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.
Source
Pig World
Reporting from this source, summarised, rewritten or translated and published under its name · 11 stories
Livestock
LivestockUK pig producers squeezed as new contract rules meet a falling market
The Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) regulations came into full force as processors cut supply bases, leaving many independent producers on the spot market at 130-150p/kg while the published SPP sat near 180p.
AgrotechCombining farm sensors with machine learning predicts pig disease better, study finds
A Harper Adams engineering project found that machine-learning models fed with acoustic, water, environmental and management data spotted early signs of disease in nursery pigs better than any single sensor; it won the 2026 Nick Bird Award.
OpinionBritain now produces under half its own pork, warns NPA chair Jo Churchill
Six months into the job, National Pig Association chair Jo Churchill writes in Pig World that high costs, oversupply, disease and new pig-trading rules are pushing farmers to consider quitting, and that Britain should produce more of its own pork.
LivestockAHDB launches new British pork campaign pushing mince as a budget swap
AHDB's October burst of its "This is British Pork" campaign adds a TV advert, an influencer-led Healthy Savings challenge and £6 family recipe videos, after a February push reached more than 40 million consumers.
Livestock
AHDB brings Chinese and US meat buyers to British pig farms as red meat exports rise 15%
An 11-strong Chinese delegation and four US food-service buyers toured UK farms and processors; China takes nearly 40% of UK pigmeat exports, much of it offal.
LivestockAnimals needed to test each veterinary vaccine batch fell 41% in a decade, UK VMD says
Average animals per batch dropped from 29 in 2013 to 17 in 2024, and only 34% of vaccines released in the UK now need any animal testing, against 74% in 2013.
LivestockVets alerted to a bulging-eye syndrome in piglets linked to a new parvovirus
Britain's APHA has asked pig vets to watch for a new disease syndrome, tied to a novel parvovirus variant, found on farms in the Netherlands and on one breeding farm in Denmark.
Livestock
UK pig producers ask Defra for price top-ups, exit aid and storage as losses hit £50 a pig
The National Pig Association's package, requested by minister Stephen Morgan in July, seeks a Scottish-style price top-up for producers forced onto the spot market, exit aid for those closing units, private storage aid and slaughter incentives for up to 12,000 uncontracted pigs a week from October,
Livestock
UK pigmeat output up 3.8% in August as sow slaughterings jump 21% amid the market glut
Defra's monthly estimates put clean pig slaughterings at 844,000 head (+2.2%) and production at 79,000 tonnes, with carcase weights near 90 kg; over eight months the kill is up 2.9% to 7 million head and production 4.9% to 670,000 tonnes, while sow and boar slaughterings of 18,000 in August show pro
Livestock
Scottish pig leader Jamie Wyllie closes his last 850-sow herd after a second collapse
The chair of NFU Scotland's pigs committee, who shut units of 650 and 900 sows three years ago, will empty his final unit by February 2027 after losing £100,000 a month; he is keeping three staff to finish bought-in weaners and urges independent producers to stand behind their marketing co-operative