BPEX pig unit sale completed

The sale of the former BPEX pig development unit in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, has now been completed. The five-hectare site was sold with planning permission for mixed use development including a limited amount of housing.

The original pig testing station at Stotfold came into operation in 1957. It was the second of five built, by PIDA (Pig Industry Development Authority) in that period as part of an intensive effort by the British pig industry to improve productivity and carcase quality.

It became a boar testing unit but when that ended, in the early 1980s, building work got underway on turning it into a 300-sow pig development unit.

The last work carried out there was the Sustainable Systems for Weaner Pigs programme, which was established before the ban on antibiotic growth promoters in January 2006. The unit finally closed in June 2007. This asset already forms part of the BPEX reserves within the AHDB accounts.