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Raising Hogs The Natural Way

By Lianne Derocco


While modern hog factory farms have certainly put food on many tables at home and abroad, in order for these farms to work efficiently and ensure safety, many farms use an abundance of chemicals, injected hormones and antibiotics to raise the animals. These large-scale farms also produce huge amounts of animal waste, which can be detrimental to the nearby human population.

Organic hog farms, however, are on the rise, and these types of farms might be a bit easier on the environment as well as producing meat and raising animals more humanely. Often hogs raised on factory-type farms are fed with a mix of soy and corn as well as other substances to increase growth. These mixes certainly produce fatter hogs, but not necessarily more nutritious or safer 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.

Keeping diseases away from the hog population is a huge priority on all hog farms, whether it is an organic farm or a large-scale venue. Typically, on both types of farms, animals that are new are not placed with the general population until it can be ascertained that they have no infectious diseases. It is also recommended that few people have access to the animals in general and that workers not move from different sections of the farm without changing clothing and boots to prevent the spreading of disease.

Agricultural waste is certainly an issue that all farmers must deal with, but even large-scale operations can use safe and natural products to manage waste. The AgraSphreLGT or the AgraSphere are two options that contain no chemicals and instead rely on naturally occurring bacteria to reduce sludge in a deep pit system, a pull plug system or a lagoon. In addition, these will also prevent dangerous crusting.

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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