With Christmas just over two weeks away, many of us are starting to think about what the centrepiece of the all-important Christmas meal will be.
For any pig owners considering meat on the Christmas menu, ensuring suitable disposal of meat-based table scraps is very important.
Table scraps containing meat or products that have had contact with meat must not be given to pigs and are considered ‘swill feeding’.
Swill feeding, which is offering your pigs animal products, is illegal and a risk factor for the introduction and spread of several Emergency Animal Diseases (EAD), such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and African Swine Fever (ASF).
Australia is free from FMD and ASF, and an outbreak of those diseases would severely affect the Australian livestock industry and have devastating consequences for producers and communities.
Some of the main examples of swill feeding are:
- carcasses and meat scraps (raw, cooked or processed)
- blood and bones, offal and hides
- products that have been in contact with animal products, like cooking oil, fruit and vegetables, and bakery items.
Other obligations that help to ensure a productive and biosecure industry include landholders counting all pigs in their Annual Land and Stock Returns. This helps Local Land Services to quickly and accurately respond to EAD outbreaks or other biosecurity events.
If producers are moving pigs from or to their property, they need to ensure they are registered with the national tracking system for the movement of all pigs in Australia – PigPass. This helps to ensure food safety, animal disease control and welfare.
For further information and local advice about your pigs, swill feeding and other livestock, speak with a NSW Government Local Land Services district veterinarian via 1300 795 299 or visit the NSW Government’s swill feeding pigs webpage.
If livestock producers have any concerns and are suspecting an emergency animal disease during the Christmas holiday shutdown period, please call the EAD hotline on 1800 675 888 immediately.
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