Sustainable Hog Production in Old Farm Buildings

Sustainable Hog Production in Old Farm Buildings

Summary

Dave Serfling had been hog farrowing for approximately 25 years before receiving a grant to switch from pasture farrowing to a deep straw wean-to-finish facility. His SARE producer grant was to demonstrate how to convert an old farm building into a ventilated wean-to-finish structure featuring deep straw.

Serfling remodeled the building in 1998. Now, the converted barn is naturally ventilated through chimneys and insulated with straw. The curtains have been replaced with solar doors, making supplemental heat through the winter unnecessary. Serfling also has installed a feeding trough to serve hogs from 3 weeks old to 500 pounds. With these sanitary conditions, antibiotics have become unnecessary, and it is viable for Serfling to raise tail ender pigs.
Initially 16 mothers and 165 piglets were put into the remodeled hog house. Only one pig was lost, due to crushing, and the rest grew extremely well. The second group of pigs were three to four weeks old and were left with their mothers for an additional 3 weeks before weaning. These pigs grew to be at least 240 lbs by 6 weeks old, and were marketed to an antibiotic-free pork market. The producer received $2,700 in premiums over the local market.
Serfling concluded that almost any sturdy barn could be converted to a similar facility, and that this method is a competitive production practice for small farms. It allows producers to repopulate livestock on abandoned farms in an environmentally sound manner.
"We love our remodeled building," Serfling said. "It is now our favorite hog barn. We have eliminated so much labor in the moving of pigs from state to stage, and we are able to raise pigs to meet the criteria of our new market. The combination of straw, fresh air and sunshine make raising pigs without antibiotics and with tails feasible and profitable."