Andrew, who was described as a ‘champion of the Oxford Sandy & Black’, died on Tuesday, following an accident at his farm.

Andrew was a trustee of the Cobthorn Trust, which based at Cobthorn Farm, in Somerset, has been dedicated to conservation activities since 1986. Cobthorn Farm has been involved in rare breed farming since 1959, while Andrew was one of the founding fathers of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) and served as a trustee for many years.

In a statement, the Trust said: “We are so very sad to announce the passing of Andrew Sheppy, a man we love and admire so much.

“Our thoughts are with his close friends, family, and colleagues. Shep was a tremendous man with an enormously generous spirit, wicked sense of humour, and an unwavering commitment to conservation biology. He was a true inspiration for so many biologists, young and old, and his impact and influence as a conservationist, teacher, musician, and mentor will certainly endure.

“The Cobthorn Trustees and close supporters of Shep’s work are making arrangements for the animals at the farm and will do everything necessary to preserve his legacy and continue his work.

“Rest in Peace, Shep. Rest in Peace. We’ll miss you.”

A champion of the Oxford Sandy & Black

Commenting on Twitter, the British Pig Association said: “Very sad news that Andrew Sheppy has died. He was a champion of the Oxford Sandy & Black.”

The association posted a picture of his Oxford Sandy & Black stock boar from 1984.

RBST said: “It is with heavy hearts we share the sad news of our friend and mentor Andrew Sheppy’s passing.

“Although his more recent work with RBST has focused on poultry, he was a passionate Dexter breeder, one of the original founders of the Oxford Sandy and Black Pig Society. He also bred Hebrideans and Soays for many years, carrying out important genetic work with these and other sheep breeds in 1970’s.

“Everyone at RBST will miss him greatly and all our thoughts are his family and close friends at this difficult time.”

He was also an honorary lecturer at Bristol Vet College, winner of the Marsh Christian Trust Award for Conservation Genetic Bio-Diversity and founder and current President of the Rare Poultry Society.

• Andrew is pictured above receiving his Marsh Christian Award for Conservation in Genetic Bio-Diversity from Emily Reeves and Dr Phil Sponenberg

Genus, PIC’s parent company, and Hermitage, described as one of the longest established pig breeding companies in Europe, made the announcement on Thursday morning. The companies have signed an agreement to enter into a strategic partnership covering the supply of porcine genetics in several markets.

PIC will acquire the genetic rights and intellectual property of Hermitage, which will also become a strategic supply chain and distribution partner for PIC. PIC also will acquire certain Hermitage customer relationships in various geographies including Russia, the US and several European countries.

The transaction is subject to a number of closing conditions which are expected to be fulfilled by the end of March 2017.

The companies said the partnership combines PIC’s genetics expertise and quality, and Hermitage’s supply chain network and operational excellence.

“This combination will strengthen PIC’s ability to deliver genetic improvement in Europe and provide customers of both PIC and Hermitage with access to top-tier genetics and optimal technical and health services,” the companies said.

Hermitage was established in 1958 in Ireland and is one of the longest established porcine breeding and genetics companies in Europe.

It has grown into a multinational porcine breeding company serving pig producers in Europe and other international markets with high-health breeding stock. It owns includes nucleus farms and boar studs in Ireland and across Europe, as well as multiplication partners in key international territories.

Karim Bitar, Chief Executive of Genus, said: The partnership with Hermitage is an ideal fit with our porcine strategy. It will provide Genus with the opportunity to accelerate genetic improvement by combining the PIC and Hermitage gene pools. In addition, Hermitage’s strong supply chain and customer-service oriented team will strengthen our ability to serve pig producers efficiently and reliably.”

Ned Nolan, owner of Hermitage, added: “This is an exciting step for Hermitage, as we join forces with a global pioneer in our field. Our partnership with PIC will allow the continued use of the Hermitage gene pool to provide enhanced genetics to our global customer base. Hermitage shares PIC’s values of pioneering genetic improvement for customers and we look forward to collaborating with PIC’s team.”

Researchers at Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, working with scientists at Washington State University, the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture, have created male pigs that could be used as surrogates capable of producing sperm that contains the genetic blueprint of sought-after pigs.

The surrogates have functional testes but do not have specialised stem cells that are required to produce sperm containing their own genetic information. As a result, stem cells from male pigs with desirable characteristics, such as greater resilience to disease, could be transplanted into the surrogates to produce limitless supplies of their valuable sperm.

