We Care

Animal health and welfare is a high concern for everyone involved with swine production. Without healthy animals we wouldn't have good production, and we strive for good production numbers. Through our company, every single person involved in each stage of production must be trained and Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) certified to work for us. We want our pigs to get the best possible care at all times to ensure the best possible health of the animal which ultimately leads to a quality product for the consumer. Everything we do day-to-day are things to keep our animals healthy. I would not have a job if we didn't care about animal health and well-being.

One practice we use is making sure everyone is PQA certified and staying up to date on their certification. This ensures employees are aware of proper protocols and regulations as well as the right thing to do from a welfare standpoint. Another practice we use are sow treatment profiles. Each sow farm has their own profile based on their disease status, so when new gilts are entering the herd they have specific vaccine requirements so that they have immunity when entering the sow herd. This hopefully sets them up for the best success later on. We also have requirements for those pigs when they are born and leave the farm then too based on which unit they are coming from.

This principle of Day-to-day animal health is the most meaningful to me because it is something everyone should be taking into account daily, for anything they would do. This can span from proper ventilation to specific treatment procedures to keep a healthy herd. I think this principle demonstrates responsibility for animal health on the pig farmer. Anyone who raises pigs or works with them has the responsibility to do their best to make decisions regarding a pig's health or the whole barn's health.

I practice this principle daily by: when I enter a barn I follow the proper biosecurity procedures to help keep the pigs inside healthy, When walking through the barns I look for any animals that need attention to ensure a single pigs health which can keep everyone else healthy. I look for any issues that may cause a future problem and talk to staff veterinarians that will give me advice on what to do if there are problems. If there are sick animals that need to be euthanized I can perform necropsies to look for issues that can't be seen on the outside, so we then can customize a treatment plan for what is wrong. I send in tissue diagnostic samples to get true answers on what is causing the problems. Staying ahead of a disease outbreak is key. For preventative measures we do monthly blood and oral fluid testing on our gilt developer sites. This means I bleed pigs from 10 pounds to 300 pounds and collect oral fluids to protect our herds.

Below I am wearing a tyvek suit, dust mask, booties, and gloves to help keep the pigs safe from any germs I may have.