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Large breeding stock contract for pig processor
Yorkshire-based genetics company, ACMC Ltd, has won a major contract to supply breeding stock to one of the UK’s largest farming and pig-processing enterprises, Bowes of Norfolk Ltd.
The order will involve the supply of 1,660 of ACMC’s AC1 gilts from the company’s high-health multiplication unit in Scotland, between April 2007 and April 2008.
The AC1, containing Chinese Meishan genes, is renowned for its prolificacy, and will replace existing stock on Bowes’ units in Norfolk.
In addition to its prolificacy, Bowes were attracted to this breed because of its efficiency of growth and carcase quality and the fact that it can be managed on both indoor and outdoor units.
“We had been looking at ACMC stock coming into our plant and were impressed with the lean carcases and good shape for a heavyweight pig, so we then looked at on-farm production figures,” commented Charles Bowes, director of pigs.
Bowes of Norfolk, an integrated pig business with its headquarters at Watton, farms 4,000 acres and employs over 700 people. It processes around 10,500 pigs a week and supplies pork products to major retailers including Tesco, for whom it produces four ranges sold under their ‘Finest’, ‘Outdoor Bred’, ‘Standard’ and ‘Value’ labels. It also exports products to Europe, Russia, South Africa and the Far East.
The high-health supplying unit, RPD Scotland Ltd, is a family farm owed by Paul Duxbury of Rothienorman, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. Once integrated, the new breeding stock will be capable of producing over 35,000 finished pigs annually.
20th April 2007
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