Pat's Note: Well that's a turn up for the book: Salmond is well
informed about pig disease in Scotland's pigs.

"Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
vaccines to deal with pig diseases."

I'm not surprised. I wonder if he knows about the links to MRSA and
perhaps C.Diff in Scotland's hospitals and the illegal involvement of
the Scottish Executive in investigating the faking of blood tests on
sick pigs  in England?

The specifically Scottish connection in Britain's animal and human
health disasters and the associated attempts to silence  and
intimidate the writer may well move centre stage.

Salmond is out to grasp the initiative. He has worked out that this
problem is not going to go away.


http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/770579?UserKey=0

Monday 4 August 2008

First minister assures NFU Scotland representatives following meeting
at Turriff show
Salmond set to announce aid package for pig producers 
By Joe Watson

Published: 04/08/2008

A package of aid to help Scotland's pig producers will be announced
later this month.

First Minister Alex Salmond delivered the pledge yesterday after a
meeting with NFU Scotland representatives at Turriff Show.

The aid – which finally recognises the huge impact of last August's
foot-and-mouth outbreak on the Scottish pig sector – had been expected
to be announced last month. But Mr Salmond said it was delayed to
allow for discussions with Vion, the Dutch meat processing giant that
last week received clearance from the European Commission for its
£380million acquisition of Scotland's biggest pig processor, Grampian
Country Food Group.

Mr Salmond said: “They (Vion) have obviously a huge role to play in
the sector, and in the future of Scottish agriculture. There will be
an announcement by the end of this month certainly."

Mr Salmond would not discuss specifics of the package the Scottish
Government is likely to deliver. But it will almost certainly be based
on the recommendations of an industry taskforce set up in May after
Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead came in for criticism
for ignoring pig producers, whose financial woes after foot-and-mouth
were exacerbated by a collapse in global pig prices and escalating
feed costs. The double whammy led to losses of up to £25 on every
finished pig sold for more than eight months.

The taskforce delivered its report to the government in June. Its key
recommendations were for it to:

Make full use of Europe's existing deminimus aid rules that allow
member states to provide up to 7,500 euros (£5,900) to any farmer over
a three-year period without the need for authorisation from the
European Commission.

A straight compensation payment per head for cull sows, the value of
which collapsed because of foot-and-mouth. The aid would reflect the
drop in value of the sows and the extra feed farmers had to give them
until they could be marketed. This initiative requires European
approval.

Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
vaccines to deal with pig diseases.

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/

On Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:12:19 +0100, Pat Gardiner
 wrote:

>Pat's Note: Well that's a turn up for the book: Salmond is well
>informed about pig disease in Scotland's pigs.
>
>"Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
>vaccines to deal with pig diseases."
>
>I'm not surprised. I wonder if he knows about the links to MRSA and
>perhaps C.Diff in Scotland's hospitals and the illegal involvement of
>the Scottish Executive in investigating the faking of blood tests on
>sick pigs  in England?
>
>The specifically Scottish connection in Britain's animal and human
>health disasters and the associated attempts to silence  and
>intimidate the writer may well move centre stage.
>
>Salmond is out to grasp the initiative. He has worked out that this
>problem is not going to go away.
>
>
>http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/770579?UserKey=0
>
>Monday 4 August 2008
>
>First minister assures NFU Scotland representatives following meeting
>at Turriff show
>Salmond set to announce aid package for pig producers 
>By Joe Watson
>
>Published: 04/08/2008
>
>A package of aid to help Scotland's pig producers will be announced
>later this month.
>
>First Minister Alex Salmond delivered the pledge yesterday after a
>meeting with NFU Scotland representatives at Turriff Show.
>


>....A straight compensation payment per head for cull sows, the value of
>which collapsed because of foot-and-mouth. The aid would reflect the
>drop in value of the sows and the extra feed farmers had to give them
>until they could be marketed. This initiative requires European
>approval....
>

http://www.pigworld.co.uk/Pages/Traffic/TL-prices.html

August 1, 2008 

Something of a two-tier trade when comparing demand for cull sows with
finished pigs.

...The cull sow market on the other hand continues to soar and the
120p that a few weeks ago seemed an impossible target has now been
exceeded with most export buyers offering 120p-plus and larger loads
worth significant premiums above this due to falling numbers
throughout the EU.

With the anniversary of the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak approaching,
it is hard to believe that cull sow quotes a year ago only averaged
66.7p and have almost doubled over the past twelve months and during
the dark days of the export ban dropped as low as 35p.

