World Hog news:

[mikey]

Monday, August 25, 2008Print This Page
AgFeed to Acquire Commercal Hog Farms
CHINA - AgFeed Industries, Inc., the largest commercial hog producer and the largest premix feed company in China, today announced that the Company has reached agreements to acquire 4 producing commercial hog farms in South China.



AgFeed expects these acquisitions to close in early September. All of the Company's acquired hog farms are immediately accretive to earnings. AgFeed is also in discussions with multiple other farms as potential acquisition targets.

AgFeed has sufficient cash on hand, a strong balance sheet as well as strong cash flows from operations to fund its current acquisition plans in 2008. In addition to these four farms, AgFeed intends to acquire no less than 5 to 10 additional producing hog farms before the end of 2008, to be funded from current cash flows. All of its hog farm acquisitions are immediately accretive to earnings.

Positive Business Outlook, Affirms 2008 Guidance
AgFeed currently experiences favorable market environment in its business -- declining raw materials input costs and greater operating efficiencies from operations. AgFeed affirms previously reported 2008 adjusted net earnings per share guidance of between $1.08 and $1.20 per share. AgFeed's recent appointment of a US hog industry executive Gerry Daignault as Chief Operating Officer adds depth to AgFeed's already strong management team.

Gerry Daignault, AgFeed's Chief Operating Officer, commented: "AgFeed is a well managed, leading commercial feed and hog producer in China. We are committed to product excellence and constant improvement in deriving greater margins. We are also very excited with the current progress that we have made in our strategic discussions with several global players. AgFeed is on track to further consolidate its market leader position in a highly profitable market environment in China. As I return to the US early this week, I look forward to continued communications with our shareholders and industry executives."

Commenting on Recent Unusual Market Activities
AgFeed has received numerous calls from concerned shareholders over the recent stock activity. AgFeed is not aware of any negative events that could impact its fundamental business or financial projections. AgFeed has noticed however significant discrepancies between the shares that appear to be listed the electronic DTC system and the shares that actually exist on the shareholder records held by AgFeed's transfer agent -- potentially as a result of heavy naked short selling in FEED. In contrast to an ordinary short sale where the seller borrows a stock and sells it, with the understanding that the loan must be repaid by buying the stock in the market (hopefully at a lower price), in a naked short sale, the seller doesn't actually borrow the stock, and fails to deliver it to the buyer.

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it wants to ban the practice of naked short selling, and it announced a temporary ban on naked short sales of certain company shares. The SEC said that the practice is sometimes used to manipulate the price of a company's stock. SEC officials said that this procedure may have been used to drive down shares of various companies' price. The seller continuously hits the bid price and seeks to buy back shares from nervous shareholders who may sell simply because of a declining market price. In this regard, AgFeed believes that it may be a victim of this practice and has duly notified regulators, including the SEC. Meanwhile, shareholders may contact their stock brokers and request that their stocks not be used to assist short sellers.

Songyan Li, Ph.D., AgFeed's Chairman, commented: "Contrary to false market rumors, AgFeed's management and board members have not sold one single share of our stock. Our role as managers is to execute on our business plan and continue to deliver superb financial results. Our responsibility as corporate officers is to ensure that the best interest of our shareholders is protected and not continue to be hurt by stock manipulators. AgFeed is fully cooperating with regulatory agencies and shall provide full assistance in any possible investigation of these market manipulative actions."


 

[mikey]

Tuesday, August 26, 2008Print This Page
BNBBC Stands on Pig Farm Project
MALAYSIA - Maintenance of racial unity is to be considered key when the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers' Club (BNBBC) makes its stand on the proposed integrated pig farm in Sepang.



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"This project is right in the middle of 17 or 18 Malay villages. Even with the current operations, there are already 600,000 pigs being reared. There are more pigs than people in the area." 
Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad, Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Movement (PPPIM)
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BNBBC deputy chairman Datuk Bung Moktar Radin said no community would be violated.

Bung made this statement after receiving a memorandum protesting against the RM100 million project, which is planned for implementation on a 400ha site by the Selangor government.

The memorandum was presented to Bung by Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad on behalf of the Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Movement (PPPIM).

Bung said the BNBBC might consider raising a motion to debate the issue in Parliament.

