Up to 800 foreign pork butchers can apply for a six-month working visa by the end of this year, the UK government said on Thursday, after some pig farmers started to cull their pigs. Pig producers have been calling on the government to let in foreign butchers as the shortage of abattoir and meat processor workers left pigs to back up in barns and fields across the country. As the pigs gain weight from the extra time spent on the farm, eating food that has also jumped in price, they risk passing the size threshold at which abattoirs impose financial penalties because they have become harder to handle. On Thursday, the government said that by Dec. 31, up to 800 pork butchers will be eligible to apply for six-month visas under the existing allocation in the Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme. It also highlighted that foreign butchers have already been eligible to …