IATP Hog Report - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Section 6
Weaning pigs when they are between five and six weeks of age allows
young pigs to build natural immunities by being exposed to
microorganisms in their environments. It gives them time to learn to eat by
their mothers' sides. Weaning pigs onto deep-straw beds protects pigs
from disease-causing pathogens that can be present on bare, urine or
manure covered floors and eliminates the need for adding antibiotics at
subtherapeutic levels to their feed or water. Five or six week weaning on
deep-straw beds is one of the adaptations Swedish farmers made to the
new production environment created by the ban on subtherapeutic uses of
antibiotics in animal feeds. 98
http://www.iatp.org/hogreport/sec6.html (16 of 30)2/27/2006 3:50:16 AM
Space on pasture or in finishing barns allows pigs to get away from
aggressors. Pigs are curious and intelligent animals whose exploratory
behaviors are highly oral in nature. The possibility of foraging on pasture
and engaging more or less freely in exploratory and maternal behaviors
adds to the pigs' quality of life in outdoor production systems. Rotating
pastures with crop production prevents disease cycles from taking hold. It
is not necessary to feed continuous subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics
with feed. Indoors, a continuous supply of clean straw provides a natural
material for chewing. Straw beds are highly suitable for rooting and
otherwise occupying time and attention. It is unnecessary to dock the tails
of pigs finished on pasture or in clean, well-managed, deep-bedded pens.
More natural production methods also hold benefits for farmers, judging
by what farmers say:
I'm in the best quality you can get pork business. We raise
pigs for food. I like the natural system and our customers
are willing to pay for our husbandry practices. Sows are
allowed to make a nest. It generally takes them half a day.
They arrange everything very carefully and then they lie
down and have their pigs. When sows are farrowing, we
don't live with them. That's their job. [From one through
five weeks of age] the milk the mother is producing is the
best food for the pig to get at that stage of life. 99
For decades, pigs were just something to be exploited and
that's what the confinement system does. More indigenous
societies have a certain respect for this animal that we
American farmers don't. 100 [With more natural systems,
pigs can] bring joy to their owners, and to my way of
thinking allow pigs to know joy in return. 101
The sows and piglets are in a much more natural
environment so they are very content and easy to work
with. We have always felt you should treat your animals