The team behind the development claim the breakthrough will allow farmers to preserve sperm from prized animals in perpetuity.

“This could dramatically improve the production efficiency and quality of farmed pigs, as well as enhancing other desirable traits such as disease resilience in production animals,” said Professor Bruce Whitelaw, Head of Developmental Biology at Roslin.

Based on an original document which was developed several years ago by the NPA Heads of Breeding Companies committee, the new version has been produced by NPA’s senior policy advisor, Georgina Crayford, again with the help of breeding company representatives.

“All of the primary breeding companies operating in the UK will be going over and above the Import Protocol, but we also need any producers who might be importing stock themselves to take a look and ensure they are compliant,” said Ms Crayford (pictured above).

“The protocol is a recommendation, so minor changes to the testing protocol may be required depending on where the pigs are coming from. It is up to the vet and importing business to ensure that they follow the protocol in such a way as to minimise the risk of bringing anything in.

“It is also worth stressing that the NPA Import Protocol is a Red Tractor requirement and, if the proposed changes to the Red Tractor standard go through, vets will be required to sign an import certificate declaring which diseases have been tested for, demonstrating to auditors that an import protocol has been followed.”

See the revised document

That’s the autumn research challenge being addressed at the Swine Innovation Centre (SIC) at Sterksel in the Netherlands, with the subject having been chosen as a result of proposals from the country’s commercial producers.

“Often in conversations I notice that pig keepers and industry advisors have difficulty to letting go of their old ways of thinking and working on something new,” said SIC’s manager, Theo Duteweerd (pictured above), adding that the centre’s “teaching a gilt” project is definitely in the new category.

“On most farms, gilts are rarely taught anything before they become a sow. The question is, therefore, how can a breeding gilt know how to be a good mother, when she has never been taught?”

In seeking to answer the question this autumn, Mr Duteweerd said his research team will need to “think outside the box” while considering all the facets of good mothering qualities.

“Happily, this is not a one-man-show,” he added. “The business community has shown great interest in this topic and foresees potential benefits for pig keepers.

“We are therefore planning to involve the experience and knowledge of seasoned pig keepers in this project, plus the possibility of some on-farm testing. We’re also planning for an inspiring autumn.”

The gilt education project was one of several ideas put forward by producers in response to a call from SIC for farmers to help devise their own research and development future.

See previous SIC article

Hendrix and Roslin already have a strong research relationship concerning farm salmon disease genetics and see the new agreement as an opportunity to collaborate on breeding developments with other livestock species, including pigs and poultry.

“The new partnership with Roslin is a unique opportunity to improve our breeding programmes through applied research projects, using the latest genomic technology,” said Hendrix Genetics’ chief innovation and technology officer, Dr Johan van Arendonk.

Roslin Institute’s deputy director, Professor Bruce Whitelaw, agreed, adding: “We are excited about building on our long-term relationship with Landcatch (Hendrix-owned Scottish salmon breeder), working together across a number of other commercial species.”

The existing collaboration on salmon, which has been running for several years, has already yielded the discovery of a gene that makes salmon more resilient to a viral disease. This has led, in turn, to the development of genetic tools that have improved the selective breeding of salmon with resistance to sea lice, which is a particularly significant problem for fish farmers.

The new agreement is designed to enable the two partners to strengthen and extend their relationship, specifically to explore precision breeding technology, not only in aquaculture, but also in pig, chicken and turkey breeding.

A division of Rattlerow Farms, Klasse AI is an independent business and, as such, will house a range of advanced terminal and dam line genotypes from top European breeders. Currently, sister company Klasse KI operates the largest independent AI stud in Holland, selling a number of recognised sire lines to key Dutch, German and Belgian businesses. It manages the largest selection of DanAvl dam line boars outside Denmark, and has seen exports to the UK, Russia and Belgium expand rapidly.

Klasse AI has been established to build on this position in the UK and provides a similar choice of superior genetics combined with the best housing, collection and distribution facilities. New state of the art stud facilities, incorporating the latest technology for collection and processing, will be completed in August to house additional lines destined for UK customers.

The joint managing director of Rattlerow Farms, Robert Lawson, said Klasse would provide UK pig producers with a more comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective AI package – one that is competitive and maximises Klasse’s specialist resources and facilities.

“We’ve been operating this type of AI service successfully within our continental business for more than 15 years. We work closely with a number of European genetics suppliers and we’ve seen the benefits available to our customers from this collaborative approach,” he added. “The highly sophisticated and technically challenging nature of our industry has required a more flexible approach to AI supply, so that we can fulfil all the needs of our growing customer base. UK Farmers will now have a choice of world class genetics on their doorstep.”

