Farm Animal Care is not always pleasant to witness...
The content in this post may be considered crude and unpleasant but there are those that have witnessed these particular practices and know that some of the livestock practices are very necessary in order to protect the whole herd from being contaminated with the sickness from one animal. I worked in a hog barn for 7 years and I was witness to some drastic measures which were done to protect the whole herd from disease and spreading infections.
There are so many procedures to be done to each and every pig that survives the farrowing crates (crushed to death by its mother/sow) or possibly die because the other piglets block one out from getting fed and it dies of starvation. After a piglet is born and survives the first and second night they have a chance to out run the movement of the sow in the farrowing crate so they don't get crushed. The sow is about 350lbs to 450lbs and can not feel a piglet under her because the piglets are less than 1lb when born and their little bodies are so flexible that the sow can actually flatten their bodies. Now if the piglets survive the first 2 days then they will receive a needle of iron, have their eye teeth removed, get their tails docked and get a needle of penicillin to fight any chance of infection developing..
when the piglets are 10 days old they are given another shot of iron and inspect their tails and teeth which have been removed, for infection, and all male piglets have their testicles removed after a shot of penicillin. The piglets are left for 10 more days on the sow and fed "creep feed" which actually helps with the weaning process when they are taken from the sow and moved into the nursery in groups of 50 per pen where they are placed on medicated feed for a week. These weaned pigs also receive a shot of a drug called excenel which is given at weaning and after 1 week in the nursery to prevent respiratory disease.
After the weaned pigs are fed medicated feed for 1 week they are then changed onto grower feed until they are ready to ship to the finish barns or weigh 100lbs, when they are given another shot of excenel to prepare them for the move which finds them being loaded onto trailers to go to the finish barns,the butcher or the market .
Regardless of the health of the pigs as individual or as an entire barn full of different sizes of pigs the main concern might be their health, feed, water along with proper sewage and ventilation but the atmosphere inside the rooms can get very hard to breath for long durations when the venting is not working even in the summer when most doors are open during the day. Another problem arises when the sewage has not been tended to or the outside pits can not be drained and spread due to weather conditions, the amount of flies that swarm the manure increases day by day and creates a problem of spreading sickness from one pig to the entire herd not to mention the amount that you breath in when this problem happens. Masks Are to be worn along with ear plugs and safety glasses but when the flies get really thick you need to wear Googles too. Now when you have a loaded farrowing room the sows are in Gestation crates until the litters are weaned off and moved to another area (nursery) where the remain for around 8 weeks ( in our barns) which usually puts them around 90 lbs each preferable 100 lbs or over. The sows get moved to the Drysow area (in our barns) to rest and exercise with other sows until they get bred again whether by artificial ensemination or by live natural breeding ( another chore you have to be careful doing). The breeding can get you injured when natural breeding is happening due to the boars actions, whereas some do not want certain sows and will attack the sow and kill her or the sow could turn around and attack a younger boar but no matter what do not let two boars get together because they have to be shot or break their noses with a very strong pipe to separate them because they will attack anything when they get going and are mad .
During my 7 years I mentioned I have seen many things in the barns and I have had tours of other barns which compare quite the same if run right but I have also been to cattle / dairy barns and worked a few days here and there just to help another farmer. The best one to work in is cattle even over dairy barns due to the nature of the barn, Quieter and less smell which is a whole lot different then a pig barn. The following videos will depict the worse case senario and then a much better scenario when dealing with pigs and I admit the crates the sows are confined to are drastic but it is for the protection of the litters and we often took out a sow at a time during their stay to walk them around the barn and see some daylight in the drysow area. This measure did wonders for the pigs moral and each sow in the room would get her turn to walk. The time lapse for the sows in crates is maximum 35 days but most are moved out at 28 days and only the smaller sows where allowed to stay to give the smaller piglets a chance to get bigger for an extra 7 days. So this is the subject we are embarking on { the conditions of sows during Gestation and farrowing } .
We only allowed the sows in crates during farrowing times but I have seen larger barns contain their sows constantly which I really hate to see, in fact I would prefer to see the pigs out in the fields like the cows and horses or sheep, but pigs are very smart and curious which means they need to have solid containment like cement walls to keep them penned up. and if you give them a grassy area to lay down there will not be any grass left so a cement pen with straw or hay for bedding is best and there should be a slatted floor so the sows can walk around without a pile of manure to bathe in.
Well enough of my experiences with pigs, why don't you see for your self what really goes on inside a Hog Barn with these two videos, Remember some scenes are not for queezy stomaches and young minds so please watch only if you can stand the nature of this business.
