Home in the House

In the past several years there has been a dramatic shift in the public’s perception of how their food should be produced. As an agriculture entity we recognize that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to food preferences, which is why such a vast variety of niche market exist. A particularly interesting trend and niche market to me that is growing quite rapidly in popularity is that of the new cage free and anti-gestation crate movement along with the notion of free roaming, as well as group housing animal production. The consumer lacks the knowledge to understand why animal housing is the way it is and often time uses emotion to come to their conclusions rather than reason. We are going to use sows gestation crates as a specific example. For just a moment reel your personal perceptions about gestation crates and your mental image of the housing unit, and allow me to explain the purpose. Sows have a natural aggression and tend to fight, the individual housing allows for the animals to remain safe from one another and injury to themselves and/or other sows. Another purpose and benefit that comes the use of the crates is that the sows are able to be given individual care due to being seen daily up close and by themselves, allowing for better healthcare. Protection from environmental elements is another big benefit to the gestation crates due to their indoor locations. A large population of the hogs in the United States is located in the Midwest, and more specifically in Iowa. If anyone knows anything about the Midwest it is that the weather is not predictable there and thus making indoor housing much more sensible and feasible when it comes to producing hogs. The same sort of stories and situations are similar in regards to other livestock housing systems as well. Efficiencies as well as individual animal care can be improved through various housing techniques.