One of the biggest challenges faced by a breed society is to maintain an accurate picture of the live population. Breeders don’t often inform them when pigs die or are killed. Why is this figure so important? The number of breeding sows and boars in each breed is the starting point for any genetic conservation programme. Three key elements of the UK National Action Plan for Farm Animal Genetic Resources are Inventory, Monitoring and Conservation.

The first step is to establish an accurate inventory and then monitor the progress of the breed. The BPA have invested in new computer technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of this process.

It is important that they know the size of breed populations but they also have to know how many pigs there are in each line within the breed. This information can then be used to develop conservation breeding programmes. It is no use identifying the five most important boars in a breed to go into the semen freezing programme if four of them are already dead. 

The BPA need your help to keep their database accurate and up to date so that it can be used for the maximum benefit of the breed.

This year the Survey has an additional function as the BPA will be adjusting subscription levels by herd size once the survey is complete. This makes it even more important that you get your herd records up to date so that you are not overcharged for your annual BPA subscription.

A volunteer Breed Surveyor will be contacting breeders over the next few weeks to see if they need any help but if you have any questions in the meantime please contact the British Pig Association on 01223 845100 or go to www.britishpigs.org and follow the links to find more information and to complete your own survey on-line.