Pig kill slumps by 26,000
For the week ending March 18, pigs slaughtered in licensed meat export premises south of the border fell to 42,190, and killings for the year to date were down 22,700 compared to last year.
For the week ending March 25, the year to date shortfall from 2005 was 25,913 pigs (18,467 when sows and boars are included).
It is estimated that up to 8,000 pigs a week are being sent to Northern Ireland, where the main processor, Grampian, has a throughput of some 17,000 a week.
IFA pigs committee chairman Pat O'Keeffe gave two main reasons for fewer pigs going to factories in the south. The main one is the volume of pigs going north for better prices, and the second one is that many producers are de-stocking, because they are finding that pig farming is no longer viable.
Mr O'Keeffe said high costs have resulted in production falling through recent years. Small producers are particularly badly hit.
Another factor is the amount of regulations that pig producers now have to deal with in their operations.
This is particularly affecting regions like West Cork and Cavan, with intensive production pockets in pigs and dairying, he said.
An even bigger pig farming shake-up is feared between now and the end of 2008, by which time all pig farmers must comply with Nitrates Directive regulations.
Some largest scale pig farmers are considering sending all their piglets to smaller farmers for contract rearing, as one of the ways they can comply with the Nitrates Directive, rather than make huge investments on their own farms without any guarantee of a return.
Since 1990 slaughterings in licensed meat export premises have swung from a peak of 3,325,000 per year to a valley of 2,054,000, but the impending Nitrates Directive regulations could send the falling pig supply trend to new lows in the years ahead.
