Philippine Hog News:

[mikey]

Sanico
Wednesday, November 19, 2008Print This Page
CME: Crude Oil Prices Impact Livestock Production
US - CME's Daily Livestock Report for 18th November 2008.



Notice: As you click on the link below, please find a special notice regarding the start of trading of options on Feeder Cattle futures on the CME Globex trading platform.

Crude oil prices continue to plummet and this remains a bearish influence on grain prices. As the below chart shows, crude oil and corn prices have moved almost in lockstep for the past two years, in large part thanks to the increased linkages between the corn feed and energy sectors.


The ethanol industry remains one of the largest users of US corn stock at this time (estimated at about 32% of overall US corn usage in 2008-09) and this will continue to make the corn markets especially vulnerable to the extreme volatility in the energy market. If the relationship between crude oil and corn is to hold in the short term, one could see corn prices continue to drift further into December.

Reports indicate that current new corn crop sales are very light, possibly indicating that US corn producers are somewhat more bullish on the price outlook for 2009 than the futures market. But, if ethanol and world demand continue to slump, it will be difficult for corn values to maintain any significant rally going forward. The strength of the US currency clearly is a concern as is the weakness in the US livestock industry. Indeed, with all the talk of possibly slumping ethanol demand, it is also important to consider the expected contraction in livestock and poultry production. The latest USDA report indicated that egg sets are currently 11% lower than year ago levels and have declined in double digits for the past two weeks.

If large poultry producers are forced to declare bankruptcy, and possibly liquidate, it could cause significant disruptions in the feed grain markets and put further pressure on grain prices in 2009. As for beef, prices remain under pressure following the decline in equity values and talk about weak beef demand. Feeder cattle contracts were hit especially hard in today’s trading, with futures declining by as much as 265 points (Feb ‘09 contract) and most contracts establishing new life of contract lows. Feeders were pulled lower by the weakness in live cattle futures and did not get much support by lower corn futures. As for hogs, the market traded mixed today but continues to be weighed down by speculation of weakening export sales and uncertain outlook for US supplies in 2009.

Looks like the feed prices maybe somewhat unstable for the year 2009.Corn is in high demand.

mikey
Farmers Feed The World:

[mikey]

The Quezon City government has intensified its efforts against the selling of 'hot' or 'double-dead' meat in the cities wet markets following reports that the city's Market Development Administration Department has confiscated more than five tonnes of double-dead pork meat in 10 separate raids between the Cloverleaf and MC markets in the northern part of the city. Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr warned scrupulous traders that his government will prosecute those caught engaging in this illegal activity. Earlier this month, authorities caught 230 kg of double-dead pork meat being transported with live hogs in nearby Pasay City.

[mikey]

Philippine meat processors have asked the government to scrap the ban on pork imports as this may lead to supply problems during the coming Christmas season. There were reports earlier that Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary'Arthur Yap ordered the suspension of the issuance of veterinary quarantine clearance (VCQ) for pork import applications, amid pressures from an influential group of hog raisers who said pork imports are flooding the wet markets despite a lack in demand. The group said the suspension of VCQ for pork imports has affected the delivery of manufacturing-grade parts needed by the meat processing industry, including pork bellies, fats, offals, and skin/rind.

[mikey]

 The Philippine Department of Agriculture [DA] released the first piglets totaling 730 heads to the provinces of Antique and Iloilo, both of which are in Western Visayas. Western Visayas is one of the five regions identified by the DA to implement a program that aims to provide adequate supply of pork to Metro Manila during the last quarter of the year, especially during the Christmas season. A total of 2,263 heads of piglets will be released to backyard hog farmers in the region. Under the program, the DA will provide a piglet subsidy worth PHP 1,000 (USD 21.43) per piglet, with each raiser getting maximum of two piglets. Other regions that will receive piglets are Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and the Bicol region.

[mikey]

The article says the native pig is thought to be extinct. I wonder how much problems it would be to try and breed it back?(not original, but close to it).

Philippine Native
The Philippine Native pig is either black or black with a white belly. Varieties include Ilocos and Jalajala. The Berkjala, Diani, Kaman, Koronadel and Libtong breeds were all developed from this breed. It is now thought to be extinct.

The breed is very prolific, in average the gilts could exhibit signs of sexual maturity as young as 4 to 5 months. They are have a low feed conversion ratio. Growing swine reach 60 kilos during the 6 to 8 months fattening period. This breed is popular throughout the Philippines in the for Letchon (broiled whole pig).

