ADAS help Pedigree Welsh Pig Society to secure the future of the Welsh Pig
Leading agricultural and environmental consultancy, ADAS has announced a partnership with the Pedigree Welsh Pig Society (PWPS) to further develop a campaign to secure the future of the Welsh Pig.
ADAS will assist the PWPS to promote and co-ordinate activities in an awareness campaign to highlight the considerable merits of this breed, both from a breeding and meat quality perspective. The aim is to ensure a sustainable future for the breed which was in danger of dying out.
Helen Tongue PWPS Chair said: We chose ADAS to assist us in this important venture because of their recognised expertise, professionalism and appreciation of the commercial potential of this breed.
Originally, this fast-growing, easily managed commercial-type pig was one of the three major breeds on which the modern pig industry was built. Hybrid breeding programmes, adopted by commercial breeding companies in the 1980s, caused a dramatic decline in Welsh Pig registrations which eventually led to the establishment of the Welsh Breeders group in 2008. Anxious to preserve breed lines before they were lost forever, the Welsh Government stepped in to lend support and the PWPS was formed in 2009.
The Welsh Pig has only been put on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Watch List because it is low in numbers. Its carcase quality and heavier finishing weights make it an excellent butchers pig added Helen Tongue.
The breed has considerable commercial potential for pig farmers in the UK because of its excellent mothering ability, its fast liveweight gain and ease of management, particularly important for the more extensive type systems.
David Moorhouse, Senior Consultant at ADAS said: We are delighted to be working with the Society on this project and are currently addressing a number of ambitious aims and objectives designed to enhance and secure the future of the breed.
I feel strongly that ADAS can help PWPS realise their ambitions and secure a sustainable future for the Welsh Pig breed.
With the future focus on sustainable food production, ADAS feel the Welsh Pig has an important role in providing quality pork of known provenance to the more discerning customer.
David continued: The priority with these projects is usually to save the rare breed and gene pool for future generations, however with the Welsh breed we are focused on increasing awareness of its particularly valuable commercial attributes for todays market.
These include excellent mothering ability and crossing potential with other breeds as well as excellent grading across a range of weights to produce a quality carcase that has good lean content but sufficient backfat to retain a real pork flavour that will appeal to the more discerning customer keen to eat pork that tastes the way it used to.
In particular the Welsh pig tends to possess characteristics such as higher than usual levels of intra-muscular fat which helps to improve succulence and flavour.
We are currently busy planning a programme of events and activities designed to widen interest in the breed with the ultimate aim of expanding Welsh Pig Society membership and breeding more Welsh pigs.
PWPS will be holding their Annual Show and Sale of Pedigree Modern Welsh Pigs on the 2nd and 3rd September at Beeston Castle Auction, Beeston, Tarporley, Cheshire, CW6 9NZ, details available via the link below:
Beeston Cattle & Pedigree Livestock Sales Forthcoming Sales
About ADAS
ADAS is the companys registered trading name and is not an acronym.
ADAS Group is the UKs largest independent environmental consultancy, and provider of rural development and policy advice aimed at the two major issues of our time; securing food supply and enhancing the environment.
ADAS provides independent science-based research, consultancy and contracting services to a wide range of organisations in both the private and public sectors, throughout the UK, Ireland and internationally. ADASs core disciplines are focused around the food chain and the interaction of man with the living, growing environment and ensuring its future sustainability. Through Envar the Group provides innovative waste management solutions that deliver value and profit from a range of waste materials. The Group has over 700 staff covering more than 60 specialisms, operating from a network of offices and research sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.