October 2008 A message from the PVS President A message from the PVS President Dear Colleagues, Pig Veterinary Society Autumn Meeting November 2008. It gives me great pleasure to invite you to attend the next meeting of the Pig Veterinary Society to be held on 13th and 14th November 2008 at the Breadsall Priory Hotel, Nr. Derby. PVS would like to thank Merial for their generous sponsorship of this meeting. A big thank you once again to Jenny Murray for identifying a hotel that is readily accessible, close to a major airport (<20 miles from East Midlands Airport) and just 20 minutes from the M1. Set in 400 acres of parkland and blending 13th-century history, fine amenities and modern meeting facilities it is an ideal venue to get away from it all and give some thought to how as veterinarians we can best help the industry rebuild its competitive base. The number of bedrooms is strictly limited, so if you don't fancy camping out on the moors BOOK EARLY!!! Rooms will be allocated on a strictly a first come, first served basis, no matter how grumpy you are…… and the hotel have asked for final confirmation and return of unused rooms by November 1st!!!!!! The Society is once again indebted to Stan Done who has brought together another interesting programme with an international flavour! The programme ranges from the scientific, with updates on some of the latest research on pig health and welfare in both the EU and the UK, to the practical with another interactive session and your chance to star in the ever-popular Clinical Club hosted, as always, by the irrepressible David Chennells. The interactive session is on reproduction this time. The sessions in May on interpretation of serology results and interpretation of pathological changes were a huge success and a big thank you to David Strachan and Susanna Williamson for all the hard work that went into preparing them. The pig industry is at a pivotal point, yet again, and PVS welcomes the NPA Producer Group and BPEX on day 2 for a joint discussion on disease elimination. Poor health adds significantly to the costs of production and the long-term future of pig farming depends on achieving an overall improvement in performance, costs of production and pig health status. Many, if not most, pig farmers identify veterinary surgeons as being the most valuable source of advice for their business which is both a tremendous compliment and a tremendous responsibility. PVS is keen to help through its members to identify what can be done to achieve improvements that would help restore industry confidence and productivity. Everyone will have a chance to have their say in the closing discussion forum on pig health improvement. Please come and enjoy what should be a lively and interesting meeting. Sow cullings were at very high levels in the first three months of 2008 and over the last decade the pig industry has halved in size. High feed costs and industry losses were the prime drivers of these trends over the last 12 months. On a more positive note current price levels have only been exceeded in one previous period - in 1996, when the BSE crisis led to a switch in consumer demand away from beef to other meats. The upward trend in UK pig prices did stall in early August peaking at 137.4p in early August around 27p higher than a year ago. However, there remains disappointment in Ireland with the price lagging behind the EU average. The theme I chose for my year as President was "It's not about how good you are; it's about how good you want to be" because although I believe we have a good pig industry and a good Society, our philosophy should always be one of Kaizen, or continuous improvement. PVS delivers much for its members in the form of CPD through the formal and informal exchanges at the scientific meetings; John Walton Days; Certificate training events and the Journal and website - www.pigvetsoc.org.uk. The next John Walton Day will be at Larkmead Vet group, Cholsey on Tuesday 14th October, at 9.30am (10 am start). The subjects will include vaccines and vaccination and provisionally lameness, skin conditions and vices. All are welcome but numbers are strictly limited with priority for those who are registered for the RCVS Certificate in Pig Medicine. Tutors will include David Burch, David Chennells and Stan Done. Please contact David Chennells if you are interested in taking part. Many thanks to David Chennells and the team of tutors for all their efforts in delivering this series. It is a huge commitment and much appreciated. The second major strand of activity of the Society is political - with a small "p" - representing the interests both of pig vets and of the pig industry. All too often we end up on the defensive allowing the agenda to be driven by pressure groups like Animal Aid, as in the Independent front page article on pig welfare in June; and the Soil Association who tried to turn a modest reduction in antimicrobial use in pigs into a scare story on cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. A lazy media, disinclined to investigate the facts, ends up throwing the muck, some of which sticks. Ideally PVS actions would drive events rather than vica versa but representing the Society at Government and industry level is taking an increasing amount of time and expense. In September PVS made a submission to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into the English pig industry. A copy of this submission and a number of draft position statements on key issues can be viewed in the Members area of the PVS website. Your comments on these statements are welcome. Don't forget to register as a member on www.pigvetsoc.org.uk to get access to the Members area. In parallel with the industry it serves PVS is also contracting with a membership now of around 250. PVS made a small surplus of income over expenditure in 2006 but in 2007 there was a deficit of over £5,000. Although reserves mean the Society is still in a healthy financial position at an Executive meeting in September it was agreed that there should be an Extraordinary General Meeting at the November meeting to review membership fees. The fee has remained unchanged since 2002 and the Executive is recommending an increase to £100 in 2009. This would only restore PVS income from membership fees to 2007 levels. The PVS Executive Committee will meet on 12th November and there will be an OGM in addition to the EGM during the main meeting the following day. If members have any matters that you would like discussed, please let me know so we can include them on the agenda. I look forward to seeing you all at the Breadsall Priory, Best wishes, Derek Armstrong - PVS President 2008-09 Veterinary Department, BPEX Limited, PO Box 44, Winterhill House, Snowdon Drive, Milton Keynes, MK6 1AX Tel: 01908 844216 Fax: 01908 844214 Email: derek.armstrong@bpex.org.uk

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