Pig farmer Peter Mortimer has endured some tough times since his herd was struck down with swine dysentery last May. But now, after re-starting from scratch, he is finally ready to sell his first animals for 11 months.

Two years ago Peter Mortimer was basking in the glory of a champion win at the Royal Norfolk Show.

But fast-forward to this summer and the Harleston farmer had nothing to show. His herd had been wiped out by swine dysentery and his farm was a 'ghost town' of desolate, empty sheds.

The 67-year-old has been without an income for months, and at its height he said the disease which devastated his livestock led others to treat him like a 'leper'.

But now Mr Mortimer is looking forward to 'holding his head high' at next year's show and returning with a new herd, thanks to months of dedication.

The father of two, who has been raising pigs at Fir Tree Farm in Metfield since 1969, said the infectious disease suddenly appeared in a group of growing pigs last May.

He said: 'Every batch that got to a certain age was breaking down with it. It just spread across the herd.'

Mr Mortimer said while some farmers may attempt some 'carpet sweeping', he was determined to find out what the disease was, and sent two pigs to a laboratory.

Days later it was confirmed.

'All of a sudden you get the call and everything has got to go,' he said. 'You have to kill them all.

'When I found out I was devastated. I didn't know what to say.'

Mr Mortimer informed the Swine Dysentery Producer Charter and set about ridding his farm of all pigs.

He said: 'It is not the easiest when you are losing good sows, but once you have made your mind up you have just got to get on with it and get it done as best you can.'

Swine dysentery is not a notifiable disease, so while Mr Mortimer faced huge financial loss, there was no help.

He said: 'It will cripple you. You have no income for the number of months you are down and we were 11 months without selling anything.'

And as well as having to cull his 220 sows, Mr Mortimer said he was faced with negative treatment from others in the agricultural community.

He said: 'Some people treated us like lepers and there were a lot of comments going about.

'We felt ostracised and some people didn't want to come on the farm.'

After being diagnosed in May, it took until November last year to sell off the last pigs.

The farm remained empty while it was washed and disinfected, and after a two-month rest period, Mr Mortimer bought 110 gilts – half what he had before.

And after starting again, he has decided to do things differently.

Now, instead of allowing the sows to farrow each week, the farm has moved to a batch system where the sows farrow in groups every three weeks. It allows better organisation of the farm, and a regular deep clean as the pigs grow.

Although Mr Mortimer is ready to sell his first pig in months, he said he was doubtful of building up to his former numbers due to volatile markets which have seen the EU-spec Standard Pig Price dropping to less than 130p per kg.

'If it wasn't for the fact that feed is cheaper we would be in the streets with the dairy farmers and sheep farmers,' he said.

Now he is back on his feet, Mr Mortimer has urged for the charter to become compulsory, and is calling on others to come clean if they find a case of swine dysentery on their farm.

'The industry needs to get a grip of it and take the situation more seriously than they are taking it now,' he said.

'We went public because I had no qualms about talking about it because someone gave it to me.

'Somebody out there is living with it or doing some carpet-sweeping. It is coming from somewhere.'

Sign up to the charter

Another East Anglian outbreak of swine dysentery in September prompted renewed calls for farmers to sign up to the voluntary charter which helped identify and contain the infection.

The case was reported by a Norfolk pig unit which had signed up to the new Significant Disease Charter, launched by sector levy board AHDB Pork in April. It is an extension of the earlier swine dysentery charter, which now also includes pre-emptive measures to control porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) which has had a damaging impact on US herds. The charter encourages producers to voluntarily share information quickly which will make disease control more effective, and notify nearby farms to increase biosecurity measures while action is taken to eradicate the outbreak.

AHDB Pork's veterinary team manager Martin Smith said: 'The whole point of the charter is for people to safeguard their business. You can get quick and up-to-date information on the disease status in your region, and it allows you to minimise your potential losses and protect yourselves from the disease coming onto your farm.'

Although financially devastating for farms, swine dysentery carries no health risk to the human food chain.

It is spread through the ingestion of infected faeces and may enter the farm through the introduction of carrier pigs or from infected material carried on equipment, boots or birds.

Diversifying is the secret to adding value

Peter Mortimer's wife Gill, pictured above, has forged a second career as a baker, with the Metfield Pie Company.

When the farm's first pigs are ready at the beginning of next month, her on-site kitchen, which currently uses meat from other farms, will once again use pigs from the family farm.

For Mr Mortimer, making pork pies and sausage rolls provides a way of adding value to the low pig prices.

'One sausage roll is worth more than 1kg of pig meat,' he said.

When the first pigs are ready, Mrs Mortimer's pork pies will be filled with pork from the farm's blend of Duroc, British Landrace, Large White and Pietrain.

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