World column, Easter Ross producer Dennis Bridgeford says cheap imports, expiring contracts and a cull-sow price of £7.80 a head are pushing Scotland's last independent pig farms towards the edge.
LivestockEnglish outdoor pig sector forms group to cut environmental and water risks
The East of England's Swaffham group has become the Outdoor Pig Environmental Risk Reduction Programme, chaired by AHDB, to gather evidence on reducing outdoor pig farming's impact on water and to work with regulators.
LivestockEngland's pig breeding herd grows, Defra June census shows
England's breeding pig herd rose 2.8% to 322,000 head in the year to June 2026, according to Defra's latest census, though producers leaving the sector could yet reverse the trend.