The May 15th, 2007 issue of National Pork Magazine had a set of articles interviewing the “10 Masters of the Pork Industry“. I was very interested to read this and to especially read the article on Temple Grandin.
Part of what was interesting was that throughout the articles the vast majority of the “Masters” were very defensive of their use of the gestation and farrowing stalls and crates for sows. I disagree with them. Temple Grandin also disagrees with them, strongly. If you like bacon or care about pigs then check out at least the Temple Grandin article and maybe the others too.
Soo… You know me, I wrote a letter to the editor:
Dear Dale Miller, Editor National Pork Magazine,
My wife and I were most interested to read your latest issue with the interviews of the 10 Masters in the May 15th, 2007 issue of National Hog Farmer. I was just noting to Holly that there was striking how overwhelmingly there was support among the Masters for sow stalls. Then I hit on Temple Grandin’s quote on page 29 strongly opposing sow stalls and the failure of breeders to cull for temperament.
This is of particular interest to us as we gestate and farrow our sows on pasture without crates or stalls year round outdoors in northern Vermont. We cull very hard for temperament. As we say, “we eat mean animals.” How pigs, both sows and boars, behave with each other and with us is critical. If they can’t get along they go up the chute and off to market. Those who behave stay behind on the farm, enjoy life in the sunshine and breed to produce the future generations that are better adapted to the domestic life.
This has produced a friendly large white pig that thrives on pasture in our climate without the need for crating or stalls. Modern farmers need to pay more attention to animals, their behavior and their total genetics, not just a characteristic or few. We can breed better animals and pigs are especially adaptable to rapid improvements if people will just take the time and focus to do it. The fact that pigs farrow twice a year, have large litters and we can eat the culls makes them especially good for breeding projects.
One might think that we do pasturing and crate-less / stall-less farrowing because of some liberal bias, political correctness or tree hugger mentality. One would thus be wrong. Pasturing saves us time and money while producing a better quality meat. Our management style makes for less stress on both us and the animals. It allows us to use the resource we have, mountain pastures not appropriate for cropping, to good advantage. Pasturing with simple sheds lets us avoid the expenses, complications, labor and infrastructure of big iron and big building confinement operations. Pasturing saves us money and increases our bottom line - pastured pigs are more profitable. Pasturing spreads the bio-load over a large area so it is naturally fertilizing our fields which we intensively rotationally graze with the pigs and sheep. The livestock are more than happy to do the hard work so I don’t have to shovel shit. This is about economics and ease of operations as much as anything else.
Temple Grandin is right, we need to cull for temperament and we don’t need stall for farrowing or gestation. There is a gentler, kinder way to produce pork and it turns out to be easier and more profitable too. Consumers appreciate happy pigs and will pay a premium for the quality.
Cheers,
Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
in Vermont
Update 10am: I posted the above this morning and Dale Miller has already responded to me with the letter below which I thought people would be interested in reading. -WJ
From: Dale.Miller@penton.com
Subject: RE: Grandin on Sow Stalls
Date: June 18, 2007 9:46:57 AM EDT
Walter, your thoughts about genetic selection for temperament and the need for gestation stalls and farrowing crates are certainly interesting. I’ve heard strong arguments on both sides of these issues, as you can imagine. Ms. Grandin certainly has strong feelings about the issues.
I’m sure temperament is heritable to some degree, however, I have yet to find a geneticist willing to profess the degree of heritability of the trait. For one thing, it’s more difficult to measure than growth rate, depth of backfat or square inches of loin eye. And, there’s no doubt that there’s an environmental influence, too, much as people respond to their surroundings. In the big picture, most pigs are not mean. When they get grumpy, they usually have a reason. Babcock Genetics and Newsham Genetics breeding companies are paying some attention to temperament in their selection programs. I’m sure their are breed differences, too. I raise Chester Whites and Yorkshires and I know from experience that some are more mild-mannered than others. We sell quite a lot of Chesters to Niman Ranch growers who raise their hogs in facilities similar to those you describe.