Operating from isolated, biosecure sites and backed up by Rattlerow expertise, Klasse’s AI centres are equipped with some of most technically advanced boar accommodation, semen collection and processing facilities in the UK and Europe. The company’s customers will also have access to a wider selection of some of the leanest, fastest-growing and prolific lines available in Europe.

The transformation is featured as one of seven feed case studies, newly published by the Feed Adviser Register (FAR).

The study quotes independent feed adviser, Alan Ford, and Trouw Nutrition feed specialist, Dr Sian Nichols, both FAR members, who worked together with the unnamed producer.

While Dr Nichols provided knowledge transfer input, drawing on research and development results from around the world, Mr Ford provided “hands-on advice” on feed issues, commenting that working with “enthusiastic producers who are willing to try new techniques is one of the keys to success”.

The main factors in the 22-29.92 pigs/sow/annum improvement included:

• the practical application of research on farm,
• introduction of new products to the diet,
• reduced weaning to service intervals,
• better vitamin levels including folic acids, and
• a new vaccination regime.

FAR is a register for feed advisers and is intended for people that provide advice on feeding livestock to farmers. It was set up in 2013 by AIC and the feed sector in response to Government, industry and customer demands, predominately in relation to requests for Greenhouse Gas emission (GHG) reductions within the livestock sector. Three years on, the organisation has begun to assemble a library of case studies to display its “measurable results”.

Headline image shows Mr Ford and Dr Nichols

Access all seven FAR case studies

The new rules cover animal breeding, trade in, and imports into the EU of breeding animals and their genetic material, confirming an agreement reached by the Council and the European Parliament in December 2015.

One of the main claimed advances from the new structure is that the new rules will deliver a more harmonized regulatory approach to breeding issues. Until now, for example, EU legislation has been organised according to individual species while the new regulation will provide a “single and streamlined body of provisions for bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine and equine species”.

It’s also claimed by the Council that the new rules will aim to avoid obstacles to trade resulting from the national “transposition of EU legislation” while also helping to “overcome existing problems and unjustified restrictions in cross border activities of approved breed societies”.

“The animal breeding regulation will contribute to preserving valuable animal genetic resources,” said the Council, adding that it would also give greater protection to biodiversity and to the production of “typical quality regional products”.

The regulation will enter into force by mid-2016 and be ready to be applied commercially from the second half of 2018.

A partnership formed between Rattlerow and the director of Data To Decisions, Ed Sutcliffe, includes an agreement that will see the transfer of Rattlerow’s own production data and statistical records, from its entire pig breeding and finishing operation, onto the newly updated PigCom system. The information and statistics, produced from more than 40 sites, is a significant addition to PigCom’s growing database. Rattlerow will also promote PigCom in the UK as a Rattlerow-branded product.

Rattlerow has trialled a number of herd-recording systems during the past few years, but has found PigCom is more suited to the batch production and weekly data recording requirements used on its farms. The program’s clear tabular and graphical presentation of monthly and weekly data is simple to interpret for both breeding and rearing herds. This data is supported by a suite of more in depth reports and summaries that are also easy to generate and understand.

Rattlerow managers and stockmen say they have found PigCom a valuable addition to their management routines, enabling them to record statistics and identify and analyse production trends in a straightforward, user-friendly format.

The joint managing director of Rattlerow Farms, Robert Lawson, said the company was delighted to be working with Mr Sutcliffe.

“Ed has a close association with us having worked in our genetics team and maintained a consultancy role for many years,” he added. “We believe this new partnership will benefit both our own pig breeding and production businesses and also open up new opportunities for our customers and existing PigCom clients.”

The PigCom alliance adds another dimension to the comprehensive herd recording, data analysis and accounting system already used by Rattlerow. It will also provide customers using its GenMatch system for breeding replacement females with a more simplified means of calculating breeding values, thus aiding selection decisions.

The PigCom data recording system has taken more than 10 years to develop and is now rated as one of the most advanced pig management software packages available. The system is used worldwide by commercial pig production businesses, and also herds linked to international breeding company databases.

Rattlerow will promote PigCom in the UK as a Rattlerow-branded product alongside Data To Decisions. While specific packages will be available to the breeding company’s customers, PigCom will remain competitively priced alongside other herd recording systems.