Reference:

Professor Liwayway H. Acero, Philippines

Mason, I.L. 1996. A World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties. Fourth Edition. C.A.B International. 273 pp.

Photographs:

R. E. McDowell, Professor Emeritus of International Animal Science, Cornell University, and provided by Paul O. Brackelsberg, Professor of Animal Science, Iowa State University

 

[nemo]

dwindling population but not yet extinct

They say in Ifugao there are still some.

[mikey]

I agree Doc.still some around our place plus we own some ourselves.
The native is what one would call a Heritage Breed.Hertiage Breeds are not used in commercial or semi commercial operations usually due to late to mature,(longer growing period).Heritage breeds are still in demand more suitable to a  niche market.
Once the numbers are in a real decline,their value increases.

[nemo]

This is another niche market to explore.

And possible also to be a pet if trained/tamed properly. Like the potbellied pigs.

[mikey]

Wednesday, December 03, 2008Print This Page
DA: Enough Pork Supply in Bicol During Christmas
THE PHILIPPINES - The Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured consumers in Bicol of a stable supply of pork during the Christmas season as it has secured adequate supply commitment from suppliers in Masbate and the neighboring Visayan Islands.



Balita-dot-ph reports that the DA gave the assurance with an expected increase in demand for pork during the holidays as Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve will never be complete without pork, particularly ham.

"There are some speculations on possible pork shortage during the holidays," DA regional director Jose V. Dayao said in a statement.

Dayao said last Tuesday, Crown B Corporation, a commercial farm based in Aroroy, Masbate has delivered 100 heads of hogs to Arrow Meat Shop in Naga City.

He said that this initial delivery will boost the current hog stocks and help stabilize priced of pork for the holiday season.

If necessary, he said DA can source stocks from the Visayas and Mindanao regions to augment the region's stocks to assure enough pork supply.

[mikey]

NMIS Intensifies Campaign Against Unsafe Meat
THE PHILIPPINES - To make sure that consumers are eating safe meat, in the coming Christmas season in particular, the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) has started to inspect public markets, slaughterhouses and post-abbatoir operations with the assistance of law enforcement agencies.



Meat agency officer-in-charge Jane Bacayo said they have strengthened partnerships with local government units to implement more effective regulation of the meat industry, by watching closely on the country’s meat processing plants and public markets along with 426 accredited slaughterhouses and more than 1,000 unaccredited slaughterhouses nationwide.

“The NMIS has lately been conducting a lot of ‘post-abbatoir’ operations where it was able to confiscate some nine metric tons combined of ‘hot’ or double-dead meat in several markets in Metro Manila, in coordination with the National Bureau of Investigation [NBI] and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police,” Bacayo said in a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

Bacayo said the operations led to the filing of criminal cases against 10 people for selling unsafe pork and chicken from January to August alone.

The Manila Times reports that while the Bureau of Animal Industry has jurisdiction over animals transported from farms to slaughterhouses, it is the job of the Meat agency to oversee all industry-related activities from slaughterhouses to the markets.

Because of this, the NMIS has the mandate to confiscate all meat and meat products that have not passed the standards set by the agency, Bacayo explained.

“So after we catch people selling double-dead meat, we file cases against them for violation of the Consumer Act of the Philippines,” Bacayo added.

The Meat official further said that market inspection work is being done all year round. However, the Meat agency’s operations are stepped up during the last quarter because unsafe or hot meat is “most prevalent from August to December, when the changes in the weather make animals and poultry less resistant and more susceptible to diseases.”

The Meat agency always conduct seminars and advocacy campaigns on food safety, trying to convince local governments to do their share in the food safety campaign of the government.

Bacayo said that alongside food safety seminars and advocacy campaigns for local governments, the Meat agency has also been extending financial assistance to municipalities for the improvement of their slaughterhouses, through grants on a counterpart arrangement.

Helping local governments improve their meat processing facilities actually falls under a new project of the agency, which is the Meat Establishment Improvement Program.

[mikey]

Thursday, December 11, 2008Print This Page
Filipino Hogs Found Positive for Ebola Virus
THE PHILIPPINES - Hogs in four Philippine piggery farms have been found positive for Ebola Reston virus, the Department of Health (DoH) and Department of Agriculture (DA) reported yesterday.



