Britain's first export of pigs since foot-and-mouth disease

Introduction: the export of British sows, which was halted by foot-and-mouth disease last year, has recently recovered The first batch of pure bred pigs exported has arrived in the Philippines The news raised hopes that international trade would return to normal For many years, the UK has been playing an important role in the international breeding industry, with the annual export value of breeding livestock reaching £ 50 million However, the situation has changed in the past two years, mainly due to the double attacks of swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, the former occurred in eastern England at the end of 2000, and the latter was the foot-and-mouth disease crisis last year, which caused billions of pounds of losses to the UK The export pigs flown to Manila include 45 "big white" and 30 "Welsh" They were accompanied by John Millard, a director of JJ genetic breeding company, which is located in Kangqiao area and exports an average of 600 pigs every year "We have made great efforts to get through all the management links But we are happy to offer these pigs to our customers for the first time and they have been very patient "Said Millard Marcus Bates, chairman of the British Pig Association (BPA), said the purebred herds urgently needed additional resources from the international export market "If these markets cannot be restored to the level of imports before FMD as soon as possible, many of our sows will not be sold off." At present, seven countries are waiting for the veterinary health clearance needed to import more British purebred pigs "