It has been a hard start to 2019 with the stand-off between vets and the Department of Agriculture in slaughter plants which has reduced factory throughput and caused a build-up of animals on farm.

The backlog still hasn’t progressed as quickly as we would have liked and as long as that continues, the factories will be slow to give us the price rise that we really need.

China is down a minimum of 10% of its herd, which equates to 5% of the world’s pig population

Outside of Ireland, the kill in Germany is down from 1m to 850,000 head and this will be the first thing to have an immediate effect – German prices will have to start moving up.

This fall in the kill is as a result of the bad prices we have seen for the last six to eight months.

China is down a minimum of 10% of its herd, which equates to 5% of the world’s pig population.

This means that we should be back in profitability sooner rather than later. We need the factories to realise this and plan ahead and give a price rise now when it’s needed most.

Processors, banks and millers really need to understand the pain and the loneliness of being a pig farmer at the minute.

It’s very hard to take that everybody seems to be getting a margin except the primary producer.

The home farm is progressing well. There are good growth rates across pigs and I’m happy with the performance we’re achieving at the minute.

There’s a certain amount of maintenance that needs to be done, but until prices rise it’s a case of fixing things when we can.

African swine fever

At present, China is battling with African swine fever which has spread rapidly to over 23 provinces countrywide.

This is a devastating disease with up to 100% mortality in infected cases and neither vaccine nor cure. China is home to 50% of the world’s pigs and with the disease spreading, the culling of infected animals will severely hamper pigmeat production in the country.

Maybe it is time we realised that we should be producing less for more rather than more for less

It is therefore anticipated that China will increase the importation of pigmeat to meet the demand for the nation’s most popular meat.

This should put the production of pigmeat into a profitable situation again. But the question must be asked; where is the industry going worldwide if we are relying on the misfortune of others to get a margin? Maybe it is time we realised that we should be producing less for more rather than more for less. Looking forward, hopefully we can learn from the mistakes of the past.

Pig prices at the moment are hovering between 1.38/kg and 1.42/kg, but with the breakeven price for pig producers at 1.54/kg, even this price is not good enough at the moment.