Farmers' fears over piglet disease

Many animals are dying from the condition

Farmers' representatives are calling for more research into a mysterious wasting disease which is killing piglets across nearly three-quarters of the UK's pig farms.

Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS) is a relatively new disease which was first detected in Canada.

The disease has flourished as a result of restrictions on movements imposed on animals in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease.

Phil Sanders, from the Meat and Livestock Commission, said: "We need to find out how it spreads, it could be extremely financially damaging."

We do not know enough about PMWS yet, but the industry is already on its' knees

Ian Campbell, National Pig Association

Richard Longthorpe, a pig farmer at Howden near Goole in East Yorkshire, told BBC News Online: "I started to see an increase in piglet mortality ... from five% to 22%.

"The piglets just do not thrive, they do not grow.

"There needs to be a massive input of manpower into research so we can get a clear proof of the cause of the problem.

"It is important that the government do not continue to spin twaddle about this."

Pigs stressed

PMWS kills about a fifth of the pigs it affects and up to 90% of farms in East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia have been affected.

The disease has been a problem in France since 1996, but only appeared in the UK two years ago.

It does not affect other animals and is widely thought to brought on by stress.

Mr Longthorpe said: "The foot-and-mouth restrictions mean many farms are having to rear pigs in stressful conditions, overstocked and not moving.

"We have managed to reverse the problem it by keeping piglets in one location until they are nine weeks old rather than five and we are not mixing separate batches of pigs any more."

Export prices

Many pig farmers have left the industry since 1998, when 3,000 pig carcasses were produced each week.

That figure has fallen below 2,000 per week.

Ian Campbell, from the National Pig Association, told BBC News Online: "We do not know enough about PMWS yet, but the industry is already on its' knees.

"Before PMWS we have suffered because of export prices, new regulations, increased feed and disposal costs, swine fever, and foot-and-mouth."