Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Raising Hogs The Natural Way

By Lianne Derocco


Factory hog farms produce millions of pounds of pork each year, providing much food for the masses. However, while the pork is produced in abundance, it is often raised in an unhealthy way. This includes using many types of unnatural products such as hormones, antibiotics and chemicals that are needed to keep diseases at bay. The amount of agricultural waste at these farms is also an area of concern, as the waste can be toxic and poses a threat to the surrounding communities.

Some hog farms, however, are going about swine farming the old-fashioned and more natural way, which can be more humane for the animals and produce meat that is safer for human consumption. Not only are fewer chemicals used, the hogs are raised on a more substantial diet, rather than the typical mixes of corn and soy you find on factory farms. This, in turn, raises the nutritional value and improves the flavor of the meat.

The type of food used at organic farms is free from these chemicals and additives, but that is not the only difference. On some large-scale operations, hogs have little room to move and roam about, while organic farms often have fewer animals and these animals are provided with space to roam about. While this doesn't necessarily improve safety, it certainly is a more humane way to raise an animal, which is an important aspect of organic farming.

No matter what type of operation, large or small, organic or general, keeping the animals healthy and disease-free is always the top concern. The means to that end includes separating newly purchased hogs and not allowing them to mix with the other animals until a suitable period of time has passed. This makes certain that the new animals have no diseases that can be passed on to all of the hogs.

When dealing with agricultural waste, an organic hog farmer might choose a product that contains no chemicals, such as the AgraSphere or AgraSphereLGT. These are biodegradable spheres filled with a mix of proprietary natural microbes that reduce the building up of sludge and prevent crusting in your deep pit waste containment system or in your manure lagoon.

Each of these two types of spheres can simply be tossed into your waste systems and need not be mixed in, as they will simply begin releasing healthy microbes around the clock as soon as they are added to the waste. Not only will you see a reduction of sludge, the product will reduce flies and odor and even improve the nutrient value of the waste for use with crops.




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