Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Farming to Fight Hunger, a non-profit organization that partners with hunger-relief organizations in the United States. My travel, meals, and accommodations for this trip were provided and I was compensated for my time. All opinions my own. Photo credit belongs to Stacy Pearce of Stacy Pearce Creative.
If you happened to see some posts on social media this summer, you might have seen me hanging around some corn fields in Iowa. I spent a weekend outside of Iowa City with an amazing group of farmers, bloggers, and other creative folks to learn more about pig farming and pork production. It was all part of an event hosted by the Brenneman family of Brenneman Pork to benefit their local food pantry and share a behind-the-scenes look at how they farm. Not only that, but they recently built a Field-of-Dreams style baseball field, which hosted the inaugural “Home Runs Fighting Hunger” Charity Softball Tournament!
Read more to see what I learned over the weekend!
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Nutrition and Agriculture
I’ve never been shy about sharing why I think it’s important for dietitians to learn as much as they can about where our food comes from. On a personal level, I want to know. I’m just so darn curious! But I also want to be able to answer the questions my clients and their families ask me in an educated, informed way instead of perpetuating myths or promoting food fear. I struggled with that myself (you can read about that in this post) and ever since then, I’ve valued my conversations with farmers so much. I love learning about what they they do and why they do it that way, because it all starts to make much more sense. I feel so much more at ease about my food choices and it all starts with asking questions.
That can be really tough because there are admittedly some controversial topics around modern agriculture and many of us (myself included!) are really disconnected from the people who feed us. I’ve been so impressed with how open and transparent these farmers have been and the Brenneman family was no different. From the time we stepped onto their farm they welcomed us with open arms and said, “No question is off limits, ask anything!” And we really did!
We were welcomed to the farm for introductions and that’s when we met the Brenneman family and learned about the history of their farm. I was really impressed by their dedication to innovation – Rob, the founder of the farm, told us about his experience raising hogs before modern technology made it safer and more efficient. It did NOT sound like anything I would want to do, and it didn’t sound like it was what was best for the pigs either. They gradually added new infrastructure, buildings, and technology to their barns, brought the pigs inside, and became much more efficient with how they managed important things like feed, water, waste, and their employees.
I could really respect their desire to find a better way to do things because I recognized a lot of similarities with my work. One reason I pursued entrepreneurship and owning my own business was because I saw how inefficient some things were, and I wanted to do the best work I possibly could. Although my work as a dietitian with a focus on nutrition doesn’t seem too related to farming, I see a lot more similarities in how we approach things than differences!
Nutrition for Pigs
One part of their farm that I was really excited to see was their feed mill. Given the size of their barns and how many animals they have to feed each day, it made sense for them to build a feed mill on-site to be able to better control the ratios of different nutrients to optimize what the pigs are eating. Sound familiar? It’s really not too unlike the types of changes we make for humans and their diets when they need more or less of a particular nutrient for their health.
I had a chance to ask questions about how they determine what the pigs are eating. As it turns out, there’s a lot of factors based on the age, size, and gender of the pig. They rely on research from several universities and have a team of five animal nutritionists that provide recommendations for how to mix the feed. I don’t know about you, but these pigs get more support for their meals than most humans do!
We watched as a truck pulled into the feed mill to load up, an automated process that repeats numerous times each day. Doesn’t matter the time or the weather, the pigs need to eat! The Brenneman Pork crew consists of multiple trucks so when you consider all of the job opportunities created by a farm this size, it’s easy to understand how invested they are in their local communities. In total, there are about 250 people who earn a living by working for or with this farm.
The Sow Barn
After lunch we got a tour of the sow barn with Erin (she’s @sowmomma on Instagram!). Before ever stepping into the barn we had to take protective measures for biosecurity. This is for the health of both humans AND the pigs. It’s important to minimize any opportunity for disease or germs to enter the barn so we covered our shoes (think hospital footies that slip over the top) and immediately “showered in”. And yes, that process is exactly what it sounds like!
There’s a “dirty side” (AKA the outside world) and a “clean side” (inside the barns) and a row of individual showers divides them. Anyone who enters the barn must first strip down, take a full shower (face, hair, everything), leave their clothes on the dirty side, and change into clean scrubs and caps on the other side. I had done this before on a hog farm in Minnesota so I made it through a little bit faster than the first time but yeah, it’s a little bit of a process! We also sent the camera and phones through a UV light filter to kill bacteria that could have been carried in on them.
Erin explained the process of how they keep records on each individual pig, from the number of pregnancies she’s had to any treatment or health concerns. They have a complex system of marking the pigs with different colors so it’s really obvious to their employees as to where that pig needs to be and any concerns about her. For example, with their market pigs, they would not send a pig to processing that’s been treated with an antibiotic UNLESS that pig has gone through a withdrawal period to make sure the antibiotic has been metabolized out. But they ALSO would never allow a sick animal to go untreated – that’s simply inhumane. There are many internal checks and quality control measures that keep the pigs content and healthy, but also to ensure the pork that comes from them is safe and high-quality. They have a very close relationship with their vet, who provides oversight on their entire herd and supports them in making treatment decisions for any pigs that do get sick or injure themselves.
