Woo Pig Sooie: City Girl turned Pig Vet

A professor of mine at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine passed this video along to me and I wanted to share it with you.

Check out this video to find out why this city girl enjoys practicing production medicine in swine farms that produce our pork. She is passionate about her job and her clients' role in producing safe and wholesome food in a humane manner for consumers.

http://www.youtube.com/user/veterinariansoncall

Enjoy!

Tera Rooney

Down on Main Street

Food For Thought members at Operation Main Street training

Thank you Bob Seger, for the introduction. Last Thursday and Friday, 10 Food For Thought members participated in Operation Main Street (OMS). OMS is a pork industry media training program sponsored by The National Pork Board. The goal of Operation Main Street is to educate trainees on pork production, current issues in the pork industry and how to communicate with the public and media about the pork industry.

During the two day event, FFT members learned how to prepare and conduct a telephone interview, deliver an informative speech and how to field tough questions about pork production. Chelsea Good was a participant in the telephone interview exercise. After her interview, she was able to hear what the reporter would have aired on a news program. All OMS participants agreed that having a live example was extremely valuable in learning the proper way to conduct an interview.

Participants took their first-hand knowledge of pork production, combined with the speaking skills learned from the program, and developed a 5 minute speech about the pork industry. After delivering the speech, each participant fielded tough questions from OMS peers and pork industry leaders. Some of the tough questions asked of OMS participants included:

- How do today’s pork producers control odor on modern pork farms?
- Why do you enjoy raising pork?
- Isn’t it true that today’s pork farms employ a large number of illegal immigrants?

Other questions dealt with common misperceptions in animal agriculture such as antibiotic use, euthanasia and undercover videos.

Additionally, the program provided FFT members with valuable current information on the economics of pork production, current government policy that affects pork producers, animal well-being and environmental issues.

OMS was a valuable experience that provided participants with the information needed convey to the truths, and bust the myths, about U.S. pork production.

If you would like to host an OMS speaker, you can visit the Operation Main Street website or contact a FFT member directly.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

What's in That Feed Bunk?

This past week I was in Ohio with my fiancé’s family for Thanksgiving. I was getting settled into our room when I saw this picture on the wall.

Very old fashioned, yet to the point. There are a lot of claims out there that livestock are fed non-nutritive feedstuffs or garbage. Obviously, farmers and ranchers wouldn’t feed our livestock any feed products that are detrimental to the animal or consumer’s health or safety. Would you like to know some of the ingredients in livestock feed? I thought you would….

The 5 main ingredients in a diet for market weight pigs are:

• Corn 
• Soybean meal 
• DDGS – Distiller’s dried grains with solubles – (by products of ethanol production that are high in protein, fiber and oil)
• Vitamins and minerals
• Fat

These ingredients meet the nutritional needs of the animal and also contribute to a safe, healthy end product for the consumer.

While on Thanksgiving break, I was fortunate enough to get to take care of the cattle at the Frobose feedlot – every morning and night we cleaned their bunks, gave them fresh feed and checked to make sure there were no sick animals. Those are some lucky cattle, here was their dinner menu:

• Whole corn
• Whole oats
• Mineral supplement
• Alfalfa hay
• Straw to keep their intestines in fine working order

These dinner items may not be the most delicious sounding to you, but cattle love them!

If you have any questions about livestock feed, here are some links that provide ingredient lists:
http://cattle.purinamills.com/OurProducts/GrowFinishFeedlot/default.aspx
http://www.admani.com/allianceswine/MomentumStartersCompleteFeeds.htm
http://www.kalmbachfeeds.com/Product-Information.html

 

Or, as always, ask a farmer! They’d be happy to share the components of their livestock’s rations with you.

Until next time, 

~Buzzard~