You’d be interested to know that Ms. Grandin took a tour of the Maxwell Foods’ hog production facilities in North Carolina where their 76,000 sows are housed in small groups (5 sows or 6 gilts per pen, in confinement) and farrowed in crates. She formally endorsed their production methods as welfare friendly and acceptable.
No question, this debate will continue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Sincerely,
Dale Miller
Editor
952-851-4661
7900 International Drive
Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55425
dpmiller@nationalhogfarmer.com
visit our web site at www.nationalhogfarmer.com
Walter:
It puzzles the hell out of me to think that some people can actually say they believe its good for lifeforms to live in a cage. Did not the CREATOR put all lifeforms on an unbounded surface with the potential to move even from planet to planet, (at least some of us)? Do you suppose he had any idea of what he was doing? Your words and example are a beautiful example of harmony by effort.
Again; Thank you.
James
Comment James Basinski — June 18, 2007 @ 8:57 am
Great article on Temple Grandin and well worth the read. Thank you for sharing!
Comment Mary Beth Westcott — June 18, 2007 @ 9:14 am
Yes, Walter. Great article on Temple. Though I’ve been to several of her speaking engagements & knew of her autism
There was so much in that article I did not know. She is a truly amazing human. Kabu
Comment kathy — June 18, 2007 @ 10:03 am
I love how they refer to the Danish System of pork production as if it is some icon–the reality is it is just as bad, if not worse than the American system and has been greatly criticized for cruelly producing poor quality, flavorless meat.
Of all those “masters” it is interesting to note that Temple was the only one who did anything for the pork industry for the animals’ sake. Every one of the other white collar “farmers” sitting in offices, hog collared with ties, was only after growing larger, improving their bottom line and defending their big-scale corporate, environmental disaster sprawl.
In marked contrast, Walter, your letter shines as an example of everything the hog industry should be doing for the environment, the animals and the quality of the final product. The pork industry might have 10 Masters (who are really just slaves), but there are some hogs in VT who are lucky enough to have a Farmer, Animal Husband and Bacon lover, as their companion.
Interesting update (happened while I was writing the above). Dale has obviously never bred or been part of the dog world where genetics, breed characteristic and temperament are all seen as closely tied together in breeding–breed a mean sire and dam together and end up with a litter of dangerous, off the scale unpredictable pups no matter who trains them. Temperament is certainly a case of the “whole being greater than the parts”. Positivism is a dangerous path to follow in any field, but especially farming where close observation , familiarity, and handling in a natural setting serve far better.
Still it is nice, if a bit non-committal, that he replied.
Comment Podchef — June 18, 2007 @ 10:09 am
“I’m sure temperament is heritable to some degree, however, I have yet to find a geneticist willing to profess the degree of heritability of the trait.”
Among horse breeders, good temperament is always considered when breeding pleasure horses, and I’ll bet Anheuser Busch also breeds their Clydesdales for temperament. Race horse breeders don’t concern themselves with it. Their concern is speed. Some bloodlines are known to be nasty.
Comment Barbara — June 20, 2007 @ 7:20 pm
I just chatted with my cousin who has been raising Limosin cattle for a few decades. They have a docility factor along with the various birth weight, weaning weight, etc. included in their genetic ratings. The problem they have with “docility” is that it is both a more subjective rating and influenced by environment. I could give examples I’ve seen at his place of both a “mean” animal being gentle and a “gentle” animal being mean, almost always from some environmental factor. For example, the gentle cow who accidently spent a half hour in a head catcher really, really didn’t want to go back down the chute again. Ever. Otherwise, she was still a nice gentle cow.
However, the breeders’ and their association don’t throw up their hands in surrender like Mr. Miller has. They are working on both making it a more objective measure and defining its limits. Which means even though you can find exceptions to the rule, in general the docility factor has become a good indicator of temperment in general and culling will sort out the “mean” ones. I wonder if Mr. Miller has any idea how difficult it was (and is) to sort out some of the “objective” factors in genetic lines….
Comment Kamatu — June 22, 2007 @ 7:43 am