Livestock
Irish cattle slaughter down 5.4% in eight months, but August kill jumps 21%
CSO figures show 1.1 million cattle slaughtered from January to August, sheep down 3.4% and pigs up 4%, with weekly factory supplies now above last year.
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Pig farming
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.
LivestockScotland's livestock sector at a 'critical juncture' as independent sow numbers fall 20 percent, NFUS president warns
Andrew Connon told the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers conference that independent pig producers are in 'financial and mental hell', that disease is the biggest threat after profitability, and that strong beef and sheep prices are not translating into margin.
Livestock
150 US pork producers press Congress to end the 'patchwork nightmare' of Proposition 12
At the National Pork Producers Council's Legislative Action Conference farmers from across the country visited about 175 congressional offices to ask for a national answer to California's housing law in the farm bill, funding for the swine health improvement plan, a year-round farm workforce and ope
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
150 pig farmers descend on Capitol Hill demanding a Prop 12 fix in the farm bill
Nearly 150 pork producers visited about 175 congressional offices as the Senate Agriculture Committee passed its farm bill, pressing for a solution to California's Proposition 12, swine health funding, year-round farm labour and USMCA renewal.
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
Finishing 12,000 hogs a year cut a Nebraska row-crop family's fertiliser bill by up to 70%
Walt and Shelli Traudt of Clay Center added contract hog finishing to their corn and soybean farm in 2012; the manure now covers 550 acres, feeds two crops from one application and has lifted yields on dryland pivot corners.
Livestock
South Dakota State adds 50% wean-to-finish capacity to its swine research barn
A US$1.8m expansion of SDSU's Swine Education and Research Facility, paid for entirely by the state's corn, soybean, pork and livestock groups, lifts capacity to about 1,800 head by mid-October so more nursery and finishing trials can answer producers' questions.
Livestock
After its worst year for animal health, South Africa's pork industry builds traceability
SAPPO's 2026 AGM heard that since November 2025 the industry has handled the country's largest African swine fever outbreak and 17 FMD incidents in commercial piggeries; revised Section 9 controls came in July, 200,000 vaccine doses were logged on its World of Pork platform, global location numbers
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
Livestock
PRRS costs US hog farmers over $1 billion a year; Nebraska wants eradication
At the 2026 Nebraska Pork Conference the National Pork Board's chief veterinarian said newer PRRS strains are more pathogenic and harder to eliminate, proposed wiping out PED within ten years as a first step, and a Nebraska start-up described environmental sampling that gives a four-day warning.
LivestockOttawa funds C$3.1m swine disease surveillance led by the Atlantic Veterinary College
The project will develop multiplex tests that detect several swine viruses at once, set up a national proficiency programme so veterinary labs test to one standard, and build a secure national database of disease and virus activity, with the Canadian Pork Council as partner.