Working to lessen odors from high plains hog farms. (EH Update).Researchers in the Texas Tech University (TTU TTU Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX, USA) TTU Tennessee Technological University TTU Tallinn Technical University (Estonia) TTU Tennessee Temple University (Chattanooga, TN) ) College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources are developing a way to eliminate the stink associated with the hog industry. They are raising pigs in what is called the "Sustainable Pork" production system, which rears the pigs under conditions that are more friendly to the environment, the community, the workers, and the animals. TTU researchers are raising pigs outdoors. Unlike conventional American pig farms, which usually comprise large indoor buildings that house the animals, waste lagoons, poor air quality, and polluting pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. runoff, the Sustainable Pork system works as an environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] cyclical system. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. John McGlone, director of the TTU Pork Industry Institute, "A properly run outdoor unit will have animal populations that are low enough to allow growth of native or planted vegetation. When vegetation can grow during operations, the site will not have an offensive odor or a runoff of manure." The acreage is divided into sections, called "radials." The radial design makes sow movement and farm worker efforts more efficient. There are separate radials for breeding, gestation, birthing, and new plant growth. Each radial contains an arc-shaped hut in which the pigs sleep and find shelter from inclement in·clem·ent adj. 1. Stormy: inclement weather. 2. Showing no clemency; unmerciful. in·clem weather. Because the pigs are moved from radial to radial, the waste products are spread around the land naturally The nutrients then return to the soil, and the natural grass renews itself, creating more forage forage Vegetable food, including corn and hay, of wild or domestic animals. Harvested, processed, and stored forage is called silage. Forage should be harvested in early maturity to avoid a decrease in protein and fibre content as crops mature. for the next cycle. The comparative simplicity and cost of the initial setup for Sustainable Pork production may also allow more small, mid-sized, and younger producers to enter into the hog-farming industry. McGlone says the initial cost of getting into the outdoor-production business is one-third that of starting a conventional indoor hog farm The Hog Farm is an organization considered to be America's longest running hippie commune. With beginnings as an actual collective hog farm in Tujunga, California, the group, founded in the 1960s, by a group of people including Wavy Gravy, evolved into a "mobile, . To learn more, readers can access the Pork Industry Web site at <http://www.pii.ttu.edu>. (Adapted, with permission, from New Waves, a publication of the Texas Water Resources Institute, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2001.) |
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