Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Whole Hog: Facts About Hog Farming

By Lianne Derocco


Getting into the business of hog farming may be new to some people but it is in fact a common way of life for many people in the United States as well as in some other parts of the world who are into livestock-raising. More than 70,000 hog farms exist in the U.S. and the state of Iowa produces the most pork. About 120 million pigs are being raised and produced in the U.S. yearly and more than 19 million of these are from Iowa. So if these figures alone have already set off an interest for you; here are a few other tidbits about hog farming.

Commonly, hogs or pigs are known to be the source of food products such as ham or bacon. What we may not really know is that some of its non-edible parts are also being made into a variety of products. It might surprise you that products you use like your shampoo, paint, candles, gelatin and even medicines you take may contain components taken from pigs. What this ultimately tells us is that the pig is one of the highly popular livestock we raise in order to come up with several useful products as well as food.

As for hog farming, do not think that there is only one kind that exists - where hogs are being taken care of from birth up to the time it is ready for processing. Hog farming actually comes in different kinds where some farms concentrate only in taking care of newborn pigs and their business is to sell them right after being weaned. Other farms start raising hogs upon buying weaned pigs and make it their business to raise them to one day sell when they become ready for processing. Of course there are still hog farmers who keep a farm of pigs from birth up to processing.

Hog farms obviously produce a good amount of waste which is either stored in a waste lagoon or a waste pit. Waste containment systems are crucial on hog farms, but often there are problems lurking about such as crusting and the build-up of sludge on the bottom of the pit or lagoon. There is also foaming which is one risky problem as in this case, it can be flammable and has even been the cause of explosions. It is a challenge for all hog raisers to maintain a clean and safe environment for the hogs because producing healthy hogs is after all the main purpose of hog farming.

If you are looking for hog waste treatment solutions, perhaps you'd like to consider the ones which are naturally made and are sure to be effective in addressing your farm problems and preventing sludge or crusting. Agra Sphere and Lagoon Agra Sphere use only natural microbes of bacteria to eat away at solids in waste and liquefy the waste. This liquefied waste also typically will have less of an odor and attract fewer flies, as well as improving the nutrient value of the waste for use on crops.

As for existing crusting, it is never too late to treat your waste pit or lagoon when you use Activator Plus or Lagoon Activator. It works through liquefying the crust, after which you should consistently treat it with Agra Sphere. Problems in hog farms should not be difficult to address as it is already real labor to keep up with hog farming. So if you want to ease things a little bit and be successful at maintaining healthy hogs, trust naturally-made products which are definitely effective.




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