'Pig sick'

David Ford, who raises 1,700 pigs at his Lower Goosehill Farm in Hanbury says the ruling is just more crazy Brussels bureaucracy which will leave him and other farmers like him tearing their hair out. Under the new ruling, which becomes law in Britain this week, the country's farming community must carry out the order to keep the animals from becoming bored and to help stop them attacking each other.

It says pigs must be given "environmental enrichment" by having "manipulable material" available to them.

The directive has to be complied with within three months or farmers face up to 90 days in prison or a £1,000 fine.

Mr Ford, aged 66, has been keeping pigs since he was 15-years-old and had not heard of the new law until told by the Advertiser/Messenger.

"I expect we will get an inspector come round and inform us in due course," he said, adding: "All this bureaucracy, which is just jobs for the boys, makes me pig sick."

His animals are reared under cover, are warm, comfortable and free to move around and do not suffer any stress, he says.

However, he sometimes hangs a chain from the roof which they can move with their snouts.

Mr Ford said in general pigs are kept in far better conditions in the UK than in most European countries, where some are still tethered or reared for four months in tiny, cramped stalls. "It appears there is one rule for Europe and one for us," he said.