Take Care of Those Sows!

In our culture, there is a strong tension between those with book knowledge and those with practical knowledge. I believe that tension is overblown. Of course, books on practical subjects cannot tell you everything you need to know about the subject of the book, as no author can anticipate any given person’s real life practical experiences. However, between the two, if forced to choose, I believe practical knowledge, which is knowledge based on practice, on average, is less valuable than book knowledge, especially when those books have been written by people who have been practicing directly, or researching the activity of those practicing directly for a long time.

Everytime I here of someone weaning piglets onto straight corn meal because it was the cheapest thing they could find, or everytime I see someone fling mash feed over a fenceline onto the muddy ground inside the sow gestation pen to “feed the sows,” that belief is reinforced. In the first case, those piglets are literally being poisoned from lack of nutrition (the practical farmer scratches his head wondering why his eight week old piglets only weigh 15 pounds), and in the second case those gestating sows aren’t getting nearly as much feed as they need to bring a group of healthy pigs to term (the practical farmer scratches his head, wondering why his sow only had seven pigs and two were still born and three are runts). In each case, the practical farmer knows something is wrong, but, the person of book knowledge need only spend five minutes with that practical farmer to set him “straight.” Of course, the “bookish” “practical” farmer is in the best position to make a profit, and this has always been the case. Understanding this, agricultural extension agents used to make the rounds of the farms to bring the book knowledge to those practical farmers who might not have access to it, or the educational resources to make use of it.

I include that little preface because I have never raised a gilt beyond market weight; I have never bred a sow; I have never fed a sow through gestation; I have never farrowed a sow; I have never fed a lactating sow; and finally, I have never fed or cared for pre-weaning piglets, but, nevertheless, I am writing this morning to admonish you, many amongst you whom have done all of those things numerous or even countless times, to take care of your sows. My direct practical experience in this is trying to raise feeder pigs at a profit out of sows that were poorly taken care of, so for those of you who demand a certain amount of practical knowledge, I do have that — I have hundreds of wasted dollars, and a few dead pigs, to show for it.

There are a whole host of variables, from genetics (both sow and boar selection), to sow care, to pre-weaning care, to post weaning feeding, to post-weaning and growing environment, etc. that determine how well a market pig will fare, especially in terms of profitability. However, based on the large volume of what I have read and the limited practical experience, it seems to me that perhaps the most important indicator of feeder pig performance is sow care. The pre-weaning and immediate weaning diet of the pigs is perhaps the second most important indicator. (The success of the feeder pig producer, who wants sows that give birth to large numbers of healthy pigs depends just as much on sow care).

To produce healthy, vigorous pigs that grow into feeder pigs that finish profitably for the feeder pig buyer (of the farrow-to-finish farmer), sows need to be fed adequate amounts of appropriately balanaced feeds, period. If they are not, the sows’ pigs will be and will most likely remain light and unthrifty, no matter the herculean efforts of the pig finisher. A sow that is poorly and/or inadequately fed will produce poor feeder pigs. Will they get to market weight? Most likely, eventually they will. Will their carcasses be acceptable? Most likely. Will the feeder pig finisher have made a profit? No, not a penny. The endevour will have been a loss, and you can be darn sure that that feeder pig finisher will not be calling that feeder pig producer again for pigs.

What does it mean to take care of a sow? It means simply that she should be fed the proper amounts of the appropriate quality feed given her reproductive status. A dry sow requires very little milled feed, of relatively low protein, especially when on top notch pasture like alfalfa. A sow in gestation that has been re-bred needs to be fed an adequate amount of high quality feed in early gestation to get her body back into condition so that by mid-to-late gestation when her pigs really start to grow and her milk starts to come in, she has the resources to support those processes. By the time the sow is in full lactation she needs copious amounts (15 lbs. per day, or even more if she has a lot of pigs nursing!) of a high quality protein feed (18-20%, high lysine). It should go without saying that she should also have access to as much clean fresh water as she wants. [Note: Sort of by definition we are all internet people because we are writing or reading a blog, so I have not dug out my notes to include specific feeding recommendations, as they are readily available on-line. However, if you want the specifics and you really aren't all that internet savvy, please e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to help]

When sows are not cared for in a such a manner, it is often a disaster, for the feeder pig producer and the feeder pig buyer, both. There will be few pigs; they will not be vigorous; they will not grow well; and, finally, they will be more susceptible to disease than pigs from a sow that has been well cared for.

 

“None of Your Pigs Got Sick While You Were Feeding Organic”

A while back, in the middle of the pig sickness from a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to my neighbor about the pigs. I was explaining to him how much I struggled with needing to use penicillin, but that I was, and still am, amazed at how well it worked. One minute the pigs were on a very rapid road to death, and the next, they were better.

“Sure, it’s great. It really worked,” he said, “but don’t forget that none of your pigs ever got sick while you were feeding organic.”

