ALL assured pig abattoirs in England and Wales have now joined the British Pig Health Scheme which goes nationwide next week.

H G Blake's of Norfolk has completed the full house and more than 90 per cent of the national pig kill is covered by the abattoirs taking part.

The national launch of the scheme, organised by the British Pig Executive (BPEX), follows a successful pilot project which looks for key health conditions in pig carcases at the abattoir and rapidly passes the information back to the farmer and his vet.

BPEX Strategy Co-ordinator Andrew Knowles said: "This is extremely important for the industry. It has been estimated that health issues could be costing as much as £50 million a year in reduced productivity and extra cost.

"The scheme itself is open to both assured and non-assured producers and it costs only £100 plus VAT for three years.

"Application forms have been flooding in but if anybody has not received one and would like to join, they can download a form from the BPEX website."

Once producers have joined all they have to do is take their pigs to an abattoir taking part in the scheme on one of the assessment days and received the valuable feedback so they can improve their herd health.

The timetable for assessment days can be found under the BPHS section of the BPEX website, www.bpex.org.uk as can application forms which can also be obtained by telephoning 01463 233184.

The following organisations have generously sponsored the scheme helping keep the cost to producers to a minimum - Boehringer Ingelheim, Elanco, Fort Dodge, Intervet, Janssen, Pfizer and Defra.