Profiling thrilling new applied sciences and recommendation on subjects like diet, well being and waste administration, the 2024 British Pig & Poultry Truthful is specializing in the important thing themes of innovation, collaboration and sustainability. 

Ahead planning has lengthy key to farmers’ success, and this yr’s Truthful, going down for the primary time at Birmingham’s NEC  in Could, will assist them to make sure a sustainable and low carbon future for his or her companies, Truthful organiser Alice Bell stated. 

“In the end, it’s the job of everybody within the provide chain to work collectively to cut back the pig trade’s carbon affect – and new pondering and know-how will present a number of the solutions right here,” she added. 

• The British Pig & Poultry Truthful takes place on Could 15-16 at a brand new venue – the Nationwide Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
• To seek out out extra and register to your FREE ticket go to www.pigandpoultry.org.uk

Innovation theatre

The Innovation Theatre, which might be new to this yr’s Truthful, will carry collectively a bunch of recent merchandise and concepts. 

One instance is Boehringer Ingelheim’s new ‘listening’ system, SoundTalks. Utilizing synthetic intelligence and machine studying algorithms, the system ‘listens’ to the pigs 24/7 and, based mostly on frequency and depth of coughs, alerts the producer to the onset of potential respiratory illness. 

“SoundTalks is totally distinctive,” stated Dr Rachel Crowe, senior model supervisor at Boehringer Ingelheim. “It has taken years of actual farm information to get the algorithms proper, and has been extensively validated to make sure that it generates dependable alerts.”

In a research of 1,655 pigs challenged with PRRS and Mycoplasma hyopneumonaiae, alerts generated by the system enabled points to be detected 5 days sooner than human statement alone. With extra fast remedy and administration, this was calculated to enhance every day progress charges by a mean of 12.7g, scale back antibiotic remedies by 23.4%, and generate a return on funding of 1:4.3.

One other Innovation Theatre session will discover the round economic system from the angle of animal bedding. The 2050 Group is creating a brand new highly-absorbent straw crumb, which might be supplied free, on long-term contracts to farmers, the place the manure is made accessible to be processed into biomethane, Bio-CO2 and biobased fertiliser. 

“This biobased fertiliser can be utilized to displace predominantly imported fossil gas fertilisers, to develop the subsequent cereal crops and their resultant straws, which begins the method once more,” stated the corporate’s CEO James Dornan. 

Each pig and poultry producers stand to profit from a brand new digital product from Livetec Techniques, which can revolutionise biosecurity management and assist farmers to contingency plan for any emergency, from flooding to a notifiable illness outbreak.

“That is crucial when farm companies are below strain to reply rapidly, because it particulars every little thing that these approaching to the farm might want to know, in addition to informing the farmer of how these subsequent steps will play out,” says Julian Sparrey, Technical Director at Livetec Techniques.

There might be a discussion board on insect farming, with Beta Bugs and Flybox speaking about their mixed answer which takes complexity and value out of insect farming, by supplying eggs and larvae in containerised methods. “Demand for insect protein as alternate options to current feed components is rising, making insect farming a mainstream alternative,” says Dr Thomas Farrugia, CEO at Beta Bugs.

Pig Theatre

Guests to the Truthful, which is staged in partnership with ABN, will be capable of meet and collect concepts from round 330 exhibitors, whereas there might be a superb line-up of professional audio system within the specialist Pig Theatre, partnered by AHDB. 

“It is a probability to debate the challenges and topical problems with the day,” stated Dr Charlotte Evans, AHDB’s head of pork engagement. “As an trade, we will deal with the highway forward collectively and have fun our successes – it’s all about collaboration and sharing concepts.”

The headline session would be the common Pig Outlook, which can see audio system from all through the availability chain share their views on the challenges and alternatives forward. There may also be a dialogue on contingency planning for African swine fever, and a sensible workshop taking a look at how slurry and waste administration can assist farmers on their journey to web zero. 

An necessary discussion board for future planning will look at the right way to encourage youthful individuals to eat extra pork. 

“It is a probability to listen to what influences Era Z (18-24 year-olds) – what makes them tick, how we will interact with them, and what this implies to your pork enterprise. We may also be protecting work happening in faculties and the recipes which resonate with youthful individuals,” Dr Evans stated. 

Truthful accomplice ABN might be taking a look at how precision feeding and discovering sustainable soya replacements might be a key a part of lowering carbon emissions and bettering efficiencies. And lifecycle feed evaluation will assist them to find out their feed carbon footprint, stated Danny Johnson at ABN.

“This permits them to benchmark the place they’re at present, earlier than working collectively to discover alternate options to cut back their carbon footprint and enhance their backside line.”