A top pig breeding firm went into administrative receivership because a herd tested positive for swine dysentery, it emerged today.

More than 50 jobs are said to hang in the balance after bosses uncovered a cashflow problem at Newsham Hybrid Ltd, which is based at Amotherby, near Malton.

Now Leeds-based receivers RSM Robson Rhodes, who were called in on Monday, have said the outcome of the receivership will be dictated by the commercial response from customers.

Receiver Keith Hinds said his firm were called in because of a disputed debt which arose after pigs delivered to a customer tested positive for an organism linked to swine dysentery.

He stressed the bug is not connected to swine fever, the disease which hit headlines in late summer when it struck in pig herds in the south.

The swine dysentery bug finding led to a dispute over the debt and veterinary advice revealed the organism was also present in one of the breeding herds owned by Newsham.

"It appears to be a non-pathogenic strain of the organism, such that the clinical symptoms of dysentery are not evident in any of the pigs involved," he said.

"We are continuing to act on the advice of the vet and all customers are being notified."

The problem emerged only weeks after Newsham reported one of its best years overseas because of bumper exports.

The firm, which was set up in 1976, when cross-breeding was taking off, said it was producing between 30,000 and 40,000 sows and about 3,000 boars a year.

It seems the firm's future is now entirely dependent on the reaction of customers to news of the swine dysentery.