There has recently been a growing interest in outdoor pig production due to potential niche markets that include nature, free range, antibiotic-free, and sustainable products from pigs. Outdoor pig production can have benefits such as having a cost that is 40-70% lower to conventional indoor systems and can achieve similar grow margins with less capital investment, but it can also have its downfalls (Gentry & McGlone, 2003). Sows used to be housed in groups with outdoor access. In United States in 2001, 64% of the gestated sows were moved inside confinement building and given an individual stall (Peter J. Lammers, 2008). Consumers are concerned about sows being housed in gestation stalls and pigs being finished in confinement because they do not think that pigs are able to live their natural lives. This paper is written to show the pros and cons of indoor and outdoor housing for gestation and finishing pigs. One type of outdoor housing for gestating sows is pastures. Sows that are given the opportunity to live outdoors are able to act naturally by building nests, rooting around, wallowing in mud, and foraging (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2014). Living outdoors can also reduce the exposure of noise to the shows (such as from machines) and they also have less accumulation of ammonia. …show more content…
One reason why producers might choose to use hoop building is because they are cheap to initially build. A hoop building costs approximately $50- 60 per pig (Hoop Strucutres for Livestock- Swine, 2006). Another positive of using hoop building is being able to have solid manure that produced less gases compared to liquid manure. Hoop barns also have benefits because they enable the producer to use the hoop barn to raise pigs or they can decide to use the barn for other uses. During the summer, the pigs in the hoop can gain similarly to pigs raised in indoor
What’s that Pig Outdoors? is a memoir whose name easily captures the attention of the potential reader. Moreover, the story of the title captures an important theme in the narrative, which is that being deaf can sometimes lead to humorous (and sometimes not so humorous) misunderstandings. Henry Kisor, the author of the memoir has been deaf since age three. Still, he grew up in the hearing world as a lip-reader, and does not separate himself from the hearing culture in the slightest. While his disability can lead to said misunderstandings, it hasn’t stopped Kisor from living his life the way he wants and feels is best for him.
Several factors including increased supply have caused declining prices for live hogs on the spot market. Also as shown below, futures prices will remain below the carrying cost for live hogs until nearly the end of the fiscal year. However, processed pork products such as bacon, loins, and ham remain above the current cost of production. Three Little Pigs Inc. is capable of processing hogs into these products internally at some locations. Unfortunately, not all hogs can be transported and processed at the main processing plants and must be sold as live hogs to third parties at spot market prices. There are four potential alternatives for dealing with the possible need to impair the value of Three Little Pigs Inc.'s inventories.
Premarin farms have been around for a long time, and started off with a booming industry. According to premarin.org, Premarin was first introduced for women in 1942 for hormone therapy in menopause and was one of the first on the market (Premarin, 1996). The living conditions at some farms are horrible. According to the website, Last Chance for Animals, at some farms, when the mares are three to four months pregnant are placed into tiny stalls and rigged with a harness and urine collecting bag (Horses, n.d.). These pregnant horses are not allowed to more around, let alone lay down and rest their tired legs for the last 7 and 8 months of their pregnancy until they are ready to deliver. The horses do not get shoes on their feet, and there is no bedding put down to protect the horses from the concrete (Horses, n.d.). They also do not receive adequate water be...
CAFO’s are beneficial in that they can provide a low-cost source of meat, milk and eggs due to efficient feeding and hosing methods of the animals, as well as boost the local economy by providing jobs. Unfortunately the negatives of CAFO’s outweigh the benefits immensely.
