Farmers' Union Supports O'Kane Turkey Growers
NORTHERN IRELAND - Following the news that jobs may be lost at a plant owned by O'Kane Poultry, Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) says it is working to ensure the turkey growers who supply the company are retained as suppliers.

Cherry Valley Awarded Freedom Foods Accreditation
UK - Lincolnshire-based Cherry Valley, the UK’s largest duck manufacturer, has been recognised for its continued commitment to duck welfare with a Freedom Foods Accreditation.

Job Losses Loom at Poultry Plant
NORTHERN IRELAND - Workers at the O'Kane poultry processing plant at Ballymena have been warned that about 140 jobs are to go.

Call for Govt to Act over Antibiotic Resistance
UK - The Soil Association has called on the government to act over what is calls an escalating farm antibiotic resistance problem.

Welfare Accreditation for Cherry Valley
UK - Duck producer, Cherry Valley, has been awarded Freedom Foods accreditation.

Danisco Acquires Sorbial
UK - Danisco A/S has signed an agreement to acquire Sorbial in order to strengthen its competencies in microbial-based products for animal nutrition.

Humphrey Feeds Expands its Poultry Feed Team
UK - Humphrey Feeds has demonstrated its commitment to UK Free Range and Organic producers by announcing that they are to expand their team of on-farm poultry feed specialists.

Govt Decisions Taking Too Long for Industry
UK - The UK government and EU Commission are taking far too long to make decisions and this delay is having an adverse impact on the poultry industry.

Conference to Hear Why Science Matters in Farming
UK - If farming is to meet the challenges of producing more food while impacting less on the environment it is vital that research and development in agricultural science is given the funding it needs to help provide the solutions, a major conference...

Free-range Eggs on Public Sector Menu Urged
UK - Wearside MP Chris Mullin likes his eggs free-range – and he wants to see Sunderland's schools, council offices, hospitals and other public sector organisations forced to serve them up the same.

Pfizer Trainee Awards for Pig and Poultry Industries
UK - Employees on pig and poultry farms in North Lincolnshire — Georgina Cherrill and Andrew Hall — are the 2009 winners of the Pfizer Trainee of the Year Awards.

Aviagen Appoints New Technical Team Leader
UK - Alan Thomson has been appointed to the role of Regional Technical and Commercial Manager for Aviagen Ltd.

Bernard Matthews Farms Pioneers Silver Protection
UK - Bernard Matthews Farms, the largest turkey farming company in Britain, is pioneering a new silver antimicrobial protection on its transportation crates to shield its poultry flocks from a wide range of pathogens.

Future Funding of UK Meat Controls Review
UK - At its open meeting on Tuesday 10 November, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board will review the Agency’s policy on the future funding of UK meat controls. This concerns the costs of official inspections of abattoirs and cutting plants.

Defra's New Guidelines to Reduce Salmonella in Feed
UK - The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published a new Code of Practice for the control of salmonella in animal feeds, bringing together three previous codes and updating these with current best practice and regulatory...

NFUS Urges Participation in Carbon Footprint Study
SCOTLAND, UK - NFU Scotland is urging its members to participate in a Scottish Government study that will ultimately produce a farm–based tool to more accurately measure a farm’s contribution to greenhouse gas production and climate change.

Study to Bring Benefits to Meat Sector
UK - New research will develop detailed 'resource maps' to identify the amount of food and packaging waste generated and where it occurs as a step to delivering environmental and commercial benefits across the meat sector.

VLA Warns Hobby Farmers about Infectious Bronchitis
UK - There has been another outbreak of infectious bronchitis virus caused by the QX strain, according to September's Monthly Scanning Surveillance Report from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). Backyard flock owners and suppliers are...

Glycerol is Useful Dietary Component for Broilers
NORTHERN IRELAND, UK - Research from Agri-Food Biosciences Institute has revealed that glycerol from biofuel production may be a useful dietary component for broilers, report Elizabeth McCann of AFBI and Linda Griffiths (Queen's University Belfast; Q...

Visitors Get a View of Oaklands' Colony System
UK - Hy-Line UK recently welcomed visitors from the Netherlands, Russia and the Ukraine to their head office in Warwickshire.

UK Egg Statistics - Third Quarter 2009
UK - The throughput of eggs through UK packing stations in the third quarter (Q3) of 2009 was 6.11 million cases, 2.1 per cent fewer than the same period of last year. Cage eggs still account for more than half of the market although the share continues...

Warning of Traditional Christmas Turkeys Shortage
UK - With reduced placing of turkey poults on farms this summer there could well be a shortage of traditional Christmas turkeys, forecasts leading UK producer, Paul Kelly.

HPA to Investigate Salmonella Outbreak
UK - The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has set up an investigation following nine outbreaks and two death from Salmonella. Poultry and eggs are considered the most likely sources.

Goose Newcomers Award Goes to Peak District
UK - Newcomer to farming in one of the country's most scenic locations, Lizzie Murphy, is the 2009 winner of the John Adlard Memorial Award for new entrants to goose production.

Study Shows Poultry Infected by Human Disease
SCOTLAND, UK - Globalisation and industrialisation are causing diseases to spread from humans to animals, a Roslin study has shown.