Zulkifli said the memorandum was also presented to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on Aug 6 and to the Sultan of Selangor on Aug 20.

"We have yet to receive a reply from the MB's office. We are not against the project. What we want is for the project, along with current pig farm operations, to be relocated to a more suitable location.

"This project is right in the middle of 17 or 18 Malay villages. Even with the current operations, there are already 600,000 pigs being reared. There are more pigs than people in the area.

"We are proposing that the farm be relocated to an island, such as Pulau Ketam or even Pulau Babi," he said, referring to the former name of Pulau Besar, off the coast of Mersing, Johor.

Zulkifli said their lawyers were studying the possibility of taking the case to court.

[mikey]

Thursday, August 28, 2008Print This Page
Are Cloned Animals Next on the Menu?
EU - Dolly the sheep was the first and most famous animal clone, created back in 1996. Since then, cows, pigs, goats, horses, mice, cats and dogs have also been cloned. So should these animals be used for commercial purposes?





Will we soon be eating cloned animals?ot according to Parliament's Agriculture Committee. In June, they called for an EU ban on the cloning of animals for food. Next week MEPs will question the Commission about the issue during the first September plenary.

The general public first became aware of the cloning with the birth of Dolly - the first cloned animal. But the idea of eating meat or drinking milk from cloned animals is a different issue?

Cloned animals seen in global food chain by 2010
Cloning is not a commercial practice in Europe and as far as we know there are no cloned products in the European food chain, but according to the European Commission, products from clones are "on the verge of widespread commercial use" and are "expected to spread within the global food chain before 2010".

This is an issue of concern for MEPs on the Agriculture Committee. Chairman Neil Parish points to the problems cloned animals suffer. "These animals suffer from many more ailments and generally live far shorter lives. From an agricultural perspective, there are serious questions over the effect of this on the gene pool, making cloned animals far more susceptible to disease." For UK Green Caroline Lucas "the prospect of animals being cloned for food is a hugely worrying one and should be stopped in its tracks."

Commission to be grilled on the issue next week
The committee agreed a series of questions that it will put to the Commission on Monday. They are:

Does the Commission share the view that cloning adversely affects animal welfare?
Can the Commission provide long-term animal welfare and health indications for clones and their offspring?
What has the Commission done to date in order to inform consumers and promote public discussion on animal cloning?
Does the European Commission find the cloning of animals and their offspring for food ethically justified?
Does the Commission plan to come forward with concrete proposals to prohibit: animal cloning for food; imports of cloned animals, their offspring and semen; and products from cloned animals or their offspring?
Where do things stand?
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration have both said that there is no difference in food safety terms between food products from healthy clones and their progeny and healthy conventionally-bred animals. However the chair of the EFSA's scientific committee warned that there is a shortage of data on animal cloning and the European Group on Ethics is opposed on because of the problems suffered by the cloned animals.

[mikey]

Thursday, August 28, 2008Print This Page
Denmark Seeks Better Animal Welfare
DENMARK - The Danish government has just reached a political agreement with the Danish People’s Party and the Social-Liberals for improving the welfare of animals in herds and during transport.



The agreement’s objective is a considerable increase in welfare for Danish livestock in herds and during transport, as well as a strengthened veterinary preparedness, so cases of diseases and infections among livestock can be quickly and effectively dealt with.

The agreement covers:

Obligatory health advisory agreements for larger cattle and pig herds.
A new control concept based on risks and needs.
More intensive control of veterinarians.
Improved control of animal transports.
An intensified control of inspections of sows for shoulder wounds.
Strengthening of legal skills in the food regions’ administrations.
A strengthening and merger of the two ministerial teams that are deployed to control animal welfare and the use of medicine in herds.
The agreement is expected to ensure robust preventative measures for animal welfare and livestock diseases. The agreement also covers an effective and targeted effort towards livestock producers who lack the will or ability to maintain a high level of animal welfare and animal health.

The veterinary area also receives an additional 90 million kroner over the coming four years through the agreement. Compared with the present grant, this is an economic improvement of 15 to 20 per cent a year over the four years.

[mikey]

Thursday, August 28, 2008Print This Page
Poland Witnesses Huge Dive in Hog Numbers
POLAND - The last time the number of hogs in Poland was this low was back in 1984. As a result, bankruptcies are expected.



