How the summer has flown by! I have been running all over the farm, learning new skills, working on new projects, and generally being caught up in the excitement of summer. Since my last blog post, I have been building my skill set: I learned how to collect boars and run our AI (artificial insemination) lab. Now this might not sound like the best job, or the most exciting job, but it actually was a lot of fun. I was able to work closely with the animals, learning their personalities and quirks, as well as with my aunt, who has been running our collection lab for the past 10 years. On top of that, I have been doing the Tyson animal care training each night with one of our 41 contract growers- 36 of which are Amish. It has been fun to go out to everyone's barns and connect with growers and their families, and a challenge to set up meetings without the use of phones and answering machines!
My work on the farm probably hasn't even been the most exciting compared to our newest project, building our first inside gestation barn. It is a very big project for us, although not an expansion. It is a move to streamline our business, while also reducing our environmental impact. Moving hogs inside a barn is a big step for us. Many people don't initially see how this is "better" for the pigs or the land, but do see that it is less expensive for the farmer. That is true, and it makes smart business sense to do things that cost less money, while also improving the conditions of our farm. It makes us more sustainable.
How are we improving conditions? Well, lets start with the pigs. Our pigs have been housed outside during gestation for the last 50 years. They have endure hard winters, where their ears tend to get frostbitten and fall off. They have endured rainy springs, where the mud in the pastures makes it thick and difficult to walk. They have endured scorching summers, with some dying due to heat stroke. In the fall they have fought diseases when treatments couldn't administered at the proper time, just because the multiple acres of pasture sometimes lead to a pig getting missed. They always had food, water, and shelter, as well as 3 or 4 acres of space per 60 pigs. Upon coming inside, these problems no longer exist. The temperature is a stable 68 degrees, similar to what we prefer in our offices. There are warm, dry places to sleep, and protection from the elements. Treatment is faster and more effective, being administered at the right time. The pigs are still in pens and can roam around inside the building. I can't say that the pigs prefer it that way, but I can say they tend to thrive in it.
What about the land? Currently, we house our pigs in 3-4 acre lots, about 60 pigs in each space. They tend to poop in the same areas, eat in others, and sleep in others. Most of the lots are pasture grass, where the pigs really don't seem to hang out. This means that in the corner with manure, the nitrogen content in the soil is extremely high, and run off can be a problem, even though the lots are plenty large for the number of pigs in each pasture. Over time, the manure builds up all over the lot, even though we plant alfalfa in the lots, and cut them multiple times per summer. We don't know how to make it sustainable for the environment. By moving the pigs inside, we can manage the manure, and put the nitrogen where we need it most.
This summer has been full of trial-and-error, and we have a lot more to learn. Maybe we will decide that after trying this inside gestation style we might need to do something different. However, we are trying to improve, not only for our short-term profit, but also for longevity.
