Pfizer Trainee of Year awards for pig and poultry industries

Employees on pig and poultry farms in North Lincolnshire — Georgina Cherrill and Andrew Hall (pictured with Emmeline Randall of Pfizer (left) and Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister for Farming and the Environment) — are the 2009 winners of the Pfizer Trainee of the Year Awards.

The awards, each worth more than £2500, were presented at a ceremony at the House of Commons on November 5. The current awards, now in their third year, were introduced by Pfizer Animal Health in conjunction with the journals Pig World and Poultry World, recognising the importance of training in helping UK producers to meet higher animal welfare and food safety standards in an increasingly competitive market.

Georgina Cherrill who was chosen by an industry judging panel, works on the Heath breeder unit of Ermine Farms, Grayingham, near Gainsborough, which supplies pigs for fresh pork production for Vion UK Ltd.

Never cooked your goose? Then don’t be put off

More people are choosing a goose for Christmas for the first time each year — but how many more are put off because they’ve never cooked one?

Who better to ask for some simple tips for first-timers than Claire Symington who began her career in catering and became head cook at Leith’s Good Food in London before moving to Seldom Seen Farm, Billesdon in Leicestershire, where she and her husband Robert rear 4,000 geese for Christmas each year.

“Goose is naturally juicier than a turkey, so they’ll be no fear of drying out,” says Claire. “Indeed it’s coping with the fat that puts some people off — but of course the fat is such a wonderful by-product much prized by top chefs today.”

She has come up with six tips to help ‘first-timers’ cook their Christmas goose to perfection for more information visit - www.geese.cc

Beware of rogue traders - by Kristian Jones, solicitor with Norwich & Sheringham law firm Clapham & Collinge

Visitors enjoying a day out at a trade exhibition or summer show don't expect to come across rogue traders than can land them with large bills later - yet that is happening around the country. This may sound alarmist but it is occurring in our own midst at local events such as the recent Sandringham Show or Royal Norfolk Show as well as national venues such as the Ideal Home Exhibition and Grand Designs Exhibition.

By far the majority of exhibitors are genuine honourable businesses plying their trade and exhibiting their wears — but among the genuine and honourable are a small element of dishonourable rogue traders.

Visitors to a show will generally be off-guard, having paid a relatively small entrance fee. On the other hand, exhibitors are naturally looking to maximise returns on the relatively high outlay they’ve made to exhibit. The rogue trader will be looking to lure unsuspecting visitors with specifically designed contracts and a well rehearsed sales patter.

Many a show visitor has fallen into this kind of ‘Venus fly trap’ — walking into a trade stand with no intention of actually purchasing the item on display, only then to be subjected to high-pressure sales tactics which ultimately lead to giving out personal details, or worse still signing a document to ‘hold a show price’ or take advantage of ‘a special exhibition offer’ without having read the terms and conditions they’ve signed up to.

- Kristian Jones can be contacted at Clapham & Collinge on 01603 693500

Non-fattening ‘doughnut’ for pigs!

Environmental enrichment is an important part of the welfare codes for pigs. Pig’s Donut from G E Baker (UK) Ltd – which trades under the name of Quality Equipment – is a toy designed to help reduce boredom by stimulating play and activity for these animals from weaning through to finishing.

As its name suggests, it is about the size of an edible ring doughnut – 75 mm in diameter, 25 mm thick with a 25 mm hole – but is made from highly-durable vulcanised rubber. This is dimensionally stable and resistant to oils, grease and various chemicals.

The toy developed in Belgium prompts a biting action that is said to stimulate enzyme activity in the gut. The size of the hole was carefully determined to ensure that the pigs cannot get their noses through it and bite with excessive force.

Anniversary book recounts the first 150 years....

and all in the name of Lovewell Blake

The story behind the 150 years of Lovewell Blake, one of the largest firms of regional accountants in East Anglia, is recounted in the book ‘Counting the changes’ published as part of its anniversary celebrations. The story was researched, compiled and written by Roger Ranson of BHR Communications.

"Our founder Lovewell Blake could never have imaged that the firm he started would have survived and flourished with the same name for 150 years — an accolade which no other firm in the country has achieved," says senior partner Christopher Dicker.

The book does more than recount the happenings of the firm; it tells how accountancy has developed into a profession over this period, and describes what life at Great Yarmouth was like in the mid 19th century when Lovewell Blake began in business.

Today Lovewell Blake has more than 8500 clients in East Anglia and beyond, served by 21 partners, 42 managers and 186 other staff. The firm’s growing success in the modern era owes much to developing specialist teams to serve clients’ particular needs — from corporate finance and financial planning to farming, dental, medical, construction and charities.

Cobb Saudi Arabia appointed major Cobb distributor in Middle East

The Saudi Grand Parent Company is to become the franchise distributor for Cobb broiler breeders in the Arab Gulf area known as the GCC countries including Yemen.

The distribution agreement was signed by Pelayo Casanovas, sales and technical director of Cobb Europe, Mohammed Chail, sales and business development manager of Cobb, and Ibrahim Al Thonayan, who heads the Saudi Grand Parent Co – to be known as Cobb Saudi Arabia.

Its new complex will become one of the largest for Cobb grandparents, with a planned capacity of over five million female breeders per year. This project will based near the Al Jouf area for bio-security reasons.

Top industry award for Essex turkey producer

One of the poultry industry’s top awards has gone to Essex turkey producer Derek Kelly who has championed the traditional Christmas turkey for almost half a century.

He received one of the British Poultry Council’s distinguished service awards from Lord Davies of Oldham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, at a ceremony at the House of Commons.

Derek, who has been involved with the British turkey industry for 47 years, started his family’s company at Danbury in 1972 when he travelled to Oregon to choose breeding stock to introduce birds for the Christmas market focusing on flavour and meat texture.

Award for biogas company

A system developed by EnviTec Biogas for controlling and monitoring the feeding of materials – such as liquid manure, maize and whole-crop silage — into its biogas digesters gained the ‘Machine of the Year’ award at this year’s Agritechnica 2009 show in Germany, the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural equipment.

The system helps operators of biogas plants achieve optimum capacity utilisation. Steady production is dependent on regular feeding of materials into the fermenter. EnviTec’s “Feedcontrol” system adjusts the feeding intervals according to the quantity of biogas required, avoiding the need for fixed feeding times.

The award was made by the technical editors of Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag (German Agricultural Publishers) and EnviTec gained its prize in the ‘Renewable Energies’ category.