Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 3/28/12
In recent weeks McDonald’s and institutional foodservice companies Bon Appetit Management and Compass Group all issued news releases declaring their intentions to stop serving pork from hog operations that use gestation stalls in the coming years.
In that context, the timing could not have been better for the National Pork Board, Indiana hog production company Belstra Milling and other investors to announce plans to raise money and partner with Fair Oaks Farms on a $9.6 million Fair Oaks Pig Adventure Center that would show tourists how pigs are grown, farrow to finish.
Fair Oaks Farms began its show-and-tell working dairy facility in 2004 and last year hosted over 238,000 visitors.
The northwest Indiana educational complex is a couple hours from Chicago and just 12 miles from the farrowing operations of Belstra Milling, which has already partnered with Fair Oaks on some educational outreach.
Belstra Milling has recently agreed to assume all costs for the planned 2,400-head working sow barn at Fair Oaks Farms. Private funds are being sought for the visitor and education features.
Meatingplace spoke to Belstra Milling Director of Animal Husbandry Jon Hoek about how the operation plans to show good animal husbandry at a sow operation to the public.
Meatingplace: How did Belstra Milling come to make this large commitment to educating consumers about hog production?
HOEK: We love what we do and love talking about it. And now, animal activists have really cranked up sensitivity. At our hog production facility we have installed picture windows and since 2007 have hosted “day on the farm” tours. Every time we did that we verified the urban public has no idea how much goes into feeding people and we have gotten a lot of positive feedback. We show them all aspects and even with the gestation stall, people come away understanding what it is. Fair Oaks tells us 98 percent of the people who come through the door just want to see what you are doing.
Meatingplace: In the complex you are planning to build at Fair Oaks, will there be gestation stalls?
HOEK: That farm will have a portion that will have gestation stalls in it, for sow (artificial) insemination. The sows will be in the stalls for about a week, then moved into a large group of about 75 sows.
Meatingplace: In that large group environment, how will you regulate the bullying behavior of alpha sows that can injure and even deprive other sows of food?
HOEK: We’ve had group housing for four years. A few years ago we went to Europe to view the evolution of their sow hog system to free access. This is where the sow decides on stall or pen. We installed free access in a portion of our latest remodeled farm and are collecting data on performance compared to traditional gestation stalls.
The next step has been electronic feeding, where an RFID (radio frequency Identification) tag in each sows ear regulates individual feed rations. So, you can put 75 sows in a room and treat each one individually. When the sow goes into the feeding stall, air-operated doors close behind her so no one can steal her food.
Meatingplace: Is this the system the Human Society of the United States has been advocating?
HOEK: We had made the decision to go with this system before HSUS started talking about it. The point we want to make is that animal experts have been studying this for decades. In fact, current confinement systems came as a solution to baby pigs freezing to death on the prairie. We are always evolving, so, to be pigeon holed as if we are not going to change is a shortsighted view of the industry.
Animal activists groups often focus on the castration process. How do you approach that subject with the public?
We understand and have a desire to be very transparent. One of the things we want to educate people on is what takes place on a modern farm and how the food system deals with difficult issues. Currently, we are not anesthetizing, but using some Novocain. We also have to educate the public that the United States does not process boars. If you grow a boar to full size, there are meat quality problems and safety issues for farmers.
What can you tell us about the distance learning plans for the Fair Oaks project?
We will wire the farm to accommodate cameras, so we can engage children in classrooms from D.C. to California. We plan to set up a studio at the farm to do interviews and have live cameras at the barns. We’re first and foremost pig farmers, but we are having a lot of fun dreaming, selling the story, and planning exhibits that allow kids to come back every week and have a different experience.
For more information contact Fair Oaks Pig Adventure Director of Development Dennis Sargent at dsargent@inpork.org or 317-294-7614.