I have twice as many pigs on the farm right now than I ever raised to slaughter on organic grain, so it is not an adequate “scientific” comparison, but anecdotally it is compelling. Over three years of feeding organic grain to four different batches of pigs, none of them got sick. In the first year of feeding non-organic grain, not only did half of the pigs on the farm at the time get sick, two of them died.

The germ theory of disease explains that the pigs got sick because they happened to come into contact with a pathogenic organism, a bacteria in this case, given the disease response to penicillin, that invaded their bodies. The non-germ theory of disease explains that the condition of the body, not the pathogenic organism, is the cause of disease. The pathogenic organism is merely making a home in an already diseased body. A non-diseased body exposed to the same pathogen will not become ill.

I have no idea which, if either, theory is correct, nor really, do I care. I am willing, however, to seriously entertain the idea that the germ theory of disease might not be the whole story.

Why would non-organic feed make my pigs sick? What is it about the non-organic feed? First, it might not be whether the feed is organic or not. That is not the only difference between the organic feed and the non-organic feed. The organic feed that I fed was composed of real grains and various supplements that are supposed to promote a healthy organism, such as kelp, diatomaceous earth, and probiotics. The non-organic feed that I was feeding when the pigs got sick was composed almost entirely of grain and plant “by-products,” and furthermore, no specifically health-promoting supplements were included. Most of the supplementation in the non-organic feed was to make up for the nutritional deficiencies inherent in the by-products. In essence, the distinction is one between whole and processed foods. In other words, a non-organic feed based on real grains and health promoting supplements could be every bit as disease-preventing (health promoting) as the organic feed that I used to feed (I actually have some anecdotal experience with such a thing — the local grain that I fed over the winter was such a non-organic feed. I was very pleased with how well the pigs did on that feed).

There are, however, some very important differences between organic and non-organic feeds that could be directly responsible for one feed producing health and the other feed producing disease. The non-organic feeds are composed almost entirely of genetically modified organisms, primarily corn and soybeans, and beyond that, nearly all of the supplements, at least in the particular feed that I was feeding at the time, that were included were synthetic, the product of industrial chemical and manufacturing processes. In addition, the source of the by-products used in the feeds — grain plants — were (most likely) heavily sprayed with various pesticides and grown in soil with almost zero natural fertility. Organic feeds contain no genetically modified organisms, and other than synthetic amino acids (lysine and methionine) the supplements included in the organic feed that I fed were all natural, although they were most likely processed industrially. In addition, the plants that produce the grains used in organic feeds are not sprayed with synthetic chemical pesticides (although these days they are increasingly sprayed with “organic” pesticides), and perhaps more (most) importantly, the soil in which those plants are grown is maintained (should be maintained) at a high level of natural fertility.

Was it the genetically modified organisms? Was it the by-products? Was it the pesticides? Was it the infertile soil? Was it the lack of health-promoting supplements? Did non-organic feed kill my pigs? I don’t know, but it is definitely possible.

[Note: The non-ogranic feed that I was feeding at the time of the illness was Nutrena Pork Track. It is, of the four different feeds that I have fed, by far the worst. It has extremely low palatability and the animals did not grow well while I was feeding it. The industrial non-organic feed that I am currently feeding is Blue Seal Pork Maker Mash. This feed, while primarily a by-product feed, does contain probiotics, a health promoting supplement, and the pigs do well on it]

 

Plowman’s Folly

A few years ago, when I read Edward Faulkner’s Plowman’s Folly, I was sure that I would never plow a field. However, that idea, like so many of the ideas I developed while cultivating my interest in farming, has fallen by the wayside. As soon as I decided that I wanted to grow some of the grain I feed to the pigs I knew that I would need to use a moldboard plow in order to do so, at least once to break the sod. British dairy farmer Newman Turner in his books Fertility Farming and Fertility Pastures minimized his use of the moldboard plow by only plowing when he needed to break a sod, which was only once every four to six years (I can’t remember how long his rotation was). In every other year, he just disked the field, which he found produced an adequate seed bed. This seems like a good compromise to me.

About a week ago, I decided that I just wasn’t going to be able to get the corn in this year. I would have to wait until next year. I have been spending a lot of money on farm stuff this year and I just can’t afford to buy a plow. The other day, however, I was talking to my neighbor and he offered to let me borrow his 100 hp tractor and four-bottom plow, and I accepted his offer. I don’t really like borrowing equipment because I am always worried about breaking it, but I really wanted to get the corn in. If I were growing the corn for grain, it would be too late, but since the pigs will be hogging the corn down, I don’t need the extra time it takes for the corn to dry down.

Yesterday, I plowed my first field. Plowing well takes skill and know-how, neither of which I have, so the field is pretty pathetic, but at least it is mostly turned over. I will have to run over it a couple more times with the disk than I would have had it been well plowed, but, again, at least it is plowed. Because it has rained a bunch in the past ten days or so, I had to stop plowing short of where I had planned because one end of the field gets a bit wet, so the plowed area is about a half an acre less than I would have liked.

There are at least showers predicted for the next ten days or so, so I don’t know when I will actually get the corn in the ground, but at least I am one step closer.