(Bloomberg) --

A U.K. farming organization will finance the culling of thousands of pigs, setting up an emergency plant to kill and render animals in an attempt alleviate an industry backlog that is becoming a financial burden to farmers.

The facility will be set up and started “as soon as possible,” and have the capacity to process 2,000-3,000 pigs per week the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board said in a statement Thursday. Around 200,000 pigs go to slaughter every week in the U.K.

The announcement is the latest development after a combination of pandemic restrictions and Brexit visa issues has left the country short of abattoir butchers.

The backlog of animals has swollen to over 150,000 as of Wednesday, and is likely to continue to rise until government action to provide additional storage for slaughtered animals kicks in, National Pig Association senior policy advisor Charlie Dewhirst said by phone.

“This is a welcome interim measure that will help those who are most desperate and while it is not solving the problem it is still effectively disposing of the animals,” he said.

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