Chairman's Report
Uploaded January 2008

Due to unforeseen circumstances the last newsletter originally planned for early Autumn has only recently gone out so this Christmas one follows hot on . s heels. The effects of restrictions arising from Foot and Mouth, together with the zoning for Blue Tongue, have continued to impact on all livestock farming. The planned Smithfield Show at the Bath & West at the beginning of December joined the already long list of cancellations.

Some pig related Events that did take place were Good Food Shows in Glasgow and London, and the Welsh Winter Fair. At all of these the BPA held Pedigree Pork Sausage competition heats. In London Chris Coe flew the flag for the Berkshire breed. With entries in both the Traditional and the Speciality sections Glebe Farm's Pork and Stilton came out on top. All the winners from the heats then competed again in the Final which was held at the Bath & West Showground on the day of the BPA AGM. Once again Chris did us proud, this time winning the Traditional section and going on to take the overall championship.

These are in the main very difficult times for pig breeders. We are still feeling the knock-on effect of all the movement clamp downs, and the ever increasing price of feed and fuel is another detrimental factor. Although in the past two or three years there has been an increase in the numbers of Berkshires pigs being birth notified and registered I fear that the bloodline survey currently being undertaken by the BPA may now present a much less rosy picture.

The object of this survey is to "kill off' all the dead pigs on the BPA computer so that an accurate picture of the breed, and the state of its individual bloodlines, can be arrived at. This also provides the necessary information for a genetic analysis of the breed to be undertaken. Hopefully all of you reading this will have already completed your survey, but if not, please could you as soon as possible? It is relatively easy to do on line but you should have also received forms from the BPA to fill in if you prefer. I have been asked by Marcus Bates of the BPA to assist with compiling the Berkshire information so please contact me if I can be of help. (Tel: 01363 82465 or vikimills@googlemail.com)

Yet more paperwork is on its way for breeders finishing pigs for meat. I am most grateful to Richard Lutwyche for drawing my attention to the Food Chain Information documentation which becomes statutory from 1 sI January 2008. (see elsewhere in this issue). I also share Club Secretary Sharon Barnfield's concerns about the proposals by the Government for farmers to contribute large sums of money towards the cost of combating animal diseases. In light of the cause of the recent FMD outbreak this seems particularly unreasonable. (See Marcus Bates' letter to Sharon on this elsewhere) Finally a reminder that the Transport certificates we were all supposed to have by early January are now going to be enforced from next April onwards so another bit of costly red tape that hasn't gone away.

Finally, as requested in the last newsletter, Chris and I would like to hear from you if you come across any Berkshire pork in Waitrose stores. If you do please collect any leaflets on it, and ask the butcher on the counter to tell you more about it. We are shortly due to meet again with Bap, who produce the pork for Waitrose, to further discuss the way in which this Waitrose product is marketed and will report back in the next newsletter.

With very best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and productive 2008.

Viki Mills
Chairman

Tel: 01363 82465 or 07843 301903
Gillhouse Farm Zeal Monachorum Crediton Devon EX17 6LE
email vikimills@googlemail.com