| Subject: Now I get it. If you're a liberal you believe a graduate assistant and the |
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c
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Date Posted: 15:42:50 05/14/07 Mon
In reply to:
DE
's message, "Pigs..." on 04:13:24 05/14/07 Mon
Humane Society know more about how to maximize piglet production than pig breeders. Makes perfect sense -- to liberals.
>Like I care what the hell the pig stood in just before
>they killed it. All I want is her dead suculent flesh
>to season to perfection and then roast in my ove
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>Study Renews Debate Over Sows in Crates
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>AMES, Iowa -- A new study is raising questions about
>the effectiveness of small, metal crates for pregnant
>pigs that animal welfare groups say are cruel and
>inhumane.
>
>Researchers from Iowa State University found that
>allowing pregnant pigs to move freely in group housing
>structures called hoop barns could be less costly and
>just as productive as the narrow, individual crates.
>
>"What we found was that there appears to be no real
>difference in pig performance between the two," said
>Peter Lammers, an ISU graduate research assistant who
>conducted data analysis for the 2 1/2-year study.
>
>There has been a backlash against placing pregnant
>sows in the gestation crates. Some food processors and
>fast food chains have pledged not to purchase meat
>from producers who use them, and some chefs said they
>would only use crate-free pork. The European Union has
>decided to phase out the crates by 2013, while voters
>in Florida and Arizona have approved ballot
>initiatives to ban them over the next few years.
>
>"Highly intelligent animals, curious animals are
>crammed in a 2-foot-by-7-foot cage that doesn't even
>allow them to turn around," said Wayne Pacelle, CEO of
>the Humane Society of the United States.
>
>He said the sows remain in the cages for most of their
>four-month pregnancies, amounting to about three years
>by the time they're eventually slaughtered.
>
>The pork industry has defended the use of the
>gestation crates, which allow producers to house as
>many pigs as possible in one building. Industry
>representatives argue that pregnant sows can be
>aggressive toward one another in groups, and that the
>stalls allow for equal feeding and care of each sow.
>Individual management of the animals has been thought
>to aid their productivity.
>
>Dave Warner, a spokesman for the Washington,
>D.C.-based National Pork Producers Council, which
>lobbies for the nation's 67,000 pork producers, said
>the majority of the group's members use gestation
>stalls, though he noted that both the crates and group
>housing have their advantages and disadvantages.
>
>The ISU study was conducted at a research farm in
>southwest Iowa. It compared sows housed in stalls in
>mechanically ventilated confinement buildings to those
>in naturally ventilated hoop barns with straw bedding.
>
>Researchers who tracked 957 litters from 353 sows
>found that sows in the hoop barns gave birth to more
>live pigs per litter than those confined in gestation
>stalls.
>
>They also found that group housing may produce pigs at
>a lower cost -- as much as 11 percent less per weaned
>pig -- than the gestation stalls, Lammers said.
>
>He said sows in the hoop barns may have done better
>because of the bedding and ability to huddle, which
>allows them more control over their temperature.
>Individual feeding stalls in the hoop barns continued
>to allow for feed management.
>
>Even though soiled straw must be removed, the
>researchers said group housing may not require more
>labor per animal than gestation stalls.
>
>"In the United States, using a bedded system for
>gestating sows in hoop barns is relatively
>unfamiliar," Mark Honeyman, animal science professor
>and coordinator of ISU's Research Farms said in a
>statement. "With increased experience, management will
>evolve and production may be enhanced."
>
>Lammers said the purpose of the study "wasn't to say
>one view was right, or one view was wrong."
>
>"The purpose of this report was to examine what are
>the impacts of the types of gestation sow housing," he
>said.
>
>A related study, based on a survey of general
>contractors and equipment and materials suppliers,
>said the estimated construction cost per gestating sow
>in hoop barns was $552, compared with $815 for the
>crates.
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