A backlog of pigs which brought East Anglian farms to crisis point amid a “perfect storm” of Covid-19 and Brexit has begun to ease, said relieved sector leaders.

Earlier this year, export delays caused by new post-Brexit paperwork requirements, coupled with staff shortages and processing hold-ups due to coronavirus outbreaks in meat factories, created a backlog of more than 100,000 pigs on farms across the country, according to the National Pig Association (NPA).

As a result, many more animals needed to be cared for and provided with increasingly expensive feed and straw, while growing too large to meet their specifications for supermarkets – prompting mounting losses for farmers.

The cull sow trade, whose main customers are in Germany for cured meat and salami, was particularly badly affected as UK slaughterhouses stopped buying former breeding sows due to fears their shipments could be delayed or rejected.

But now NPA vice-chairman Rob Mutimer, who is managing director of Swannington Farm to Fork near Reepham, said he was grateful that the surplus was now easing.

"There is still an issue with our supply chains but it has improved greatly in the last month, and it looks like we will be back to some kind of normality by Easter," he said.

"Covid was the main issue. You had factories working at 80pc rather than at 100pc for a long time and that drags down the volumes.

"With the exports, people have got used to the bureaucracy and the exporters now appear to have confidence that the meat will get through.

"At the beginning of the year they sent some loads that were being rejected and some were not arriving on time. Defra has been very helpful to make sure these animal health certificates are right.

"The sow job is working normally now and the price of sow meat is going up nicely. So that is very pleasing.

"Four months ago, we were right on the edge of a really bad mess. It is a massive relief that things are now going in the right direction."

Mr Mutimer said although the immediate crisis had been averted, there would be a lasting impact on pig farms.

"The prices are still low and the feed prices are very high, so a lot of producers will have lost a lot of money by having big pigs and high feed prices," he said.

"A lot of meat will have been downgraded into manufacturing rather than the prime cuts, so that is where they have lost revenue."