As of yesterday evening, Ebola Reston cases were confirmed in four farms in Luzon, the northern Philippines, after six out of 28 hogs tested positive for the virus.

Arthur Yap, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, allayed fears that the disease will be transferred to humans from infected hogs, Philippine TV network GMA News reported.

There has been no documented case on the virus being transmitted from hogs to humans, said the agriculture chief.

"This is an animal health problem and not a human issue," Yap said.

Yap added that most of the hog samples that were tested yesterday yielded negative results.

Meanwhile, he advised the public that pork meat should be properly cleaned and thoroughly cooked before they are eaten.

"The WHO (World Health Organization) said that the meat should be thoroughly cooked because the heat could kill the virus. The meat should likewise be properly handled and washed," Yap said.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) set up "hog checkpoints" to prevent the transport of pigs from four piggery farms in Luzon for slaughter or breeding.

Soledad Agbayani, president of the Philippine Association of Hog Farmers, likewise said the Ebola Reston virus was not harmful to humans.

"The virus is not harmful to humans but to be sure, make sure the meat you eat is not 'double dead'," Agbayani told a local radio.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has issued a ban on pork exports to other countries.

The government was planning to export choice pork cuts to Singapore early next year.

Ebola-Reston, a sub-type of the Ebola, was first discovered in 1989 from crab-eating macaques originating in the Philippines. Reportedly, it is non-pathogenic to humans and is only mildly fatal to monkeys.

[mikey]

Friday, December 12, 2008Print This Page
Hog Checkpoints Set Up Amid Ebola Scare
THE PHILIPPINES - The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) on Thursday said it has intensified its meat inspection efforts following the discovery of hogs in at least three piggery farms in Luzon tested positive for ebola reston virus.



NMIS Director Jane Bacayo said he has ordered strict monitoring of slaughterhouses all over the country.

He also directed its personnel to properly screen the requirements being submitted by hog dealers for the issuance of health certificates.

On the other hand, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) director Dave Catbagan said they have set up "hog checkpoints" to prevent the transport of pigs from the infected piggery farms in Luzon for slaughter or breeding.

He said they already coordinated with local government officials of the provinces concerned to prevent such transports.

"Walang makalalabas, na-coordinate na natin mula pa kagabi sa governors at mayors. May nagbabantay doon na mobile police (Pigs from those farms will not get out. We already coordinated with mayors and governors concerned. Police will set up checkpoints to make sure pigs from the infected farms will not get out)," he said.

"I'm assuring the public walang makakalabas na baboy (no pigs will be allowed to be brought out of the farms concerned) for slaughter and breeding," he added.

[mikey]

Tuesday, December 30, 2008Print This Page
DA to Seek FMD-free Certification for Luzon
THE PHILIPPINES - The Department of Agriculture (DA) will submit documents to world animal health authorities to have Luzon certified as free of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lead to the declaration of the Philippines as an FMD-free country.



Luzon is the only area in the country that has not yet been declared by the Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) or World Organization for Animal Health as FMD-free, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) officials said.

BAI Director Davinio Catbagan said that OIE already declared as FMD-free the entire Mindanao in May 2001, and Masbate, Palawan, and the entire Visayas in the same month the following year.

Mr Catbagan said the DA is confident that the issue on the Ebola Reston virus, which was earlier detected in a few hogs in two swine farms in Luzon, would not affect the Philippines’ bid to secure a clean bill of health from the OIE, considering that the government has been fully transparent and decisive in dealing with this animal health concern.

"We have exerted extra efforts to make sure that we deal with the Reston issue in a transparent and responsible manner, which is why DA is optimistic that the OIE will act positively on our application for FMD-free status," Catbagan said.

DA acted on the Reston case by placing the two affected farms under quarantine, according to Manila Bulletin Online.

As an additional precaution, the farm handlers and the butchers in the slaughterhouses where the animals are usually brought, were tested, for the non-pathogenic virus.

All the tests conducted on human samples yielded negative for the presence of the Reston virus, Mr Catbagan said.

DA is continuously monitoring the movement of animals and pork meat and has imposed stringent requirements in the issuance of health certifications on animal shipments, he said.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Catbagan said DA aims to secure OIE certification for most of Luzon as FMD-free "without vaccination," and the regions of Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) as FMD-free areas with vaccination.

Mr Catbagan pointed out that the Philippines has not had an FMD outbreak in nearly three years.

