Pigs

[Maxi]

We had a thriving pig industry in the UK until Brexit.

Now we’ve got the emergency slaughter of 120,000 pigs, farmers facing ruin.

Why? Because this ridiculous govt won’t let EU butchers work here.

And the result? We’re going to have to import pork from the EU.

Shambles.

[baldy]

According to BBC Newsnight investigators last week (Friday I think), GB pig farmers have surged their pork production to meet a massive increase in demand from China over the last 2 years due to much of the Chinese herd being put down due to a terrible swine disease. The Chinese herd has now recovered and so demand from China has now suddenly reduced and instead of just slaughtering pigs and cutting them into a few large pieces for much more detailed butchery in China, GB pig farmers are now swamping GB abattoirs with the same increased numbers of pigs but now also want the detailed cutting up. The consequence is a sudden massive increase in workload for abattoirs to an unprecedented level and the Govt has allowed visas for butchers anyway.


The real problem is abattoirs failing to offer attractive pay for the foreign workers who can get visas to deal with a temporary massive bump in workload. It is hardly surprising that butcherw don't want to enter a sector to deal with a temporary bump in workload as they will just as quickly lose their job later when GB pork production drops back to normal levels.