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"The decrease is dramatic. On the one hand it’s caused by falling hog prices, on the other – by growing feeder prices. Many farmers gave up raising animals. Many sows were killed so it may take up to two years to reach former levels of hog." 
Jerzy Majchrzak from Sokolow meat producer
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By the end of March, there were 15.7m of hogs in Poland. While the situation has been somewhat bad for many years, it is expected to get worse. Experts have no doubts about how soon, many meat companies will go bankrupt and prices will be heightened.

“The decrease is dramatic. On the one hand it’s caused by falling hog prices, on the other – by growing feeder prices. Many farmers gave up raising animals. Many sows were killed so it may take up to two years to reach former levels of hog,” Jerzy Majchrzak from Sokolow meat producer said.

In addition, cheap meat from the EU replaces Polish products, according to Puls Biznesu.

“The situation of Polish meat companies is very hard. The strongest ones will survive. We may expect many bankruptcies this year, especially of slaughter companies. There are over 1,000 of them in Poland while there is enough place for several hundreds only”, Wieslaw Rozanski, the CEO of the Union of Meat Industry Producers and Employers commented.

Hog prices will grow as well. The Agency of Agricultural Market expects that at the end of this year, pork prices will have grown 30 percent against 2007.

[mikey]

Friday, August 29, 2008Print This Page
All Eyes on the Chinese Pork Industry
CHINA - Malcolm Moore writes that major foreign investors are making a shrewd commodity play by buying into the pork industry.



An expected call from Goldman Sachs could change 59-year-old pig farmer, Zou Changkui's(who resides in the southern Chinese city of Longyan) life forever.

"I heard they have bought a lot of pig farms in Nanping, but they have not approached me yet," he said. But he has not lost hope. "If they want to buy my farm, I would say yes - providing we have a win-win agreement."

According to the Telegraph, the US investment bank has sent ripples through the Chinese pork industry after reportedly spending between £150m and £200m this month on a series of hoggeries in Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, the heart of China's green belt.

It may be an unorthodox investment, but Goldman Sachs is not the only major bank on the hunt for hogs. Last year, Deutsche Bank launched the DWS Global Shennong Fund specifically to invest in agriculture.

Jiang Hua, the chief executive of Hongbo, an enormous Shanghai-based pig farm, said the German bank wanted to buy a 30 per cent stake for £30m. Deutsche Bank is reportedly spending a similar amount for a slice of Baodi, a Tianjin hoggery.

Wang Chao, a 22-year-old from Jingyang, near Xi'an, said he had given up his college place to become a pig farmer. "I can sell one pig for 1,200 yuan or even 1,300 [more than £80]," he said. "The people I knew who graduated from my course were earning 1,500 a month."

Companies such as Agfeed, China's largest pig farmer, are declaring record profits. Two weeks ago, Agfeed, which is listed on the Nasdaq exchange, posted a 619 per cent rise in net profits for the second quarter of this year to £4.2m. "The Chinese population enjoys pork no matter what economic cycle the world is in," it noted dryly.

The company's strategy is to take advantage of an enormous restructuring of the pig farming industry, buying up small farms and merging them to form a huge, streamlined conglomerate. Traditionally, pigs were kept by every family and even now three-quarters of the country's swine are spread among micro-farms.

Li Songyan, the chairman of Agfeed, promised to buy at least four more farms in the second half of the year. "The hog shortages throughout China are presenting us with historical 'land-grabbing' growth opportunities," he said.

At least 600 medium-sized farms are potential acquisitions. Agfeed is determined to buy as many as possible, lifting its herd size from 400,000 to a hoped-for 1m. In April, the company snapped up 16 farms, paying from £500,000 to £3m each, depending on their size.

Agfeed said Goldman Sachs had noticed the opportunities being thrown up as the market restructures. "Our pig farming market is like the US in the 1960s or 1970s, with lots of small backyard mom-and-pop producers. There is a great opportunity to make money from scaling these operations up, but the entrance of these big foreign firms will mean more competition for us."

Goldman Sachs controls Shuanghui and Yurun, China's two largest meat-processing companies. Wilmar International, the Singaporean company which has more than 50 per cent of China's cooking oil market, has let prices triple in the past year, provoking widespread complaints.

