100,000 pigs to be destroyed

JP1 · Oct 7, 2021

DrWazzock said:
Perhaps if all the small local abbattoirs (3 in our town, now none) hadn't been closed because they couldnt meet EU directives then we would be in a more resilient position now. The big corporate outfits couldn't see these small independents closed fast enough, wiping out their competition.
Problem is the bigger they are the harder they fall. I know this doesn't get us out of the present mess but there has been greed and short termism at every level in the build up to this.
We desperately need abbatoir staff now though. No question about that, and it really ought to be a top priority for the government in its immigration management role - that's if there are actually hoards of abbattoir workers waiting on the continent to come here, which actually I doubt there are. Lack of manual labour is an EU wide problem that's been been building for years. Maybe we should be looking to the commonwealth. Corporate businesses aren't blameless in this mess either.

From Sophie Hope at the sharp end:

It’s still a huge problem and getting worse. Help us save Great British pig farmers! Lobby your MP and buy British.
What do we want/need?
1. Immediately more staff in the processing plants – URGENT – we have to get pigs off the farm now!
2. 12-month COVID recovery visas to secure skilled staff from wherever around the world we can find them. 3-month visas are too short and won’t be long enough to encourage people to move here
3. We need the Government to lower the English level required to enter UK for specific roles. The current level is the same regardless of whether you are a doctor, vet or aba[oir worker and does not need to be.
4. Butchers need to be added to Shortage Occupation List and that list should be reviewed earlier than 2022 as is the current plan. This is NOT simply about access to cheap labour it is to address a real skills shortage
5. Government need to start fresh meat border checks NOW
6. Retailers need to play their part and take some responsibility, demand British NOT cheaper EU product
7. Going forward there has to be more integrity in the supply chain from farmer to retailer. The farmer is always the price taker and the price of product on the shelves bears no resemblance to how much it has cost to grow. The processors and retailers don’t do anything without a guaranteed margin.
8. If government really don’t want pig farmers in the UK they really do need to let us know! With a year’s production ahead at any one time we need genuine help to quit.

JP1 · Oct 7, 2021

Easedoff · Oct 7, 2021

Is the industry short of skilled, whole carcass butchers?
Or just some bods who sit on a line, each doing a couple of basic cuts?

tepapa · Oct 7, 2021

Haven't 10k odd Afghanistan's just crossed over the Chanel?. Couldn't they be given jobs since their probably costing the tax payer something to feed an bed, until their given visa's.

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

JP1 said:
From Sophie Hope at the sharp end:

It’s still a huge problem and getting worse. Help us save Great British pig farmers! Lobby your MP and buy British.
What do we want/need?
1. Immediately more staff in the processing plants – URGENT – we have to get pigs off the farm now!
2. 12-month COVID recovery visas to secure skilled staff from wherever around the world we can find them. 3-month visas are too short and won’t be long enough to encourage people to move here
3. We need the Government to lower the English level required to enter UK for specific roles. The current level is the same regardless of whether you are a doctor, vet or aba[oir worker and does not need to be.
4. Butchers need to be added to Shortage Occupation List and that list should be reviewed earlier than 2022 as is the current plan. This is NOT simply about access to cheap labour it is to address a real skills shortage
5. Government need to start fresh meat border checks NOW
6. Retailers need to play their part and take some responsibility, demand British NOT cheaper EU product
7. Going forward there has to be more integrity in the supply chain from farmer to retailer. The farmer is always the price taker and the price of product on the shelves bears no resemblance to how much it has cost to grow. The processors and retailers don’t do anything without a guaranteed margin.
8. If government really don’t want pig farmers in the UK they really do need to let us know! With a year’s production ahead at any one time we need genuine help to quit.

I fully agree with that.
But I still think, as with fertiliser plants, there is an element of big business that sees itself as being able to hold the country to ransom. They should never have been allowed to get as big as that or should have been nationalised once they were of such strategic importance.
I do wonder though if this government is just gritting it’s teeth and washing its hands of agriculture as it doesn’t fit it’s rewilding and conservation agenda. That’s bad news all round and really shows them up for the lying windbags they are.

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

tepapa said:
Haven't 10k odd Afghanistan's just crossed over the Chanel?. Couldn't they be given jobs since their probably costing the tax payer something to feed an bed, until their given visa's.

Absolutely. I thought the whole point of Brexit was flexibility to manage our own country. Seems to be sadly lacking though.

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

Fundamentally though, big business reliance on imported slave labour, bypassing and not training home grown staff is as big a part of this problem as Brexit, as well as the work ethic or lack of it of some on the dole.

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

I think in agriculture we have relied on guaranteed markets for years.
Pick up the phone to the grain trader and they always quote a price for some sort of movement. I reckon the day will come when they say “sorry we are full up thanks.”…….which is the sort of market that every other industry has had to cope with for years.
We might just have to live with the fact that our customers can’t necessarily take our products ad infinitum.
We might actually have to do our own marketing and selling. Now there’s a thought. Strange and difficult times. Sympathy for all concerned.

nivilla1982 · Oct 7, 2021

What is the current level of English required by the Government?

