More Pigs in North America

United States and Canadian inventory of all hogs and pigs for September 2011 was up one per cent from September 2010 at 78.6 million head. The breeding inventory, at 7.11 million head, was one per cent more than a year previously and up slightly from last quarter.

Market hog inventory, at 71.5 million head, was up one per cent from last year and up three per cent from last quarter. The pig crop, at 36.3 million head, was up one per cent from 2010.

The number of sows farrowing during this period totalled 3.60 million head, two per cent fewer than last year and three per cent down from 2009.

The bacterium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to antibiotics, has spread rapidly in the past few years on pig farms. Its spread has been attributed to the extensive use of antibiotics but Els Broens, in her doctoral thesis from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, has found evidence that reducing antibiotic use would not eliminate MRSA from pig farms.

In order to cut the transmission of MRSA from pigs to humans, the bacterium needs to be combated at source: on the farm, she explained. However, reducing antibiotic use will not solve the problem, says Dr Broens, because resistant bacteria can spread and thrive among pigs that have not had any antibiotics. She argues for hygiene measures in order to prevent the spread of resistant bacteria on and between pig farms, which requires a joint plan by farmers, politicians, supermarkets and vets.

New research from Denmark's University of Aarhus has revealed that the benefits of adding the enzyme, phytase, to pig feed are not being fully realised. It appears that the phytase is not given enough time to act on a great part of the feed during the digestive process in order to release the phosphorus bound to phytate in feed ingredients of plant origin.

Post-doc, Karoline Blaabjerg, explained: "We are therefore working on developing methods that can give phytase more time in which to work. We are also working on paving the way to give phytase the possibility of a better and quicker access to the phytate."

In the UK, opposition has been growing to a new large pig farm at Foston, Derbyshire, proposed by Midland Pig Producers. In the last week, the Health Protection Agency has raised strong concerns about the potential risk to public health of the planned farm, and it is reported that the local council has also voted against the proposal.

And finally, turning to news of notifiable diseases, foot and mouth disease (FMD) has broken out at an official animal quarantine establishment in Penghu in Taiwan, and there has been a suspected outbreak at a cattle farm in Andong in the North Gyeongsang province of southeastern South Korea.

As the result of African swine fever (ASF), at least 500 pigs have died in the Amuru district of Uganda and the Russian veterinary authorities report a new outbreak among backyard pigs in the Kursk region.