"Our papers are complete so we are now looking at the possibility of submitting our application to certify Luzon as FMD-free as well depending on the timetable of the OIE," he said.

He said BAI would submit the paper requirements next month, in time for the meeting of the OIE’s Scientific Commission within the first two months of next year.

The last case of FMD was reported in Lucban, Quezon on 28 December, 2005.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that strikes cloven-hoofed animals.

Reildrin Morales, the deputy head of the FMD National Task Force, said the OIE has asked the government on sanitary checks on swill feeding in backyard farms. Most of backyard hog farmers who use swill either cook it or just add it to livestock feeds, he noted.

"They thought that most hogs from backyard farms feed on swill so we conducted a national survey to scientifically answer their questions," Morales said.

Backyard farming accounts for 73 projects of the country’s hog production.

Morales said the OIE also asked the BAI about controls on hog transport between areas where vaccination is practiced and the areas that are less stringent on this requirement.

[mikey]

Wednesday, December 31, 2008Print This Page
Health Ministry Warns Against Philippine Pork
BRUNEI - Brunei's Ministry of Health and Agriculture Department, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources have reported that the number of pigs carrying the Ebola-Reston virus in the Philippines have been increasing and has issued a precaution to the public.

Borneo Bulletin reports that in a press release by the Health Ministry, it cited reports from the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), that the Philippines Veterinary Services have reported to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Organisation for Animal Health and WHO, that a rise on the Ebola-Reston virus has been detected in pigs in the Philippines.

There has also recently been an increase of pigs, in a number of farms in three provinces in the Philippines, carrying the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), with deaths reported in recent months due to the Ebola-Reston virus.

An official notification was made and released earlier by the World Organisation for Animal Health, but to date, there have been no known human infections from the virus.

The Department of Agriculture confirms that Brunei does not import raw pork, frozen or chilled from the Philippines. However, processed pork products are currently being imported into the country in small numbers, according to importation records from the Food Quality and Safety Control Section, Environmental Sanitation Health Section, Ministry of Health.

As a precaution, the Ministry of Health and Department of Agriculture has stated that it would assist and ensure that raw meat and processed pork products from the Philippines will not be sold in the market or imported to Brunei for the mean time.

They have also advised importers and businesses to remove all pork products dating back six months from the market and to submit them to the Food Quality and Safety Control Section or any health office nationwide to be destroyed.

Consumers in possession of raw pork, frozen or chilled, from the Philippines are also requested to surrender them to the Animal Quarantine Unit, Department of Agriculture of any agriculture department nationwide, whilst those in possession of processed pork are to return them to their place of purchase or to the Food Quality and Safety Control Section or to any health office

[mikey]

Wednesday, January 07, 2009Print This Page
Virus in Filipino Pigs May Pose Human Risk
PHILIPPINES - Animal and health experts have said they were conducting an investigation in the Philippines to determine whether the Ebola Reston virus recently discovered in pigs poses a threat to human health.


International Herald Tribune reports that about a dozen experts from the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) were invited to Manila to help the government investigate the virus, first identified in October in the northern Philippines.

The discovery not only marked the first time the virus has been found outside of monkeys, but also the first time it has been found in swine, a food-producing animal.

Those factors make the mission "particularly important," said a joint statement by the investigating organizations.

"We hope to identify the risks certainly for animal health and human health, if there are any," said Dr Juan Lubroth of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and head of the Manila mission.

Ebola's three other subtypes — the Zaire, Sudan and Cote d'Ivoire strains — can cause deadly haemorrhagic fever in humans, according to WHO.

The 10-day research mission, which started on 6 January, will focus on the source of the virus, how it is transmitted, its virulence, its natural habitat, and the best way to identify it, the experts told International Herald Tribune.

The Ebola Reston virus was discovered in October while tests were being conducted on samples from pigs that had died of another swine disease at two farms in the northern Philippines.

Philippine Health Secretary, Francisco Duque III, said the two farms in northern Bulacan and Pangasinan provinces, which have nearly 10,000 pigs, are under quarantine.

Tests in late December on pig samples from the farms were negative for the virus, and no pigs have died of the disease or shown any signs of illness, he said. Bureau of Animal Industry Director Davinio Catbagan said the foreign team would verify the results with the slaughter of about 140 pigs.

"If we do not see the virus on these tissue samples, we can decide to lift the quarantine, and later on (proceed) to a wider surveillance," Mr Duque said, according to International Herald Tribune.