You feed all them pigs them Hormones?

I  must start out with two apologies:

1) Please disregard the egregious grammatical error in the title of this post.
2) I should be talking about making baby pigs but I had a burning topic to discuss first.

Late the other night, I had stopped in a small town to fuel up.  A random man walking through the parking lot saw our company logo on my truck, walked over and asked what we did.  After I replied that we raised pigs, he asked, "You feed all them pigs them hormones and stuff?".  I actually get this type of question quite often. Usually, however, the person asking will listen to my response.  This particular guy decided to cut me off mid-sentence and began talking about something unrelated.  I just pumped my gas and he walked away.  I know this story was a bit anticlimactic but illustrates a point- many people think that we "pump our pigs full  of hormones".

Well folks, if you are one of the people that think this, I'm here to make your day.  We DO NOT feed or inject our growing pigs with hormones.  In fact, I can say that about all pork products could carry the label "no hormones added- ever".

I understand that you may be skeptical because, when you are perusing the meat aisle, you may come across a package that looks something like this:

If you happen to notice there are two asterisks by the hormone free label.  If we take a closer look we find this statement:

Always be sure to read the fine print.  By federal law, hormones cannot be used for raising pigs.  You can check out the USDA FSIS food labeling requirements here.  In fact, there are no hormone products available for feeding to pigs raised for pork.

In the interest of full disclosure, there are a few hormone products that are occasionally prescribed for reproductive therapy in sows. For example, oxytocin (same as pitocin used in humans) can be used if a sow needs assistance farrowing.  These products are only used as needed and a withdrawal time is observed before an animal that received that product can enter the food chain.  This withdrawal time allows the product to be completely excreted from the animal's body so that there is no risk to food safety.

I know that this may seem confusing but unfortunately this hormone myth has been propagated as a marketing tool and as a way to further vilify the modern pork production system.  Pigs do grow faster than they did 50 years ago but that is a direct result of genetic improvement through selective breeding and excellent nutrition (more on these topics later).  I love to eat pork and am confident that the products I buy are produced in a safe, conscientious manner regardless of the what the label says.

Since we are all clear on the hormone situation, you may be wondering about antibiotics.  Again, that is a topic that is horrendously misconstrued.  We'll talk about the facts on that in a later post.  Stay thirsty (for knowledge) my friends.

Where do babies come from? (Part 1)

Don't worry, we're still talking about pigs.  Save the awkward conversation with your kids for later...

Sow farms are the starting point for all pigs that will go to other farms to complete their growth cycle. There are three primary activities that happen on the sow farm:

1) Breeding
2) Gestation
3) Farrowing

Excuse me for going out of order but I want to talk farrowing first.  Farrowing is probably a new term to some of you reading this.  It is just the term that pig producers use to refer to the birthing process.

If you haven't seen a sow farrow, it goes something like this (I'm not much a videographer and it takes a bit before the action happens- hang in there, it's worth it):

Sows will typically have between 10-15 pigs.  On average, most litters will have 12 pigs.  As you can see in this video, this sow has already had several pigs.  Pigs are very active soon as after birth and after a short, break, begin searching for a teat to begin nursing colostrum (the first milk that is essential for survival).

You may also notice the farrowing stall that the sow is in.  This is a specially designed pen which pig farmers utilize to protect the baby pigs from being laid on by the sow.  As you can see, the pig is much smaller than its mother and can easily be laid on if the sow were not in this special pen.  Pigs are also very sensitive to temperature which is why we utilize heat lamps and heat mats (the orange mat you see on the floor where pigs are nursing).  These tools allow the baby pigs to stay warm while keeping the room at a temperature that is comfortable for the sows.

When the pigs are born, they are wet and susceptible to chilling.  Because of this, sow farms have people working on them whose primary responsibility is monitoring sows that are farrowing so that they can dry the pigs with either towels or drying powder.  This also stimulates them to begin nursing.  Since pigs are being born 365 days a year, dedicated people are on the farm every day to ensure that the pigs and sows are receiving the best care possible.

Once the sow has finished farrowing and all of the pigs are warm and dry, the sow will feed the pigs approximately once an hour every hour.  Pigs are very interesting because, soon after birth, they will choose a teat to nurse and will go back to that particular teat each time they nurse.  In addition, the sow will actually call to her pigs with a series of grunts to let them know when it is time to begin nursing.

Getting pigs off to a good start from day one is one of the most important aspects of raising pigs.  In future posts, we'll take a look at what happens from this point on.  Keep your seat belt fastened, it's an exciting journey!

Factory Farms or Family Farms?

Before I get into the details of how we raise our pigs, I have to clear the air about a very common misconception:  Pigs today are raised on factory farms not family farms.

First of all, I dislike the term "factory farm".  This phrase has gained traction over the years, supported by people who oppose modern livestock production.  By using the phrase it implies that there is no longer a human/animal connection and that aspects of good animal husbandry and well-being have been abandoned.

To be fair, I understand that when you drive down the road and see a barn that looks like this:

Or see images like this:

It is easy to assume that the pigs in these barns are not well taken care of because most people are used to seeing pigs outdoors, wallowing in the mud.  It may also follow that there is no way these pigs can be raised by family farmers that care about their animals.

As a matter of fact, the majority of pig farms in the United States are owned and operated by families.  Many of these farms have been in families for multiple generations.  

In future posts, I'll  provide my experiences of why and how we raise pigs indoors.  Until then, I encourage you to learn more about how family farmers are providing the best care for their pigs in modern production systems in the following videos:

Three Generations of Farmers

What it Means to be a Family Farmer

Meet a Family Farmer