There are so many procedures to be done to each and every pig that survives the farrowing crates (crushed to death by its mother/sow) or possibly die because the other piglets block one out from getting fed and it dies of starvation. After a piglet is born and survives the first and second night they have a chance to out run the movement of the sow in the farrowing crate so they don't get crushed. The sow is about 350lbs to 450lbs and can not feel a piglet under her because the piglets are less than 1lb when born and their little bodies are so flexible that the sow can actually flatten their bodies. Now if the piglets survive the first 2 days then they will receive a needle of iron, have their eye teeth removed, get their tails docked and get a needle of penicillin to fight any chance of infection developing..
when the piglets are 10 days old they are given another shot of iron and inspect their tails and teeth which have been removed, for infection, and all male piglets have their testicles removed after a shot of penicillin. The piglets are left for 10 more days on the sow and fed "creep feed" which actually helps with the weaning process when they are taken from the sow and moved into the nursery in groups of 50 per pen where they are placed on medicated feed for a week. These weaned pigs also receive a shot of a drug called excenel which is given at weaning and after 1 week in the nursery to prevent respiratory disease.
After the weaned pigs are fed medicated feed for 1 week they are then changed onto grower feed until they are ready to ship to the finish barns or weigh 100lbs, when they are given another shot of excenel to prepare them for the move which finds them being loaded onto trailers to go to the finish barns,the butcher or the market .
Regardless of the health of the pigs as individual or as an entire barn full of different sizes of pigs the main concern might be their health, feed, water along with proper sewage and ventilation but the atmosphere inside the rooms can get very hard to breath for long durations when the venting is not working even in the summer when most doors are open during the day. Another problem arises when the sewage has not been tended to or the outside pits can not be drained and spread due to weather conditions, the amount of flies that swarm the manure increases day by day and creates a problem of spreading sickness from one pig to the entire herd not to mention the amount that you breath in when this problem happens. Masks Are to be worn along with ear plugs and safety glasses but when the flies get really thick you need to wear Googles too. Now when you have a loaded farrowing room the sows are in Gestation crates until the litters are weaned off and moved to another area (nursery) where the remain for around 8 weeks ( in our barns) which usually puts them around 90 lbs each preferable 100 lbs or over. The sows get moved to the Drysow area (in our barns) to rest and exercise with other sows until they get bred again whether by artificial ensemination or by live natural breeding ( another chore you have to be careful doing). The breeding can get you injured when natural breeding is happening due to the boars actions, whereas some do not want certain sows and will attack the sow and kill her or the sow could turn around and attack a younger boar but no matter what do not let two boars get together because they have to be shot or break their noses with a very strong pipe to separate them because they will attack anything when they get going and are mad .
During my 7 years I mentioned I have seen many things in the barns and I have had tours of other barns which compare quite the same if run right but I have also been to cattle / dairy barns and worked a few days here and there just to help another farmer. The best one to work in is cattle even over dairy barns due to the nature of the barn, Quieter and less smell which is a whole lot different then a pig barn. The following videos will depict the worse case senario and then a much better scenario when dealing with pigs and I admit the crates the sows are confined to are drastic but it is for the protection of the litters and we often took out a sow at a time during their stay to walk them around the barn and see some daylight in the drysow area. This measure did wonders for the pigs moral and each sow in the room would get her turn to walk. The time lapse for the sows in crates is maximum 35 days but most are moved out at 28 days and only the smaller sows where allowed to stay to give the smaller piglets a chance to get bigger for an extra 7 days. So this is the subject we are embarking on { the conditions of sows during Gestation and farrowing } .
We only allowed the sows in crates during farrowing times but I have seen larger barns contain their sows constantly which I really hate to see, in fact I would prefer to see the pigs out in the fields like the cows and horses or sheep, but pigs are very smart and curious which means they need to have solid containment like cement walls to keep them penned up. and if you give them a grassy area to lay down there will not be any grass left so a cement pen with straw or hay for bedding is best and there should be a slatted floor so the sows can walk around without a pile of manure to bathe in.
Well enough of my experiences with pigs, why don't you see for your self what really goes on inside a Hog Barn with these two videos, Remember some scenes are not for queezy stomaches and young minds so please watch only if you can stand the nature of this business.
This first Video is quite respectful and simply shows the operations in Austrailia which gives all the pigs plenty of room for social and feeding with very clean penning but notice that most Spider webs are left alone , which controls the fly population.. Have a look here :
This second video is showing some of the actions of herdsmen during some everyday chores which I find myself very inhumane towards the welfare of the pigs they are supposed to be keeping healthy. ( a lead pipe across the back?, pulling of the ears and kicking the back just to get it to move?, kicking the stomach repeatedly ?) those are actions that get you fired from any barn, and if it were mine I would give them a sample of what those pigs were receiving and then fire them! Have a Look at this torment here:
This third video is relating to the confinement of which large farms with thousands of pigs in them put their pigs through in the thought of keeping them healthy so they farrow with a full litter. But would you like to be treated this way? , watch this video and you decide :
No matter what the animal type is, there are horror stories and video documentations of the abuse and neglect or submission to unjustified treatment of them and it is time to show the world that these types of actions do happen and should be stopped. If you witness any of these types of human behavior towards any animal please do your part and report the incident to the proper authorities so that all animals can live a comfortable life until their death is truly needed and within a worldly humane type of manner without the cruelty and suffering which is currently not controlled unless the various agencies are supported and get involved with your continued vigilance of donations and reporting of the world animal welfare issues. Thanks for reading and viewing this sites content, Derrick Gray, author and publisher of Humane Animal Treatment , (a part of) Activelid's Links from Waterloo Ontario Canada.