My Recent Farm Visit

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit a hog farm. I was very impressed at how clean and organized they were there. It made me think about how I can make my farm a better place to be visited and managed. They do a lot of power washing and a bleaching to make sure that new hogs coming in will not be contaminated by particular diseases or bacteria that the previous hogs might have brought into that barn. It is something that I personally do not do on my farm and find it very intelligent for heath safety. They also have a specific painting system to tell what sows and gilts come into heat what days, what days they are bred, and what farrowing (birthing) barn they will have to be moved in to. It is brilliant. Such a simple and easy to follow system even for a visitor. It is something that I might start using on my cattle to tell when they come into heat and what days that I have bred them so that it is easier for me to tell from a distance and to watch for a heifer or a cow coming into heat. It was a fun experience and very informational and helpful for me and my farming.