Page 14 - Australian Pork Newspaper

John Jukes remembers pork production in Queensland
THE Queensland Pork Producers’ Organisa- tion advertised for an editor for their monthly newspaper the Pork Producer.
what was expected. Nothing ‘significant’
‘the other red meat’ and, speaking in general terms, pork producers operated financially successful businesses.
The task was to find these farmers, send them a copy of Porky and sell more advertising – even to non-specific suppliers to pig farmers.
My successor – who had prior publishing experi- ence – saw what Porky had become and soon pro- posed to take it over.
Their current editor was moving on from ‘Porky’.
the QPPO was comprised of Queensland pork pro- ducers who were recog- nised for government reg- istration and benefits and who had paid up member- ship.
Help with excellent tech- nical advice was provided by state primary depart- ments and the CSIRO.
This was a fairly am- bitious scheme and the QPPO backed it.
This must have been seen as heaven sent to the board because they were fully aware of the prob- able decline in the local industry with imports seriously impacting their members, so they ac- cepted the proposal with the proviso that he would continue publishing their content – such as it was.
The ad was brought to my attention – I applied and was accepted.
As such they received a copy of the monthly newspaper, which made it an ideal advertising me- dium for suppliers to the Queensland industry – in turn making it a source of funds additional to sub- scriptions.
The federal govern- ment of the day was also helping with issues such as the importation of over- seas diseases affecting the health of the national herd.
Pig farmer members op- erated up-to-date and pro- fessional businesses.
The QPPO office was a converted cottage in Mog- gill Rd, Taringa and the newspaper a 12-page tab- loid containing decisions of the board of directors plus press releases and handouts from suppliers to pig farmers.
And it was time for their newspaper to become effi- cient and professional too.
Not an impressive publi- cation, to be sure.
And as there was no pri- vate enterprise component in its expenditure budget, rates for the newspaper were accordingly quite at- tractive for advertisers.
I very soon learned from in-house gossip that the outgoing editor spent most of her time riding her horse.
A steady stream of rev- enue was coming in from established advertisers – mainly national suppliers with an advertising budget administered by ad agen- cies.
Soon after I joined Porky as editor, I discov- ered all this and realised the paper was not utilising its business potential.
I soon understood the reality of my situation.
The organisation went through a series of name changes and iterations – the most significant of which was the removal of levies, which resulted in a reduction of funds and management of the organisation eventually becoming voluntary.
Her reputation was not enhanced when my son, after telling him who the outgoing editor was, said, “Dad, you’re not taking over her job, are you?”
According to various sources of information, producers in other states were not receiving a spe- cialist pig farmer publica- tion.
I was on a contract in- come from a publication I saw as moderately limited in profitability for the or- ganisation that owned it.
The significant dif- ference I made to this newspaper was more than replacing the adver- tising handouts with short punchy news items from around the industry.
To them, the quality of the content was relatively unimportant – the number of readers was what they looked for.
This was mildly sur- prising because pork pro- duction was not a free- range industry with pigs metaphorically rolling in mud.
As such, there was no potential for advancement for me and other ventures were beckoning.
In researching the in- dustry to update details for my memoirs, it is clear that the Australian government allowed im- ports that were produced far more cheaply than our local farmers could manage, with the conse- quence that farmers had to get big or get out of the industry.
The short punchy news articles were still pub- lished, and photos re- lieved solid text in an at- tractive layout.
On the other hand, smaller suppliers to the industry were more im- pressed knowing the ad- vertising medium was ac- tually read.
It had progressed a long way in producing healthy lean meat and a long way past the time when “if a pig could walk 100 yards, it was not fat enough” – an actual story.
In my tenure, Porky was posted to about 1100 Queensland farmers – about a third of the na- tional herd.
However, an editorial style was introduced, giving the paper a pro- fessional presentation and uniformity, and the trade typesetters who also com- posed the pages before they went to the printer found it easier to deal with an experienced editor.
While the quality of readership was vital to the small regional supplier, readership outside the po- tential client locality was not.
As for sources of in- formation on potential interstate readers of the newspaper, Google was in the future and getting ad- dresses of interstate pig farmers was haphazard and unreliable.
This apparently reso- nated with the board of directors.
Today, there are 660 reg- istered pork producers in Australia, and one profes- sionally produced news- paper covers the entire industry.
However, all that was
During my time at Porky in the 1980s, there was a surge in the promotion of pork consumption as
I was looking for a ven- ture that seemed to have a better future than Porky, so I resigned.
there.
As the name implies,
An article from the July 1988 edition written by man- aging editor of the Pork Producer John Jukes.
The Pork Producer was the official journal of the Queensland Pork Producers’ Organisation.
