The NSW government has thrown its support behind the urgent development of mandatory electronic ID tags for millions of sheep and goats to ensure any outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) can be traced. 

Australian cattle are already individually tagged but millions of sheep and goats are only identified by mob, except in Victoria.

The NSW and federal governments had held out against individual sheep tags for more than six years, while Victoria moved ahead independently in 2016. The move was criticised at the time by then federal agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce as too expensive.

Now as Australian and Indonesian authorities attempt to vaccinate and control an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Bali, NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said he would back growing industry calls for the urgent development of a compulsory scheme to “bolster the country’s defence against infectious diseases like FMD”.

Studies have estimated $50 billion in economic losses over 10 years if a medium-to-large-scale FMD outbreak were to occur in Australia.

Welsh farmers’ leaders have criticised the UK Government’s new trade deal with New Zealand and says ministers have failed “to fight for the interests of our farmers”.

The government is also accused of blocking scrutiny of the deal which is currently awaiting MP’s approval.

Comparing the UK’s deal with a recently agreed pact between the EU and New Zealand, the Farmers’ Union of Wales says the import quota for sheep meat in year one of the agreement signed by the UK is more than forty times higher per head of population in the UK compared with the European Union agreement.

The EU-New Zealand trade deal, recently agreed in principle, would allow an additional 5,429 tonnes of sheep meat to be imported duty-free into the EU in year one of the agreement, whilst the equivalent figure for the UK in the deal announced in February this year is 35,000 tonnes.

“The UK increase in duty free quota for New Zealand sheep meat would be almost six and a half times higher in year one than what has been negotiated by the EU,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts.

“However, when you take account of the fact that the population of the EU is nearly seven times higher than that of the UK, the increase per consumer is 43 times higher in the UK than in the EU.”

Mr Roberts said that another way of looking at the figure was that the EU had fought forty times harder for its sheep industry than the UK during its trade negotiations with New Zealand.

Nation Cymru

The seasonal worker visa scheme for poultry has been confirmed until 2024, following efforts by the NFU to engage with Defra and the Home Office.

On 5 July, Defra and the Home Office hosted an online meeting, which was attended by poultry businesses and NFU chief poultry adviser Aimee Mahony.

Since the Temporary Visa Scheme for poultry was announced in 2021, the NFU has been providing evidence to the government and asking for a suitable dedicated scheme for the poultry sector for 2022 and beyond.

There is now a commitment for 2,000 visas each year until 2024. The NFU said the costs associated with the scheme will be lower going forwards, the announcement of visa availability has been made three months earlier compared to 2021, and a tendering process for two poultry-specific labour providers has now opened.

The NFU said visas will be available for workers arriving on the 1 November 2022 and they will need to leave the UK by the 31 December 2022.

By Chloe Ryan / Poultry News

For the week ending 6 July, the GB liveweight NSL SQQ stood at 317.54/kg, over 15p/kg above the previous week.

The SQQ for OSL stood at 231.99/kg, just over 14p/kg above the previous week.

An estimated 132,500 lambs (NSL & OSL) were sold at auction markets during the week, up 35% on last week, matching a jump in numbers seen at the same time last year.

Cull ewes averaged 104.22p/kg with an estimated throughput of 52,400 head.

The overall GB deadweight NSL SQQ stood at 637.9p/kg, for the week ending 2 July, a drop of almost 9p/kg on the week before. Those in the R3L category stood at 637.2p/kg, a drop of just over 8p on the week. Estimated kill numbers were 188,400, 1% up on the week but down 13% on the same time last year.

Freya Shuttleworth /AHDB

The GB EU-Spec deadweight SPP rose by 2.49p in the week ending 2 July, bringing it to 188.88p/kg.

Estimated slaughter in the week ending 2 July was 172,500 head, nearly 4,000 more than last week, and 13,000 more than the same week last year. This brings annual clean pig slaughter to an estimated 4.81 million head, 1.7% more than at the same point last year.

Carcase weights in the week averaged 89.01kg, 330g lighter than last week and a weight not seen since September.

The EU-Spec APP was 192.74p/kg in the week ending 25 June, a weekly rise of 1.11p.

AHDB

In the week ending 2 July, GB deadweight cattle prices gained further ground despite more cattle coming forward.

The average price for prime cattle procured deadweight in GB gained a further 1.8p on the week before to average 443.9p/kg, 45p above where it was this time a year ago.

Within this average, the overall average price for steers gained 1.4p to 444.5p/kg, heifers gained 2.1p to 443.9p/kg, while young bulls rose by 2.9p to 441.5p/kg. R4L steers and heifers rose by 2.9p and 1.9p, respectively.

More detail on deadweight cattle prices can be found here

Hannah Clarke / AHDB

The Government has increased the UK’s African swine fever (ASF) risk status in response in response to worrying new outbreaks in Germany, sparked by human spread. 

The virus has recently been confirmed in domestic pigs in a new region of Germany, in Emsland, Lower Saxony, roughly 15km from the Netherlands border. Located in an area with a high density of pig farms, this is approximately 300km from the nearest reports in wild boar in Mecklenberg-Vorpommen and 500km from the recently reported outbreak in domestic pigs in the south of the country, close to the French border.

A further outbreak in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where the disease has been previously reported in wild boar and domestic pigs, was also detected on a holding of 1,300 fattening pigs.

“This report in northwest Germany represents another significant jump for ASF and serves as an important reminder of the ability of ASF to spread long distances to a previously unaffected region, often via human-mediated routes, as was observed in Belgium in 2018 and more recently in north-western and central regions of Italy, in southwest Germany near the French border and further afield,” APHA said in its latest update on ASF in Europe.

By Alistair Driver / Pig World

The cost of living crisis is forcing consumers to cut back on their meat intake, according to AHDB analysis.

Inflation is now neck and neck with health as the top driver of meat reduction, the levy board says.

Consumers who believe that beef and red meat currently have good prices and offers has now reduced to only 10% and 6% respectively.

High prices are particularly damaging for cuts such as roasting joints and steaks where higher prices are a barrier for many consumers.

Consumers may choose to opt for cheaper cuts such as, but AHDB’s consumer tracker is showing larger proportions of the public now perceiving mince as expensive, rising from 11% to 19% over the last 12 months.

Demand for hind quarter cuts is likely to drop further as inflationary pressures are also likely to put a brake on food service recovery.

by Farming UK 

Poor demand for pork and low prices in Europe are continuing to hold back the UK pork market, according to Thames Valley Cambac.

Today, the Tribune bacon price edged towards £2/kg, hitting 196.5p/kg, while the SPP was up another 2.49p to 188.9p/kg last week – a new record, having risen more than 50p since mid-February and 30p ahead of a year ago – things look rosier.

However, the reality is that, even though £2/kg is now almost in sight, the average price producers are receiving remains well short of average costs, particularly as it takes time for any reductions in feed ingredient prices to translate into feed costs. The June average cost of 244p/kg, calculated by AHDB, was 4p on the May figure.

In its latest weekly market update, TVC said: “While supply continues to tighten, demand faltered again with poor sales being blamed. Although we are in a traditionally quieter sales period, it is still frustrating that demand is seemingly so poor.

“In reality, some of the blame can be pointed at the low prices in Europe putting a brake on our trade by its continual source of cheap imports. Indeed, many of our fresh meat customers are experiencing this, and it is undercutting our ability to push prices.

“Most of these imports are entering the country unchecked, and considering the latest spread of ASF in Germany, we echo the calls by NPA and others that the government must improve our border controls.”

Alistair Driver / Pig World