Back in Longyan, Zou said he is "ready to retire" and wants to be bought out. But he had a warning for the foreign companies hoping to make a fortune. "Fujian has a good climate for pigs, they survive best here. But you have to manage your staff closely, because they are mostly poorly educated farm boys with no ambition. That's why medium-sized farms, not big ones, are most profitable," he said.

[mikey]

Saturday, August 30, 2008Print This Page
Better Things to Come in the Weeks Ahead ?
UK - In this week's Traffic Lights commentary, Peter Crichton says it was probably better for sellers to be out of the office in the morning and return in the afternoon because as the day passed by a generally firmer demand for pigs started to filter through in the market perhaps heralding signs of better things to come in the weeks ahead.




Although the DAPP took a very slight downwards step from 136.99p to 136.43p, most spot buyers operated at stand-on levels.

Lighter weight pigs also met more interest as some of the fresh meat wholesalers reported better high street uptake and hopes that now the holiday period is now drawing to a close with the schools back next week, better demand will kick in.

Spot bacon quotes at the heavy end of the trade to 95kg on a 14 probe were in the 132 – 134p region, but lighter weights and those on a tighter spec saw bids in the 136 – 138p area and cutters worth circa 140p.

Cull sow prices continue to edge ahead from the already dizzy 130p platform which has become an almost universal “base price” with premiums available for larger loads, but sellers need to check if they are selling on a flat rate of a weight/graded basis.

The rising value of the € has also done the United Kingdom pig industry a few favours and closed on Friday worth 80.7p compared with 79.7p a week ago.

Reports are also emerging that in many of the meat markets, European carcasses are now being priced at similar levels to their UK counterparts or in some cases are even dearer.

Bearing in mind that the average EU producer price is now equivalent to 136p for a much heavier and often fatter carcass with lower bottom line deductions, this effectively means that imported carcasses will in some cases be dearer than our own and could open the door to pigmeat exports from the UK unless domestic prices start to move ahead.

The weaner market is also demonstrating more confidence in the outlook for finished pigs for the last quarter of the year with the AHDB 30kg ex-farm quote now almost touching £43/head, but still well behind recent transactions which have seen 30kg weaners traded in the £45 - £48/head range.

Overall the British pig industry is now looking in much better health than it did a year ago when we were in the grip of foot and mouth and limited cull sow exports meant they were only worth 55 – 60p/kg, but are more than double that today.

The late August 2007 DAPP was quoted at 109.14p and ex-farm feed wheat last harvest was trading at £154/t.

But this should be no reason for premature celebration because as the autumn approaches retailers will no doubt be playing hardball with producer prices and the credit crunch may well result in meat being replaced by baked beans in some households

[mikey]

WA Pork Producers Poised to Face Tough Times
AUSTRALIA - Vigorous debate, mainly centred on feeding for profit, highlighted a dynamic and productive series of meetings and forums held by WA Pork Producers’ Association (WAPPA) last Friday as part of its annual industry day, which encompasses an annual general meeting, general meeting and forum.





WAPPA’s 2008 AGM/GM/Forum preceded a dinner for 140 people.


Enjoying WAPPA’s 2008 industry day are Rick Fice of Wesfeeds, Daph Kavanagh of APL and Ron Penn of PPC.Commenting at the annual industry dinner, attended by 140 people and which concluded 15 hours of discussion, debate and information exchange, retiring WAPPA President and Cuballing producer, Graeme Dent said WAPPA’s emphasis was now more on results and less on process and procedure.

“With input from members, Executive has adopted a no holds barred approach to tackling the issues that matter most to producers and we’ll solicit the services and views of the very best people to satisfy our needs and aspirations,” he said.

“Futher, we’ll challenge those in positions we believe can make a difference to our bottom lines.”

One such person challenged during Friday’s forum was Pork CRC CEO, Dr Roger Campbell, who was asked to outline what the Pork CRC, part funded by WA pork producers through fee for service contributions to the Agricultural Produce Commission, had achieved during its first three years.

Responding, a typically forthright Dr Campbell said producer margins could improve by as much as 25 cents/kg carcass weight, courtesy of outcomes from Pork CRC projects across its three programs.

