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Happy Pigs Make Yummy Pork
The plight of feedlot animals is hardly new to thoughtful eaters, but rarely is the difference between mainstream and free-range pork husbandry limned so movingly as in the lovely Simply Recipes post “The Meat We Eat” (thanks to the Ethicurean for pointing the way). After a chance meeting with Niman Ranch pig farmer Paul Willis, writer Elise Bauer is invited out to Iowa for a visit. She takes Willis up on his invite, and is stunned by the difference between Willis’s farm and the ubiquitous Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the same area:
My first impression of the pigs as our caravan approached the farm was how curious they were. They ran out to meet us, as if to say “hey there, who are you?” As our afternoon unfolded, and we tromped out into the pasture with the younger pigs, that impression expanded to wonder at the joyful nature of these pigs. Paul’s pigs are indeed, happy pigs. They play, chase each other, munch on grass (30% of their diet is grass), frolic, roll around in the mud, and dig in the ground.
Contrast that with the typical treatment at a CAFO, where pigs are housed in tiny pens with slat floors that drain waste away, and are pumped full of antibiotics.
Not only are the pigs treated better, the meat tastes better, says Bauer:
Ever wonder why the natural, antibiotic-free, hormone-free pork you buy at a premium tastes so much better than the regular stuff? It’s because in order to be able to live outdoors and survive the cold weather, the pig must have enough back fat. Only certain breeds, usually the older, heritage breeds have enough fat in them for the pig to survive outside. Pigs who are free to run around in pasture also build their muscles, another source of great flavor.
As to whether she would have trouble eating pigs this cute, Bauer is mum.
The post also drew some thoughtful comments. My favorite is one from Erin, who points out:
Most family farms had to incorporate and go ‘big’ in the 1970’s and 1980’s in order to survive in the current economy. This has led to the large hog operations in states like Iowa, Illinois, and North Carolina. The midsized farms and small farms are disappearing because they can’t compete with the economies of scale that are found in the large operations.
Sarah, the daughter of a hog farmer with a CAFO, had a different take:
Most farmers who operate large confinement facilities are genuinally concerned about the impact they can have on the environment. If a spill does occur, rarely was it on purpose. If the smell is overpowering….well, perhaps you’re smelling it the wrong way. As my dad always said, ‘it smells like money’ which to us, meant college. There’s a good chance that what some of you do may be offensive to us so try to keep that in mind!
Got it, Sarah. Humans getting advanced degrees trumps the suffering of confined hogs. Oh, is my logic offensive to you? I’ll keep that in mind.
Posted by
| Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 4:23pm
| 10 comments
Tagged with: niman ranch, hog farms, pork, paul willis, ethicurean, simply recipes, cafo, the grinder, media
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Great retort to Sarah there. It is amazing how short sighted and selfish people are when it comes to money. Now you know how republicans get votes.
right, because all those millions of Americans vote republican because they get money for it. That giant block of millions of Americans are all greedy millionaires just trying to get money - you know how that works.
wow and I read that last bit. YES someone's kids getting a college education is more important than getting some suffering hogs.
I would just say that it is not usually farmers or their families who benefit financially from upscaling to gigantic confinment operations but rather the large scale food proccesing companies who rake in profits, while the farmers barely scrape by under their mountain of debt.
and what happens when Sarah gets home from college to find out that her families health has deteroriated severely from living so close to hog waste lagoons? Well at least she might be able to get a job that pays enough to handle their medical bills.
The food we eat either nourishes or poisons our bodies. Even if people don't care about the inhumane treatment of the animals raised to feed us, they should care what chemicals are pumped into the animals' bodies that wind up in OUR bodies, making us sick and making our sicknesses resistant to antibiotics. It's in our self-interest to raise healthier animals!
I'll start by saying that I DON'T vote Republican and never have.
That said, it's mighty interesting to hear folks talk about grazing pigs, because pigs DON'T eat grass! They are not ruminants like cows. They have only one stomach. Great pigs are raised on grain. Allowing pigs to spend time out of doors is not a detriment in any way, but no way do they find anything but grubs while "grazing!"
Most city folks don't have a clue how animals are raised. They only know what they're told..... and grazing pigs is not an equivalent to healthy pigs!
Thanks for the clarification. Still, I think we'd all agree that locking a pig up in a cage that doesn't allow him to move one inch or get any fresh air is inhumane ... whether he's eating grass or grain :)
Hi Chef June - When I asked about the pigs eating grass, as I watched them actually munching on the pasture grass, I was told that pasture raised pigs get 30% of their food from eating grass, and 70% from grain. Now, it could be that whoever told me this (was either Paul Willis or someone else from Niman Ranch) wasn't correct, but I did see the pigs actually eating grass, not just digging around for grubs, which surprised me, which was why I asked.
Regarding Sarah's comment, from what I understand there is a big difference between family farmed CAFOs and the large industrial CAFOs. Usually on a family farm, there is one confinement building, and the pigs do get much more attention than they would in the big centers. Some of the CAFOs we passed had 10 to 20 buildings in a row, each with 1000 to 3000 pigs, surrounded by acres of land, not a farm house in site. No one can live near these places, the stench is so bad.
In 1998 the hog market was glutted and the price that farmers could get for their pork was 10 cents a pound. Can you imagine? 10 cents a pound? That is well below the cost of production. That year many family farms went out of business, the economics forcing them to sell out to the large CAFOs. Niman gives their farmers a price floor which covers their costs in bad years. In 1998, Niman bought pork from their farmers for more than 40 cents a pound, 4 times what anyone else was getting. This is why Niman has been able to attract more farmers. It enables people to keep their farms during down times, and lets them raise their pigs the way they want to.
There are more than 500 Niman pig farms, each with an average of 1000 pigs. So add up the math, there are 20 million pigs in Iowa and North Carolina alone. Niman farms across the country account for about 500,000 pigs. It's just a drop in the bucket, but it's something.
Let me clarify "lets them raise their pigs the way they want to" - by that I mean the pig farmers I met love their pigs. They like seeing them happy and they don't like seeing them miserable.
Chef June and Elise - Yes, pigs do graze!! They love grass and alfalfa and do very well on it. You are right, when observed in their natural environment, pigs do graze about 30% of their time. It is very natural for them.
Yes, pigs are a monogastrics, but just because they do not have a ruminant stomach does not mean their body is not designed to digest forage. Pigs have a cecum, which is a pouch located at the beginning of the large intestine. In most animals, the cecum has little function. However, in animals such as the horse and rabbit too (we all know they eat forage and greens), the cecum is very large and well-developed. It is important in the digestion of fibrous feeds by storing and breaking down this material.
Plant material is also important to sows who are about to give birth. It is a little-known fact outside of the pig world that sows will build a nest when she is about to give birth. She will pull up grasses, straw, and whatever is available, to make a comfortable and protected home for her new litter. It’s a natural instinct and sows who are confined to crates may exhibit stress if they are unable to do this.