Last update: 03/26/02
Niman Ranch (Pastures or barns)
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The
Animal Welfare Institute is supporting the Niman Ranch Company
and its network of family hog farmers who follow humane husbandry
criteria developed by the Animal Welfare Institute. AWI's criteria
require that all animals be allowed to behave naturally. Unlike
the crated sows on factory farms, the sows in the Niman Ranch
program have freedom of movement, allowing them to fulfill their
instinctive desire to build a nest when they are about to give
birth.
(AWI Quarterly, Summer 1999)
Hoop Houses on Frantzen's farm
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Tom Frantzen: "Deep-bedded hoophouse facilities appeared in the Midwest in the mid 1990s. It was exciting to observe this development. Not since being on the Swedish farms had I observed a humane shelter! More exciting yet, was the promise of an economical and ecologically sound building. In a hoophouse or structure, straw-bedded pens replace metal crates and slatted floors. The straw bedding mixes with the hog waste which is self composting, creates very little odor and no ecological hazards."
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"Plans were set to build three hoophouses on the farm. By September of 1997 one of the houses was ready for the pigs. I was very anxious to use the new facilities. On moving day we bedded the new hoophouse with fresh straw, and lots of it."
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Above Left: Family games: piglets climb over their mother's head . Above: Pigs are all- weather animals, and enjoy snow as well as sunshine. (Photos by Janeen Jackson). Left: A family farm sow and her piglets (Photo by Diane Halverson). |
"One hundred and sixty pigs from the old
grower were released into their new home. Boy, did those pigs
have fun! In the new hoopbuilding they have lots of room to run,
straw to chew and heaps of bedding to nest in. They ran around
all day—and even into the night."
(AWI Quarterly, Summer 1998)
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The Carlevad nursery room has a special piglet creep area at the back to keep the sows away from the youngsters' special feed, a "silent" ventilation system, and sow feeding area. |
"In
the Swedish group nursing systems, sows give birth either in a
separate farrowing room containing conventional Swedish farrowing
pens, which are large enough for the sow to turn around and interact
freely with her piglets, or in wooden cubicles set up temporarily
in the group nursing room itself. After the piglets are 10 to
14 days old, or after they start to climb out of the cubicle,
the temporary cubicles are removed and all sows and piglets in
the group mingle." Marlene Halverson.
(AWI Quarterly Fall 1994)
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Piglets housed in a family pen on deep straw, which maximizes comfort, well-being, cleanliness, and environmental soundness. (Photo by Diane Halverson; AWI Quarterly Spring/Summer 1996, Vol. 45, No. 2 & 3) |
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Above: A herd of little pigs dash through their outdoor pen. Left: Straw bedded pens spell comfort for this sow and her piglets. |
Sows
and their piglets on the Peterson farm have been shifted from
an intensive system to comfortable, straw-bedded pens. The pigs
are released outdoors in good weather, and farrowing crates have
been removed.
Speaking of the straw-bedded pens in which the sows farrow, Pam
says: "They have an easier time with farrowing. I don't have
any sows that, after they farrow, wait for a day, resting up before
they can eat," as many sows do when they are in crates. "These
girls were right up when it was feeding time." "In a
pen," says Pam, "they can go with their instincts and
they can nest, but in a crate, you can see some of them pawing
at the ground trying to make a nest, and there isn't anything
there for them to work with."
(AWI Quarterly, Vol.
38, No. 3&4)
Improved alternative methods: Examples of farms
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** Photos by Diane Halverson
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"With
rotational grazing, cows harvest their own high-quality feed from
intensively managed pastures near milking facilities. Fencing
is used to parcel out forage in small sections (called paddocks).
Cows are moved to fresh forage at its nutritional peak as often
as twice a day. Surplus forage is harvested for winter feed, deferred
for grazing later in the season, or stockpiled in the field for
early spring grazing. Less grain and fewer supplements need to
be grown or bought, fed and then hauled away as manure. Fresh
air and exercise help keep cows healthy. The benefits of pasture
are low-cost fee; healthy cows; less pollution; low costs for
equipment, energy and facilities; less labor; profitable for small
and large herds; inspires consumer confidence."
(Cramer, C. The
New Farm, July/Aug. 1991)
Ti-Lin Holsteins, Titus and Linda Martin's farm
Titus and Linda Martin's grass-based dairy operation is located in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania:
Click here to view
Ti-Lin Holsteins and use your browser's back button to come back to this page.
Cove Mt. Farm
Cove Mt. Farm is a grass-based dairy in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The facility is used as a demonstration site to help other farmers and landowners learn about the economic and environmental benefits of grass-based livestock management systems.
Click here to view
Cove Mt. Farm and use your browser's back button to come back to this page.
In September 1997, the first dairy cows to be on Cove Mt. Farm in 30 years arrived at the site.