“Last month, for example, we rigorously reviewed all programs to see where we’re at and, most importantly, to ensure producers continue to receive value for money and that our future investments will give producers the greatest returns,” he said.


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"As price takers, largely, pork producers can really only influence their bottom lines by reducing their costs and with grain costs rising, while still comprising maybe three quarters of our input costs, we continue to struggle." 
WAPPA President and Cuballing producer, Graeme Dent
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Dr Campbell added that from weaning to marketing, the greatest project returns had been in the finishing pig, in particular by lifting performance in its last four weeks.

“Several research projects showed that during this period, pigs can use as much as 40 per cent of the total feed used between weaning and marketing at 100-110 kg.

“Equally importantly, feed costs per kilogram of gain increase weekly in this period.

“This pig problem relates to declining feed efficiency with increasing weight and is worse for females.

“While the problem can be exacerbated by stresses such as temperature, the improvement window is large, simply because a 10 per cent improvement in feed efficiency during this period can improve total herd feed conversion by three to four per cent,” Dr Campbell explained.

Mr Dent said the focus of research and extension simply had to be at the production point where a difference could be made, as suggested by Dr Campbell. “As price takers, largely, pork producers can really only influence their bottom lines by reducing their costs and with grain costs rising, while still comprising maybe three quarters of our input costs, we continue to struggle.

“Tough decisions must be made now because grain prices are not going to come down,” Mr Dent warned.

“While we produce a top shelf fresh pork product, educating consumers to pay a premium, or at least to pay prices that match beef and lamb, is a real challenge.

“As farmers we must capture more of the consumer dollar or just pack up now and gift our industry to foreign suppliers, who’ve already made their intentions known.”

Speakers at WAPPA’s 2008 industry day included Dr Neil Gannon on feeding for profit, Bruce Edgerton of APL on bio-energy and climate change, Dr Trish Holyoake of the University of Sydney on peri-urban biosecurity and lessons from Denmark’s pork industry. www.wappa.com.au

[mikey]

EU Parliament Votes Against Animal Clones
EU - The European Parliament called for a ban in the EU on the cloning of animals for food supply. MEPs also urged an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their offspring and products derived from these sources.



The resolution was adopted by 622 MEPs in favour, 32 against and 25 abstentions, the House calls on the Commission "to submit proposals prohibiting for food supply purposes:

The House has now called on the prohibition of the cloning of animals, the farming of cloned animals or their offspring, the placing on the market of meat or dairy products derived from cloned animals or their offspring, and the importing of cloned animals, their offspring. Semen and embryos from cloned animals or their offspring, and meat or dairy products derived from cloned animals or their offspring have also been rejected."

Animal health problems and risks for the European quality model
The text refers to the health, welfare and higher mortality problems of cloned animals and their surrogate dams recently highlighted by several groups of European experts, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Group on Ethics. MEPs also stress that cloning would significantly reduce genetic diversity within livestock populations, increasing the possibility of whole herds being decimated by diseases to which they are susceptible.

In addition, the European Parliament fears that use of cloning techniques would harm the image of the European agricultural model, which is based on product quality, environment-friendly principles and respect for stringent animal welfare conditions. They also point out that Directive 98/58/EC on the protection of farm animals bans natural or artificial procedures which are likely to cause suffering or injury to any of the animals concerned.

Currently no products derived from cloned animals are sold in Europe or the rest of the world. However, experts believe that such products could reach the market by 2010. A moratorium on the sale of this type of product, introduced in the USA in 2001, was challenged by the US Food and Drug Administration, which concluded in January that meat and milk from clones of cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring are as reliable as those of traditionally bred animals.

European Commission quizzed
During their debate yesterday evening, MEPs quizzed the European Commission on its position and its plans as regards animal cloning. "Not only is it a case of food safety, we in Europe believe that we are producing food quality products", EP Agriculture Committee Chairman Neil Parish (EPP-ED, UK) said. "It is also a question of animal welfare and consumer confidence" and there is a "risk of producing less strong and healthy animals". He stressed "we have to look at this seriously".

Mr Parish said: "Cloning entails serious health and welfare problems for clones and their surrogate dams; animal health problems come from invasive techniques required to produce a clone; there is the suffering of surrogate dams which carry cloned foetuses, and high levels of ill health and mortality in early life for cloned animals. I call on the Commission to submit proposals prohibiting the cloning of animals in the food supply and the placing of cloned animals on the market in meat and dairy products."