Lowland1 · Oct 7, 2021

DrWazzock said:
Perhaps if all the small local abbattoirs (3 in our town, now none) hadn't been closed because they couldnt meet EU directives then we would be in a more resilient position now. The big corporate outfits couldn't see these small independents closed fast enough, wiping out their competition.
Problem is the bigger they are the harder they fall. I know this doesn't get us out of the present mess but there has been greed and short termism at every level in the build up to this.
We desperately need abbatoir staff now though. No question about that, and it really ought to be a top priority for the government in its immigration management role - that's if there are actually hoards of abbattoir workers waiting on the continent to come here, which actually I doubt there are. Lack of manual labour is an EU wide problem that's been been building for years. Maybe we should be looking to the commonwealth. Corporate businesses aren't blameless in this mess either.

That’s the main problem. The elephant in the room. Generally Europe has low, declining birth rates and an aging population. In the richer countries this has been masked by workers moving from poorer countries to the richer ones to work. Like it or not there aren’t enough workers. It’s alright aiming for a high wage high skill economy but you still need care home workers and the like

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

For me but maybe not for some, Brexit was never about keeping people out or sending them home.
It was purely about regaining the independence to manage our own country as best we saw fit rather than accepting one size fits all diktats from Brussels.
From what I’ve seen so far things don’t look to be going very well with there now being a kind of management vacuum where the EU once sorted things out for us. Is this because populist political opportunists jumped on the Brexit bandwagon pushing those who had done the heavy lifting aside? I rather think so, and the new opportunities and fresh start are being squandered by a bunch of vacuous champagne ecologist populists.

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

In a nutshell, the brain left the building when Dominic Cummings departed. I really don’t rate those in charge now.

Lowland1 · Oct 7, 2021

DrWazzock said:
For me but maybe not for some, Brexit was never about keeping people out or sending them home.
It was purely about regaining the independence to manage our own country as best we saw fit rather than accepting one size fits all diktats from Brussels.
From what I’ve seen so far things don’t look to be going very well with there now being a kind of management vacuum where the EU once sorted things out for us. Is this because populist political opportunists jumped on the Brexit bandwagon pushing those who had done the heavy lifting aside? I rather think so, and the new opportunities and fresh start are being squandered by a bunch of vacuous champagne ecologist populists.

Germany’s prosperity after the Second World War was built on guest workers after the war they had a shortage of workers so they imported them from Turkey or Portugal. You don’t have to make them citizens give them a visa with an expiry date. This nonsense about a labour shortage helping to raise wages is total rubbish. The minimum wage has been set by successive Conservative Governments if they were that concerned about the poor working people they’d have set it higher years ago. If Margaret Thatcher was in charge you could believe she was allowing market forces to dictate wages. Boris thinks the market is where you buy your artisan coffee.

JP1 · Oct 7, 2021

nivilla1982 said:
What is the current level of English required by the Government?

One pass level Doctor , vet or processing worker

spin cycle · Oct 7, 2021

firstly i'm not denying that there is a farming/welfare crisis in the pig sector

BUT...there are a lot of cartoons....newspaper headlines...ppl in 'save our bacon' shirts......is there ANY statistical evidence to support this 'brexit labour' shortage in the pig processing sector?

even if there is... how was this 'depleted' post brexit workforce able to process 15k MORE pigs a week for 16 weeks spring/early summer 2021 compared to pre bexit/covoid 2019?

DrWazzock · Oct 7, 2021

I used to work with Chinese engineers and they always used to say “Chairman Mao says ‘No matter what colour the cat as long as he catches rat!’l

Suffolk Serf · Oct 7, 2021

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The above poem by Martin Niemoller sums up the job to me and why all of agriculture needs to stick together. We pig people might be the first but you dairy, beef, sheep, grain etc etc might be next.

primmiemoo · Oct 7, 2021

Easedoff said:
When was there last, an advert seen on the telly for a "kosher" pork sausage, or other pig product?
Last I can vaguely remember was for DANISH BACON. And that seems to have been years ago.
Never seen one on social media.
Perhaps the Hairy Bikers etc are deemed sufficient?

[Bernard Woolley font: on]...

Erm, with greatest of respect, Minister, I somehow think that pork would be the least likely meat to make it into a kosher sausage.... [Bernard Woolley font: /off]

Hilly · Oct 7, 2021

If their is 25% less pigs getting slaughtered how come their is not 25% less pork in the shops and no shortage surely the shelves should have 25% less pork on the shelves and real pork shortage ? I’ve been working away today with a group of non farmers and sold a sh!t load of pork , I won’t tell you what they said about super market pork . A mere mention of shortage of pork should on current form bog roll and fuel spur panic buying , but no their is plenty plenty plenty and some more ! Your getting sold lies and falling for it big time .

spin cycle · Oct 7, 2021

Hilly said:
If their is 25% less pigs getting slaughtered how come their is not 25% less pork in the shops and no shortage surely the shelves should have 25% less pork on the shelves and real pork shortage ? I’ve been working away today with a group of non farmers and sold a sh!t load of pork , I won’t tell you what they said about super market pork .

it's been replaced with eu pork.....whilst the real culprits...the supermarkets...default on contracts

100,000 pigs to be destroyed

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Up to 25%

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50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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