The Brenneman family uses artificial insemination (AI) for their sows, which allows them to closely track the genetics of their herd. They have several goals in mind and through the years have discovered which genes or breed characteristics they want for the best quality pork or temperament of the pigs. Interestingly, they are starting to mix genetics a little more to improve the final pork product, which means they sometimes have black or red piglets that show up in the litters. My favorite was a little Oreo piglet that had a black face and butt, but was all pink in the middle. Too cute!
The sows spend most of their time in one of two settings when they aren’t farrowing (giving birth). In this first photo you see Erin standing in front of individual stalls. The pigs have access to food and water and the slotted floor collects waste. There’s a hallway in front of and behind each one so they can keep an eye on things and easily get to any sow they need to. Although they can’t turn around, they have room to lie down, move forward or back, and sit down which I saw many of them doing as they watched this interesting group of people walking around in their house.
Other pigs, especially the gilts (first-time mommas that have not yet had a litter) are housed in open pens. All of their barns receive filtered air to maintain the proper temperature and pressure to keep the environment comfortable and safe for the pigs. We had to cross through to another building to see these pens and yes…it was quite windy and rather fragrant. And this barn was totally different from the first one because of the level of noise. Pigs have a hierarchy like many other animals do and we could often hear some of them working it out with each other.
These pigs also have access to food and water but due to the nature of how they can bully or gang up on some of the pigs, you could see more differences in size or how many scratches she had. Personally, it seemed to me like the pigs in the stalls were more calm and less stressed, but Erin explained to us that they continue to use both methods of housing the sows so they have options. They can identify a pig who isn’t doing well in the pens and move her to a stall. But to be honest, most of the pigs were sleeping and barely lifted an eye as we wandered around, so we left them (all 10,000 of them!) to it and headed back to the farrowing barn to see the baby pigs next.
The Farrowing Barn
We spent a LOT of time with the baby pigs and their mommas! Here’s why:
I mean, it’s not every day you get to hold a pig that’s just a few hours old!
Pigs have a gestation period of three months, three weeks, and three days and unlike humans, they pretty much run right on time. A few days before they’re ready to give birth they move to the farrowing barn where they are housed in farrowing crates. They look a little different than the stalls but still give access to food and water, let her stand up and lie down, and more room on each side for her piglets once they’re born. In the past, pigs that farrowed outdoors in sheds or pens struggled to keep their piglets warm, and even in indoor pens they often crushed their piglets when they went to lie down. Now, it’s relatively rare for them to lose piglets like this because they have heat lamps and enough space to move out of the way.
They try their best to make sure all the pigs deliver around the same time so sometimes pigs get moved from room to room. There’s constant monitoring happening, day and night, to make sure any pig or piglet in distress gets help right away. The piglets grow fast so they will often swap piglets from one pen to another to make sure they’re all about the same size. This gives the smaller ones a chance to nurse and grow without being shoved out of the way.
When the piglets are weaned they get moved to another barn at a nearby location to continue growing until they reach market weight. The sows return to the other barns we visited until the next time they’re due to be bred. We didn’t get a chance to see the nurseries but the pigs would be grouped together according to size. When they reach market weight of 280 pounds at about six months old, they are sent to one of the processing facilities nearby. This area of Iowa has a lot of pig farms so the Brennemans only have to send their pigs about 45-60 minutes away.
Home Runs Fighting Hunger Weekend
While visiting the pigs and learning about the farm was a huge part of the weekend, we were also there to raise awareness and show support for a hunger-relief organization called Farming to Fight Hunger. Through this partnership, the Brennemans hosted the first “Home Runs Fighting Hunger” softball tournament and we were invited! We spent the last day of the trip hanging out with other farmers, talking to them about their farms and learning more about what we saw the previous day. We also got to enjoy some amazing food and great weather!
This inaugural event raised nearly $1500, all of which was provided to a local food pantry and turned into almost 6,000 meals for families in the region who struggle with food insecurity. The canned and nonperishable food items from were also donated.
Food security (or the lack thereof) is something that’s always on my mind when I talk to someone about their diet or nutrition. Access to food is a privilege and something that many families don’t have, so I’m always proud to support organizations that work to provide resources and meals for those in need. Food insecurity is a reality in every community in America; even if you feel like you feel like you live in an affluent area or the families you see aren’t struggling, there are a lot of households that don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Here are a few other key facts about food insecurity and hunger and how it impacts children and families:
- In the United States, 41 million people struggle with hunger, including 13 million children
- In 2016, 3 million households were unable to provide adequate, nutritious food for their children at some point during the year
- 62% of teachers in Iowa report they have kids in their classrooms who come to school hungry
- Children facing hunger are twice as likely to repeat a grade in elementary school
My favorite part about this weekend was how people with such different backgrounds and passions were able to come together to learn from each other. Whether we were in the barns or enjoying a meal together or hanging out at the ball field it was so much fun and I learned a TON. Each time I visit a new farm I find myself learning something new or discovering how it can be so different (but also similar!) from farm to farm. I hope to keep meeting farmers from all over and sharing even more about how our food is produced!
Did this post help you learn anything new about pig farming or pork? What questions would you have asked the Brennemans?
Be sure to connect with Pig Pen Park and Brenneman Pork on Facebook. You might even see more photos from our trip and other updates!
