Pig producers considers stopping castration.

 Pig producers considers  stopping  castration.

10 pig producers’ organisations in Western France are considering to stop castrating piglets as from December 31, 2021.

 The organisations represent a respectable part of the country’s producers. The proposal of the 10 organisations is a reaction to a decision by Didier Guillaume, France’s minister for agriculture and food.His aim is to improve animal welfare in France’s pig industry and one of his measures is that, after 2021, castration will only be allowed when anesthetics are applied.


 The intention is that the basis price for pigs will be adjusted. The collectives feel that gilts as well as entire boars will form the reference for pig prices as from 2021.

 The slaughterhouses will become the place for checks whether or not carcasses will have boar taint, these could be detected by sniffing at the slaughter line by humans. Additional costs of these checks will be carried jointly by the pig farms that stopped castrating.

Russia gives France a puppy to replace Diesel, dog killed in Paris raid.

German Shepherd Dobrynya is named after a Russian folk hero .Diesel's death in a police raid was mourned on social media with the hashtag #JeSuisChien . He may be no Diesel, but Russia has given France a new puppy following the death of the seven-year-old police dog during a terror raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis last month."The puppy you are giving us today will replace Diesel and proves your friendship," said French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, during a ceremony at the French Embassy in Moscow on Monday."They are waiting for this puppy in Paris," he added, according to Russian news agency Tass. Dobrynya waits patiently during the handover ceremony in Moscow on Monday, December 6.Diesel's death in a police raid on November 18 came five days after 130 people were killed in multiple terror attacks in Paris. Read more;http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/08/europe/france-russia-police-dog/

MORE BIRD FLU OUTBREAKS IN FRANCE!!!

FRANCE - Following the detection of three avian influenza outbreaks in Dordogne, three more outbreaks have been confirmed in Landes and Dordogne. The new outbreaks were detected after increased surveillance was put into place across France, including active surveillance of clinical signs of avian influenza in sensitive species. Abnormal mortality levels detected by farmers have also led to systematic sampling. The confirmed outbreaks, which took place in guinea fowl and ducks in Landes and ducks in Dordogne, a press release from the French agriculture ministry said that other outbreaks were suspected. Protection zones, surveillance, biosecurity and stamping out of the disease on the affected farms have been used to try and prevent the virus spreading. The issue of biosecurity with active surveillance is key to curb the spread of the virus and the issue of early reporting when there is a high number of mortality with a short period ,is also very important. story credit; poultry site.

JAPAN BANS POULTRY IMPORTS FROM FRANCE.

Japan, the largest importer of French foie gras, bans poultry imports after bird flu outbreak in Dordogne;China, South Korea, Thailand, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have banned French poultry imports and several other countries are considering doing so, according to Loïc Evain of the French agriculture ministry. Containment and protection measures are in force within a six-mile radius of the three farms affected near the village of Biras, between Périgueux and Brantôme. Entire flocks have been culled. About 1,000 geese and 14,000 ducks were electrocuted earlier this week in special trucks so the dead birds can be removed with minimum contamination. The farms are still being disinfected. story credit; Telegraph

FRANCE REPORTS 2 NEW CASES OF HPAI.

FRANCE - France's agriculture department has said that two further outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been detected as part of the emergency response to an outbreak identified last week. The French authorities immediately set up protection zones and surveillance around the backyard holding affected by the first outbreak, and as part of these measures, extra samples were taken from birds inside the cordons. The results from analysis of these samples revealed the presence of HPAI strains in poultry at two more farms in the Dordogne region, despite the birds exhibiting no mortalities or clinical signs. To protect and limit the spread of disease to other flocks of sensitive species, the Ministry of Agriculture said it is conducting the slaughter of all animals of the affected farms and have decided on further biosecurity measures. Story credit;The poultry site/news.

COP21;FRANCE TO SPEND BILLION ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AFRICA.

France plans to spend billions of euros in renewable energy and other environmental projects in its former west African colonies and across Africa over the next five years said President François Hollande Africa produces little of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels, linked by scientists to rapid climate change. But it is particularly vulnerable to a changing climate, as much of its population is poor, rural and dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Hollande told a conference on Africa, held as part of climate change talks in Paris, that his government would double investments in renewable energy generation, ranging from wind farms to solar power and hydroelectric projects, across the continent to €2bn between 2016 and 2020. One project, dubbed the “Great Green Wall“, was initially intended to create a barrier of trees reaching from the Sahel in west Africa to the Sahara in the east, but will now focus on creating pockets of trees to revive the soil while another aims to protect Lake Chad, which is threatened by pollution. read more here;http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/01/cop21-france-to-spend-billions-on-african-renewable-energy-projects

FRANCE HIT BY FIRST BIRD FLU OUTBREAK IN 8 YEARS.

The highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1 has been discovered on a farm in Dordogne,where it killed 75% of birds on the farm . A 10km surveillance radius has been established around farm to prevent spread to other poultry farms.The agriculture minister confirmed the outbreak,and south Korea has banned importation of poultry from France. The virus is deadly and spreads easily if bio security protocols are not enforced, hand washing after handling birds is very important.read more here; http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Industry-Markets/France-hit-by-first-bird-flu-outbreak-in-eight-years/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=30-Nov-2015&c=KviYxCjZMiXfdfZP1fvhvMG3x5RsDoMO&p2=