Androula Vassiliou, the Commissioner for health and food safety, said that the Commission was closely following scientific developments in this area and "is aware that even though the efficiency of animal cloning has improved over the last years, adverse health effects on animal health and welfare still occur today". The Commission "is now evaluating the necessary steps to be taken" and "takes ethical considerations fully into account", including the opinion of the European Group of Ethics which "advocated that at the moment there are no convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring". "According to global trade rules, imports of food products from third countries might be suspended if they present a serious threat to animal or public health. On the basis of the studies conducted and the opinion of EFSA, the Commission will consider whether restrictions must be imposed", she added.

[mikey]

Friday, September 05, 2008Print This Page
The IGF2 Effect in Young Piglets
BELGIUM - Researchers of the Universities of Leuven and Gent in Belgium, showed that piglets that inherited the IGF2 mutation from the sire produce more IGF2 in muscles.



This extra IGF2 production is associated with a higher muscle development. The effect is already present in young piglets and in early developing muscles such as the masseter muscle.

A better developed masseter muscle can improve colostrum intake that positively influences neonatal piglet survival. This effect provides a possible explanation for the increased vitality of piglets sired by boars homozygous for the IGF2 mutation.

[mikey]

Monday, September 08, 2008Print This Page
Boar Taint: An Understanding of What It is
GLOBAL - Boar taint is an offensive odour which is released from pork when it is cooked.

 

The amount of taint varies from pig to pig but is particularly high in meat from intact adult males. Some people are more sensitive to the presence of taint than others and those who find it offensive say that the smell resembles urine, faeces, musk or onions.

 
The taint is caused by compounds that accumulate in the fat as male pigs become sexually active. There are two main taint compounds:

androstenone, a male pheromone produced in the testes
skatole, a by-product of bacterial activity in the gut
The level of androstenone is directly influenced by the activity of the testes and thus increases dramatically as the pig reaches puberty. Skatole is produced in the gut of both male and female pigs, but the breakdown of skatole absorbed into the body is inhibited by sexual steroids – so it also tends to accumulate in male pigs as the testes start to produce more testosterone at puberty.

Traditionally, pork producers have used physical castration of male piglets as the primary method of controlling boar taint. Although this method does not reduce the risk of taint 100%, it does reduce it sufficiently for meat from barrows to be routinely sold, although some speciality butchers, in Asian countries, will only sell meat from female pigs. Globally, about 95% of male pigs are castrated as piglets.

However, the control of boar taint using physical castration has a number of drawbacks:

Production losses due to infection, injury and herniation
Reduced feed conversion compared to intact boars
Carcass that has less lean and more fat compared to intact boars
Pain and stress for the animal
In some markets, such as the UK, male pigs are not castrated but slaughtered early, before there is a great risk of boar taint compounds accumulating in the meat. However, this means that producers cannot reap the benefits of the rapid growth rates of the late finishing stage and pork quality can suffer. Other methods of boar taint control which have been suggested include using sexed semen to raise female pigs only (again losing out on the boar-like growth and higher carcass weights), or breeding ‘low taint’ pigs. The use of special diets to reduce the risk of taint and chemical analysis of meat on the slaughter line to spot and remove tainted carcasses, have also been considered. So far, only one of these alternative methods for controlling boar taint has been proven and adopted in the commercial environment – vaccination

[mikey]

Monday, September 08, 2008Print This Page
German Producers Fear New Red-Tape Tranche
GERMANY - The German government has angered pig producers by proposing a whole new bureaucratic structure for pig housing equipment.


It plans to outlaw pig producers from installing any equipment that hasn’t first been evaluated and certified by an "animal welfare technical control board".

Producers say this will be a costly, bureaucratic process which will reduce their competitiveness in Europe.

They point out that European law adequately covers animal welfare and there is no need for the German government to introduce damaging unilateral legislation of this nature.

[mikey]

Monday, September 08, 2008Print This Page
AgFeed to Open 900th Premix Distribution Chain
CHINA - AgFeed Industries, Inc., China's largest commercial hog producer and the largest premix feed company, today announced the opening of the 900th independently owned premix feed product distribution chain store in China exclusively distributing AgFeed brand premix feed products.