The initial step about how to create a duck pen is to pick a spacious site near the house that has a good drainage and shade. A very
In Alastair Norcross’ paper, “Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases” he describes a situation in which a man, Fred, has lost his ability to enjoy the gustatory pleasure of chocolate due to a car accident. However, it is known that puppies under duress produce cocoamone, the hormone Fred needs in order to enjoy chocolate again. Since no one is in the cocoamone business, Fred sets up twenty six puppy cages, and mutilates them resulting in cocoamone production in the puppy’s brains. Each week he slaughters a dog and consumes the cocoamone. When he is caught, he explains to the judge and jury that his actions are no different from factory farming because he is torturing and killing puppies for gustatory pleasure similar to how factory farms torture and kill cows, chickens, etc. for other people’s gustatory pleasure. You, the reader are meant to think that this is unacceptable, and therefore, denounce factory farming. Although there are many valid objections to this argument, I am in agreement with Norcross and shall be supporting him in this paper. I think the two most practical objections are that (1) most consumers don’t know how the animals are treated whereas Fred clearly does, and (2) if Fred stops enjoying chocolate, no puppies will be tortured, but if a person becomes a vegetarian, no animals will be saved due to the small impact of one consumer. I shall explain the reasoning behind these objections and then present sound responses in line with Norcross’ thinking, thereby refuting the objections.
can see this whilst he is still on the farm, as he is always doing
when a new rule that involved more work was ratified. Then the pigs simply acted
The pig’s pen should be an ideal size to hold a 250 pound animal, which would be about 8ft x 12ft. Since the weather can be unpredictable, the pen should have both a shaded and an open area so that the pig is able to choose where he wants to go! There should be both an area for the pig’s bedding and an area for the pig to go to the bathroom, but the most important thing is that there is enough room for the hog to move around comfortably, since that is w...
Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D. Shirley Leung said, when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth (B2). This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was fought against in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using machines and assembly-line techniques. Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals. Animals today raised on factory farms have had their genes manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals to encourage high productivity. In the fast food industry, animals are not considered animals at all; “they are food producing machines” (BBC). They are confined to small cages with metal bars, ammonia-filled air and artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak searing, tail docking, ear cutting and castration. The worst thing is that ...
One of the biggest controversies with livestock production is that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that get released into the atmosphere. Its assumed that cars produce most if not all the greenhouse gas emissions however livestock has a big say in air pollution. According to Cassandra Brooks, writer for the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, 18 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock production. This is nearly 20% and can be greatly reduced if people reduced their demand for meat. The Environmental Working Group used a tangible variable for Americans stating “if everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road” (Goffman 9). Instead of taking the bus to work, switching your diet around could make just as much of an impact on the environment.
There are a lot of animal shelters throughout the world. According source #2 beavers build lodges. For example, beavers build lodges along banks, rivers and lakes. The beavers begin with making a cone shaped frame for the whole part of the lodge. Then they fill the extra spaces with mud and leaves. Then there dun with the lodge but they will go through and fix some things up inside the lodge. But something else about the lodge is that the entrance is always at the bottom so when entering the predators don’t see them. Another amazing shelter is the termite mounds. The reason the termite mounds are so amazing is because they are 20 feet high in the sky that's taller than me. The mounds
As a human, we possess certain rights that protect us in society, however the animals we raise for food live under a much more complicated system that constantly changes. Americans have recently begun to protest animal treatment, especially in the meat industry. Many animal rights groups claim that animal farming is an inhuman practice that violates the rights of all living creatures. Farmers believe that animal right shouldn't change as any changes could cost them millions in new technology to safely care for the animals. The American farming industry poses several moral issues about animal rights which possess no easy solution, however new alternatives appear to have answers for this growing dilemma.
Over the past 4,000 years zoos have significantly improved. The old cement cages and steel-bar enclosures have been removed. When going to zoos now-a-days you will notice a much more natural-looking environment with barriers that resemble ditches which separate animals from people. The animals are kept in mini-habitats that have the same qualities and appearance as their natural habitat. Another positive thing about...
Guay, G., Salgado, G., Thompson, B., Davis, A., Sapkota, A., Chaya, W., McGlone, J.J. 2013. Behavior and handling of physically- and immunologically-castrated market pigs on farm and going to market. J. Anim. Sci. jas. 2012-5726