Spain Golden Pig Awards 2017
Over 800 professionals from the pork producing industry attended the Award Ceremony of the XXIV Porc D’Or Awards for excellence in the city of Segovia. At this event, the Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA), organiser of the awards, together with the co-organiser Zoetis, presented 49 statuettes to a total of 38 pork producers […]
Multi-million pound investment in pig research
Yorkshire will soon become one of the best places in Europe for pig research, thanks to significant investment from the University of Leeds and the Government. The University is about to launch new facilities at its farm to carry out research into outdoor-reared pigs, and is set to significantly upgrade its indoor-reared pig research centre. […]
A pig’s life: how mood and personality affect the decisions of domestic pigs
The judgements and decisions a pig makes are governed by their mood – whether good or bad – and their personality type, according to new research published today. The new study, carried out by scientists specialising in animal behaviour and welfare at the University of Lincoln and Newcastle University, UK, demonstrates for the first time […]
Collaborative pig project kicks off
Over 50 producers and allied industry representatives attended the first AHDB Pork Focus Farm meeting. Delegates visited the host unit, spent time discussing what they had seen, and then suggested changes they would like to see implemented, with the aim of coming back together in October to review the farm’s progress. Opening up his farm […]
Promiscuity of H3N8 flu virus raises concern as scientists demonstrate some strains can go undetected in pigs
Scientists have shown for the first time that two different strains of the H3N8 influenza A virus (IAV) are able to infect and replicate in pigs; one isolated from seals and an avian strain circulating in poultry in the US. The study, which was led by Dr Maria Montoya from The Pirbright Institute in Surrey […]
Swine flu changing, meeting told
Diagnosing swine influenza from clinical signs has become more difficult in recent years because the course of the disease has changed. This was the message given to experts from the UK, Denmark, France, Spain, Poland, The Netherlands and Germany who met in Woerlitz, Germany, at a meeting organised by IDT Biologika to discuss the role […]
Environmental stress triggers costly pig disease without secondary infections
Stress makes pigs more likely to suffer from a disease which costs farmers in the UK millions of pounds a year in attempts to control, scientists have shown for the first time. The findings from a study at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) could influence the conditions that pig herds are kept in to reduce […]
Research aims to address genetic pre-disposition to lameness in pigs
A team led by researchers at Newcastle University in the UK has begun a project to identify biological and behavioural markers that can be used to detect genetic pre-disposition to degenerative joint disease that causes pain and lameness in pigs. Lameness is a serious animal welfare and economic problem in commercial pig farming which has […]
Pig ‘factory’ plan thrown out
The decision this week to refuse permission for one of Britain’s first industrial-style farms, housing 25,000 pigs, has been welcomed by campaigners. The unit at Foston, Derbyshire, has been the subject of fierce opposition in a four-year-long fight that saw celebrities including actor Dominic West and River Cottage chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stand up against the […]
