Red Tractor has published a “What Has Changed” leaflet that lists changes to the organisation’s pig scheme that producers will need to meet from October 2014.
The changes include:
Antibiotic Usage
With increasing focus on antibiotic use in agriculture there is a need for the industry to demonstrate responsible use of medicines. This new standard therefore requires that you collate and record total antibiotic used on your farm, including in-feed antibiotics, and annually review the figure with your vet in order that any trends might be identified.
Traceability of Breeding Stock
Traceability is a cornerstone of Red Tractor and one way our standards have previously reflected this is by requiring that all breeding stock come from assured farms. This has been extended to require that semen must also be sourced from assured farms and records must be kept of both breeding stock and semen suppliers.
Biosecurity
By taking a pig to a show, you’re risking exposing it to different infections that could potentially affect your herd health status. This risk is seen as being too great, and therefore the standard now requires that pigs are taken directly to slaughter if they have been taken to a show.
Ad-lib Feeding
Access to feed is important to both productivity and to animal welfare. We have now included a reference to ad-lib feeders and that the feeders are correctly managed to ensure that the ability for a pig to feed is not compromised.
Feed Storage
It’s important for feed quality and safety that it is stored in a suitable way. The standard has been revised to specify that dry feed must be stored in weatherproof facilities.
Concrete Slatted Flooring
A British Standard (BS) has been produced outlining the standard pig housing should be built to. In order to meet these requirements, the standard has been revised.
Controlling Vermin
The standards now focus more clearly on the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) code.
There are also a number of changes related to general environmental farming practices. The complete list can be found in the leaflet that can be dowloaded from the link below.