Although most of the British herd clearances have now been completed,
high cull sow prices may have benefits as they are now higher than
gilt replacement costs and shrewd breeders might be able to “sell one
and buy 1.5 free”.

Pat's final notes: I think Mr Salmond's advisors have realised just
how serious the UK pig health crisis has become and are trying to
distance Scotland from involvement.

Sorry, but I have a sizeable pile of cuttings that would make any
decent Scot wince with horror. What looked like a bit of harmless argy
bargy with the rest of the UK looks terrible given the association of
sick pigs to human MRSA and possibly C.Diff.

I'll post some here later.

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/

On Aug 4, 4:12 am, Pat Gardiner 
wrote:
> Pat's Note: Well that's a turn up for the book: Salmond is well
> informed about pig disease in Scotland's pigs.
>
> "Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
> vaccines to deal with pig diseases."
>
> I'm not surprised. I wonder if he knows about the links to MRSA and
> perhaps C.Diff in Scotland's hospitals and the illegal involvement of
> the Scottish Executive in investigating the faking of blood tests on
> sick pigs  in England?
>
> The specifically Scottish connection in Britain's animal and human
> health disasters and the associated attempts to silence  and
> intimidate the writer may well move centre stage.
>
> Salmond is out to grasp the initiative. He has worked out that this
> problem is not going to go away.
>
> http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/770579?UserKey=0
>
> Monday 4 August 2008
>
> First minister assures NFU Scotland representatives following meeting
> at Turriff show
> Salmond set to announce aid package for pig producers
> By Joe Watson
>
> Published: 04/08/2008
>
> A package of aid to help Scotland's pig producers will be announced
> later this month.
>
> First Minister Alex Salmond delivered the pledge yesterday after a
> meeting with NFU Scotland representatives at Turriff Show.
>
> The aid – which finally recognises the huge impact of last August's
> foot-and-mouth outbreak on the Scottish pig sector – had been expected
> to be announced last month. But Mr Salmond said it was delayed to
> allow for discussions with Vion, the Dutch meat processing giant that
> last week received clearance from the European Commission for its
> £380million acquisition of Scotland's biggest pig processor, Grampian
> Country Food Group.
>
> Mr Salmond said: “They (Vion) have obviously a huge role to play in
> the sector, and in the future of Scottish agriculture. There will be
> an announcement by the end of this month certainly."
>
> Mr Salmond would not discuss specifics of the package the Scottish
> Government is likely to deliver. But it will almost certainly be based
> on the recommendations of an industry taskforce set up in May after
> Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead came in for criticism
> for ignoring pig producers, whose financial woes after foot-and-mouth
> were exacerbated by a collapse in global pig prices and escalating
> feed costs. The double whammy led to losses of up to £25 on every
> finished pig sold for more than eight months.
>
> The taskforce delivered its report to the government in June. Its key
> recommendations were for it to:
>
> Make full use of Europe's existing deminimus aid rules that allow
> member states to provide up to 7,500 euros (£5,900) to any farmer over
> a three-year period without the need for authorisation from the
> European Commission.
>
> A straight compensation payment per head for cull sows, the value of
> which collapsed because of foot-and-mouth. The aid would reflect the
> drop in value of the sows and the extra feed farmers had to give them
> until they could be marketed. This initiative requires European
> approval.
>
> Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
> vaccines to deal with pig diseases.
>
> --
> Regards
> Pat Gardiner
> Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!www.go-self-sufficient.com andhttp://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/

Mammon's been very busy!

Burkie

On Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:12:19 +0100, Pat Gardiner
 wrote:

>Pat's Note: Well that's a turn up for the book: Salmond is well
>informed about pig disease in Scotland's pigs.
>
>"Assistance for those who want to stay in the industry through funding
>vaccines to deal with pig diseases."
>
>I'm not surprised. I wonder if he knows about the links to MRSA and
>perhaps C.Diff in Scotland's hospitals and the illegal involvement of
>the Scottish Executive in investigating the faking of blood tests on
>sick pigs  in England?
>
>The specifically Scottish connection in Britain's animal and human
>health disasters and the associated attempts to silence  and
>intimidate the writer may well move centre stage.
>
>Salmond is out to grasp the initiative. He has worked out that this
>problem is not going to go away.
>
>
>http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/770579?UserKey=0
>
>Monday 4 August 2008
>
>snip<

You can find information about the health status of Scottish pigs
posted on the 3rd December 2003 on
http://www.go-self-sufficient.com/stopworldmain.htm.

The link to the BBC report is still live, but the link to The Scotsman
now fails.

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/