Livestock Business

After more than a decade of campaigning by the NFU and other UK farming unions and calling out unfair practices in the dairy supply chain, new legislation on dairy contracts has come into force. 

A radical animal rights group, Animal Rising, now says it has no plans for a ‘mass open rescue’ from RSPCA Assured farms this summer.

The return of the British Pig and Poultry Fair brought a lively and enthusiastic cohort of exhibitors, farmers, breeders and innovators together. Sarah Juggins reports.

All Welsh slaughterhouses will need to install CCTV by 1st December as new regulations have been approved by the Senedd. 

A ban on exporting live animals will now go ahead as the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act received royal assent.

The popularity of live auctions continues to grow, with last year’s turnover reaching over £2.2 billion.

The British Poultry Council commented on the latest data from HMRC, saying that the 56% drop in poultry meat exports since 2020 underscores the cost of Brexit.

First Milk has just announced that its milk price will increase by 0.75p per litre starting next month. 

Milk supplier and distributor Muller has announced a price rise for its farmer suppliers, starting in April. 

Farmers have made significant improvements in dairy herd fertility, production, and somatic cell counts, according to the National Milk Records’ latest Key Performance Indicator (KPI) report. 

Offences include keeping animals in a poor living environment, repeated overdue TB testing or breaching avian flu housing orders.

With the gap between farmgate milk and retail prices promising no let-up and high input costs putting significant strain on the sector, British dairy farmers are facing a tough six months ahead, the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) has warned.