Pig Farms

I have to believe that pig farmers do no have a sense of smell. Their job burns it out of them.

We went to a pig farm this morning. Some of the people my parents know own one. He said we could come at 5am, but that was much too early. So we went at 7:30 instead. We went to the pig house that has the 2.5 week old pigs in it. He said the smell in that house wasn’t nearly as bad as it is in the big pig houses. But my nose was still burning. We were there for an hour and have been gone for more than 30 minutes now, and we all still smell. We took off as much of our clothes as we could in company at the door and have it in a big pile. We’re taking turns trying to get through the shower as fast as we can so we can get the rest of our clothes off.

But it was real cool. I learned a lot about pig farming. They keep the pig houses at about 78 degrees, much much warmer than it was outside this morning. They also have heat mats they can lay on that are about 90 degrees. Those pigs stay very nice and warm during the winter. During the summer they have big fans and misters to help them stay cool. Their food has protein and grain and fat and after he tasted it he said there was some sugar in it too. They get fresh water. And as he was telling us about keeping them healthy, they get fewer shots than people do probably. Those pigs have a very good life, right up until the end anyway.

It was a fun field trip. I’ll put up some pictures on the main part of my site later.