As Malton Bacon Factory announces the loss of 200 jobs, CHARLOTTE PERCIVAL speaks to farmer Grant Burton about how this will affect his business and the pig industry.

GRUNTING angrily and stomping her feet in the mud, the temperamental new mum of 12 piglets fixes me straight in the eye.

Her three-day-old piglets wiggle curiously behind her, not quite brave enough to stray from the shelter of their farrowing hut in a huge, muddy field in Wilberfoss.

Around us, other sows splash through the puddles to protect their young, while their heavily pregnant neighbours, bellies swollen with litters of 12 or more, rest wearily in the mud.

“They can be a bit protective of their young at first,” says pig farmer Grant Burton. “But by the time they are three weeks old and they have had ten of them feeding from them all that time, then they have usually had enough.”

Grant, 54, and his brother, Mark, produce 10,000 pigs a year at their farm in Wilberfoss, many of which end up at Malton Bacon Factory or at their own bacon and sausage business, Burtons of Wilberfoss.

Like many others, they were saddened by the news that hundreds of factory workers will lose their jobs, but are unsure as to what it will mean for the industry.

Yesterday, The Press reported that Vion Food Group, which owns Malton Bacon Factory, will close its cooked meat operations in Ryedale and transfer them to Haverhill in Suffolk, while all abattoir operations in Suffolk will be transferred to North Yorkshire.

At present, the factories combine both.

“It is a matter for concern. We need Malton Bacon Factory to be trading profitably,” says Mr Burton.

“From the local farmer’s point of view, the crucial thing is the extent to which the kill [the number of pigs required for slaughtered by the factory] is going to remain the same.

“If the kill remains the same it won’t make as much of a difference as it would if they reduced the kill, but we haven’t seen anything about that yet. If all they do is move the prepared food part of Malton Bacon Factory the effects won’t be so bad, but obviously we all have sympathy for the employees who have lost their jobs.”

Pig farming is a huge component of North Yorkshire’s economy, says Mr Burton.

“They always used to say that there are more pigs than people in Humberside and that is probably still true,” says Mr Burton, a fourth generation farmer and a member of Yorkshire Outdoor Pork, a partnership of Yorkshire farmers.

“There are a lot of pigs in North Yorkshire as well, but the industry has reduced in size over the past ten years. The number of weekly kills used to be over 300,000. Now it is down to about 170,000.”

Over the coming weeks, campaigns such as Jamie Oliver’s Jamie Saves Our Bacon documentary, filmed as part of Channel 4’s Great British Food Fight season and to be aired at 9pm on Thursday, January 29, and Farmhouse Breakfast Week, which runs from January 25 to 31, will encourage us to buy British pork.

However, recent years have been fraught with problems, such as escalating feed prices and increased competition from foreign suppliers.

In the 1990s, a private members’ bill to prevent pregnant sows being confined by stalls and tethers increased the cost of production. Pig farmers abroad can still use stalls and tethers, so UK customers now buy a lot of pork that was produced abroad in a way that would be illegal in the UK because it is cheaper, says Mr Burton.

“Pig farming has been seriously unprofitable for a number of years,” he said. “Quite a large number of pig farmers left the industry last year.

“Even in profitable times, it is often not possible to make sufficient to reinvest in equipment and buildings. A great number of buildings need refurbishing and that is difficult to do in times of low profitability.”

It is a problem that has been recognised by sausage makers Debbie and Andrew Keeble, who stopped breeding pigs on their farm, near Thirsk, after the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001.

Last year, they became the first UK producers to pay 15 per cent more for their pork under Fair Trade for British Pig Farmers, ensuring everyone in the supply chain is guaranteed a better price to stabilise the industry.

According to Debbie, the average British pig farmer loses £26 on every pig sold due to rocketing feed costs and falling prices for pork. The National Pig Association says 95 per cent of its members are considering giving up.

Yet Mr Burton believes there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think at the moment, because feed prices have fallen to what they were at this time last year, it’s a little bit easier,” he says.

“I’m always reluctant to predict a good time but I am cautiously optimistic.”


Life on a farm that produces 10,000 pigs in a year

GRANT and Mark Burton produce 10,000 pigs a year – between 180 and 200 a week. The animals are sold as finished pigs to businesses such as Malton Bacon Factory, sold as small weights to be finished by other people or used in the Burtons’ sausage and bacon business.

The gestation period for pigs is three months, three weeks and three days and sows, who must have 14 teats or more to be considered for breeding, usually have two litters a year.

The sows are Duroc crossed with Landrace – Duroc pigs have brown pigments in their skin to stop them getting sunburned.

“That’s one of the problems with rearing pigs outside,” said Mr Burton. “If a sow has sunburn she won’t let a boar on her back and you will never get her in pig.”

First things first...

Farmhouse Breakfast Week, between January 25 and 31, emphasises the importance of eating a healthy breakfast every day and encourages farmers, food producers and retailers to hold events across the country to promote it. For more information, including recipes and local events, log on to farmhousebreakfast.com