Japanese encephalitis virus detected in Victoria
Japanese encephalitis has been confirmed in pigs at several piggeries in NSW, as well as one piggery near Echuca in Victoria and one in Goondiwindi in Queensland. Photo: Erop Kamelev.
Page 14 – Australian Pork Newspaper, March 2022
Quantity counted and quality was a bonus.
At this time, my col- league – the manager of the QPPO – commented that the state minister for primary production was whimsically chat- ting about the pork im- ports from Canada that the government was under pressure to allow, and had said, “Let’s make some money now before they come.”
Everything pointed to growth in the pork in- dustry – a saturation readership in Queensland for the newspaper, pig farmers enjoying healthy profits and good support from state and federal governments.
Those were the salad days of Porky and pork producers in Australia.
In the 1980s, Queens- land had the only formally organised industry linked to its state government and funded by compul- sory levies from farmers.
I was able to find inter- state addresses of some producers to whom Porky could be mailed but no- where near enough to en- able me to claim a ‘na- tional’ circulation.
IN a message issued by acting chief health of- ficer Associate Professor Deborah Friedman on February 25, the Depart- ment of Health Victoria reported that several cases of Japanese en- cephalitis of uncertain cause had been identi- fied in NSW near the Victorian border and in South Australia within the past month.
bility of infection caused by JE should be consid- ered in patients with en- cephalitis.
This risk may be in- creased particularly near the Murray River and its surrounds, from Mildura to Wodonga, where in- creased mosquito num- bers have been detected recently.
Less than one percent of people infected with JE develop clinical disease.
caridin or DEET on all exposed skin.
The cause had not yet been identified for these cases, however all had extensive mosquito expo- sure prior to illness onset and their presentation is suggestive of a mosquito- borne viral infection.
JE occurs in many parts of southeast Asia and China, and in recent years the disease has ex- tended beyond its tradi- tional boundaries with oc- casional cases in eastern Indonesia, sporadic out- breaks in the Torres Strait and one case in north Queensland.
People with increased exposure to mosquitoes may be at a higher risk of infection, particularly people camping, working or spending time outdoors in these regions.
Mental status changes, focal neurological defi- cits, generalised weak- ness, movement disor- ders, loss of coordination and coma may develop over the next few days.
• Sleep under mosquito nets treated with insec- ticides if you don’t have flywire screens on win- dows on your home or are sleeping in an untreated tent or out in the open.
Japanese encephalitis is a serious infection of the brain caused by a virus that can be spread by some but not all types of mos- quitoes.
JE is now considered en- demic in the Torres Strait region and Papua New Guinea.
Children aged under five-years old and older people who are infected with JE are at a higher risk of developing more severe illness such as en- cephalitis.
Clinicians should con- sider the possibility of JE or other arboviruses in patients presenting with encephalitis or a compat- ible illness in whom other causes of encephalitis have been excluded, and particularly in those who have spent time within rural or regional Victoria, NSW and Queensland, or have had extensive mos- quito exposure or contact with pigs within the few weeks prior to symptom onset.
JE has however not been detected in mosquitoes in Victoria nor in other states to date.
Encephalitis is the most serious clinical conse- quence of JE infection.
• Try to limit outdoor activity if lots of mosqui- toes are about.
Risks
There may be an in- creased risk of transmis- sion in regions near the border of Victoria and NSW, where JE infections in pigs have been identi- fied.
Symptoms and trans- mission
The incubation period is usually 6-16 days. Recommendations
People who have been impacted by recent flooding and those who work or are in contact with pigs may also be at in- creased risk of infection.
The encephalitis cannot be distinguished clini- cally from other central nervous system infections and there is no specific treatment – which usually involves the management of symptoms.
• Mosquito coils can be effective in small outdoor areas where you gather to sit or eat.
Illness usually begins with sudden onset of fever, headache and vom- iting.
• Use ‘knockdown’ fly sprays and plug-in repel- lent devices indoors.
Visit www.porknews.com.au to view the current edition as a digital flip book.
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JE has been confirmed in pigs at several piggeries in NSW, as well as one pig- gery near Echuca in Vic- toria and one in Goondi- windi in Queensland.
JE is transmitted to hu- mans through the bite of an infected mosquito.
People should take steps to limit their exposure to mosquitoes.
While there have been no confirmed infections in humans, there is risk of transmission to humans and therefore the possi-
Anyone is potentially at risk of being bitten by mosquitoes and while most bites will only cause minor swelling and irrita- tion, an infected mosquito can transmit potentially serious diseases.
There is no evidence of transmission from person to person.
There are simple steps to protect themselves and their families against mosquito-borne diseases:
More than 90 percent of JE infections are asymp- tomatic.
• Wear long, loose fit- ting clothes outdoors.
For more information, contact your local health department.
• Use effective mosquito repellents containing pi-
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