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The affectionate
mother-calf bond is the foundation of a cattle herd's cohesive
social structure. A study by Viktor and Annie Reinhardt suggests
that the bond lasts for life under natural conditions. Here, cow Dora grooms her eight-year old daughter Riese while grandson Rick is taking a nap. Photo by Viktor Reinhardt. |
Free-range/ Day range
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Free-range poultry in Switzerland ©Archiv STS |
Free range allows birds to range freely across pastures, gardens, and/or cropland, and to return at night or in inclement weather either to stationary housing (day range: the area is then subdivided into paddocks and the birds rotated to eliminate over-grazing); or to portable housing: Skids or "eggmobiles" are then moved regularly to encourage grazing of particular areas.
| Free-range
poultry in Switzerland ©STS, photo H. P. Haering. |
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| Hens like to dustbathe.This comfort behavior regulates the amount of feather lipids and maintains down and feather structure in good conditions.©STS, photo H. P. Haering. | Bad-weather run .The run should have a roof so that the birds have access to the sheltered area even in bad weather. ©STS, photo H. P. Haering. |
Salatin's Polyface Farm, Swoope, Virginia
Eggmobile
(use your browser's
back button to come back to this page).
Joel Salatin has developed a portable "Eggmobile" contraption for his laying hens. These hens forage as far as 200 yards from their home during the day. They naturally come back to roost so no fences are necessary to keep them contained.
Herman Beck-Chenoweth's free-range model
Herman Beck-Chenoweth has devised a wooden skid shelter that is towed to new pasture once every week or so and provides protection from predators at night and from sun and rain during the day when needed. Birds range around the skid during the day and return to this shelter on their own each evening and are confined for predator protection.
Pastured poultry: Salatin's Polyface Farm, Swoope, Virginia
Broiler
mobile homes (use
your browser's back button to come back to this page).
Salatin keeps his broilers in 2 foot tall mobile homes that are moved over fresh grass every morning.
Cover photo. AWI Quarterly Spring/Summer 1996, Vol. 45, No. 2 & 3; cover and p. 2)
Cramer, C. Pastures beat BGH! Farmers, consumers and rural communities all win with rotational grazing, says this new study. The New Farm; 13(5):18-20, 22, July/Aug. 1991.
Improved alternative methods. In: Factory Farming: The
Experiment That Failed. A compilation of articles and photographs
with contributions by Rachel Carson, Bernhard Grzimek, Ruth Harrison,
Desmond Morris, George Wald, pp. 55-57.
AWI, Washington, DC, 1986.
Frantzen, T. A Better way: Hog farming that meets the animal's
social instincts. AWI Quarterly; 47(3) Summer 1998.
Halverson, D. Niman Ranch: AWI Approved: good for the pigs, the
family farmer and the community. AWI Quarterly; 38(3):15,
Summer 1999.
Halverson, M. US hog farmers explore humane Swedish techniques . AWI Quarterly; 43(4):13, Fall 1994.
The Petersons talk about Pastureland pigs. AWI Quarterly; 38(3&4):10-12, Fall/Winter 1989/90.
Reinhardt, V. & Reinhardt, A. Birth intervals in cattle raised for meat: Belief and fact. AWI Quarterly; 46 (2&3):20, Spring/Summer 1998.
Salatin, J. Pastured poultry
profits. Polyface, Swoope, Va., c1993.
Traupman, M. Profitable poultry on pasture. The New Farm;
12(4):20, 23, May/June 1990.
Web Sites and further reading:
Beck-Chenoweth, H. Free-Range Poultry. Web Site. Free-Range Poultry Production and Marketing, Creola, Ohio, 2001.
Bergh, P., ed. Hogs Your Way: Choosing a Hog Production System in the Upper Midwest. Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture; Energy and Sustainable Agriculture Program of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; University of Minnesota Extension Service, St. Paul, MN, 2001.
Berton, V. and Mudd, D. Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture. USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), Washington, DC, 2001.
Cramer, C. Pastured poultry resources . In: Cramer, C., Sustainable Farming Connection: Where farmers find and share information. Web site. Committee for Sustainable Farm Publishing, ©1997.
Fanatico, A. Range
Poultry Housing. ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer
for Rural Areas), Fayetteville, Ark., Apr. 1999.
Fanatico, A. Sustainable
Chicken Production. ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer
for Rural Areas), Fayetteville, Ark., Feb. 1998.
Fanatico, A. Sustainable Egg Production. ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas), Fayetteville, Ark., 1998.
Gegner, L. Considerations in Organic Hog Production. ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas), Fayetteville, Ark., July 2001.
Grassfarmer.com. Cove
Mt. Farm. American Farmland Trust, 1998.
Grassfarmer.com. Ti-Lin
Holsteins - Titus and Linda Martin's grass-based dairy operation
located in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. A virtual farm tour.
American Farmland Trust, 1998.
Profitable Pork: Alternative Strategies for
Hog Producers.
USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), Washington, DC,
2001.