AgFeed has two profitable business lines - premix animal feed and hog production.

AgFeed sells its premix feed products directly to large commercial hog farms and through a unique independently owned chain store distribution network targeting the vast individual backyard hog market. Approximately 75% of China’s total 600 million annual hog production is from individual backyard hog farmers.

AgFeed is on track to meet or exceed its previously announced goal of being associated with a total of 1,000 independently owned chain stores by year - end 2008. Approximately 65% of AgFeed’s total premix feed sales are generated through such retail channels. AgFeed believes such channels build strong brand loyalty and generate greater profit margins by directly targeting end user retail customers.

AgFeed Benefits from Declining Commodity Prices and China’s Harvest of New Crops
Corn and soy bean meal are two major feed input costs for hog production. China is currently experiencing a year of good harvest in both domestic corn and soy bean crops. Prices for both commodity products have continued to decline and AgFeed is currently seeing expanded profit margins on hog production.

Hog prices in target markets of South China have increased steadily since cooler weather conditions in the fall and winter seasons are typically the strongest pork consumption months in China. Demand for live hogs continues to be strong. Market hogs are currently sold at more than $240 each based on 110kg in average weight.

Songyan Li, Ph.D., AgFeed’s Chairman commented: "AgFeed continues to execute well our growth plan. Declining hog feed input costs compared to the 2nd quarter and rising hog prices are within our expectations. Increased operating efficiency and excellent progress made in hog disease control measures at our hog farms are positively impacting our business. We look forward to continued strong financial performance."

[mikey]

onday, September 08, 2008Print This Page
Pig Breeding for Human Organ Transplants
UK - The Labour peer says the genetically modified organs are the best solution to tackle the shortage of organs needed. Records show that almost 8,000 British patients are waiting for an organ.



The method of transplanting animal organs – xenotransplantation – is hugely controversial, as has been tried before with limited success. Many of the organs were rejected by the patients' immune system.

He said: "Pigs' organs are the right size for human transplantation, and they work similarly to human organs. Of course this raises a moral problem, but it is much more ethical to use a pig to save a human life than to use it for relatively unnecessary meat eating."

The government is considering imposing presumed consent, whereby organs would be taken from the dead unless they had specifically expressed a wish not to give them away, although, according to the Telegraph, experts say this will not solve the problem.

The pigs will be bred with about six human genes to prevent patients rejecting their organs. Winston's team will need to prove that the pig organs can be sufficiently modified to survive long-term in the human body.

He says his method could see hundreds of genetically modified pigs reared simultaneously for their organs. Organs could be taken from pigs as young as one year.

Lord Winston is moving the research project from Britain to America after British regulations and a shortage of funding prevented experiments here. The pigs will be bred in Missouri

[mikey]

Friday, September 12, 2008Print This Page
Nedap Technology to Boost Pork Production
CHINA - As Beijing Olympic Games started in August 2008, Taifeng Livestock, the Chinese dealer of Nedap Velos Electronic Sow Feeding (ESF), finished China’s first installation in Chenzhou, Hunan Province. This is a project of 1,200 sow unit which includes 15 sow feed stations and 12 heat detection units.



In this project, the farm is divided into 3 completely separated sections. Each section is a small unit of 400 sows, and is equipped with 1 Nedap Velos Electronic Sow Feeding system which includes 4 heat detection units and 5 sow feed stations.



 In 5 static groups the feeding stations provide individual feeding for 50 sows.

Nedap Velos ESF combines animal friendly group housing for gestating sows with feed savings trough individual feeding. By automating predictable routines, labor is being reduced.

In China’s evolutionary pork industry, Nedap Velos ESF system will definitely enhance pigs’ welfare, increase productivity of entire industry and improve livestock management level in China. At the end of August 2008 China’s first batch of gilts have been introduced to this innovatory livestock management system. Finishing China’s first installation is only a start of the wonderful adventure for Nedap Velos ESF system in China, which is just like Beijing Olympics.



The Nedap Velos heat detector which provides attention and marking of all sows on heat is used for two reasons. Firstly it detects the occurrence of returning sows. Secondly at this farm it is used as a tool for detecting the heat in weaned sows.