Showers, Showers, and More Showers.
Every pig farm has their own biosecurity procedures. When I exit my vehicle onto a farm, I put booties over my shoes to walk into the barn. I then either shower in or put on a tyvek suit depending on the facility. In the barn I wear a dust mask, gloves, and coveralls. We do all of these as a biosecurity procedure which is a way of preventing external germs and diseases from entering the facility.
It's funny because growing up whenever I told someone I raised pigs they automatically assumed I was dirty and stinky all the time. This so happens to NOT be the case with modern day pig farming.
Each day for me is different, some days I am not sure what the day will include mainly because things can change so often and fast. I spend most of my time in gilt (female pig) sites, where we grow and develop replacement herd animals. Each time gilts from our finisher barn sites are moved to a sow unit or a customer's site it is called a gilt sale. For every sale we get diagnostic samples to confirm health status and prevent any transfer of disease to their new facility. This means many miles of driving from site to site and many showers, car washes, and tyvek suit changes.
A typical day can involve six showers and dried out hair that still lingers with pig smell at the end of the day. These barns have showers for people going into the barn may shower on the way in and change into clothes that are provided at the site. This is to prevent germs and diseases from outside or other sites from coming in. These showers also are intended for us to use when going back outside so that we are not taking germs with us to the next place we go, or even into our cars.
When I go to a barn to get diagnostic samples I am also looking at the pigs to see that they are looking good and healthy since they will be trailered soon, and sometimes trailered pretty far. It is imperative that these pigs are looking and feeling their best. This is why it is so necessary that we stay clean not taking pathogens to other farms. Pigs that are not acclimated to certain germs may react strongly to the different pathogens. They may display numerous different clinical signs and become sick if we do not practice these biosecurity procedures properly.
Working inside of these barns is great, in the cold winter they are heated anywhere from 65 degrees Fahrenheit to 75 degrees Fahrenheit; same with the summer time. Barns use specific ventilation systems to keep the temperatures around the same as in the winter, but using fans to cool it down for the pigs to still remain healthy and growing, which is crucial to production. Being in the barns without showers, you begin to look forward to the barns with showers because it means you get to shower out and get into your car not smelling like sweat, pigs, and manure. Then you feel like you are clean enough to stop somewhere on the way home and not have people staring at you or avoiding you because you stink.
The cliche of a smelly pig farmer is so off-base for today's production. We have to keep our vehicles, equipment, and ourselves very clean when entering these barns and I appreciate all of the showers we need to take because it helps me keep my car clean as well as my normal day clothes...even if it does mean six showers in one day and wet hair when running to the car in the frigid winter.
