Hog Farming: Some Facts & Figures

By Lianne Derocco


Hog farming is definitely a complex business, although it certainly can be a profitable venture. After all, there are more than 70,000 hog farms in the United States, ranging from huge farms that produce many hogs or pigs and smaller scale operations that raise 100 or fewer animals per year. All in all, more than 120 million of pigs are raised each year for consumption in the United States, which is behind only China and Brazil in terms of overall production.

Pork is in fact the world's most commonly eaten meat and more than 40% of meat consumption worldwide is pork, followed by beef and then poultry. What's your guess on what are the two most popular pork products consumed in the United States? If you guessed ham and bacon then you're absolutely right. There's nothing like and ham and bacon for breakfast, and ham sandwiches have been a top choice for lunches for decades.

While the demand for pork products is high, a typical hog farm can produce millions of tons of waste each year. Dealing with this waste is always a huge issue for farmers, whether they have a huge farming operation or a smaller farm. Hog waste can be used for fertilizer and there are people trying to use waste as a source of energy, but agricultural waste solutions are need to deal with many waste-related issues.

Although there are a few benefits derived from hog waste can give you, there are also many typical problems associated with agricultural waste system. Take the buildup of sludge or mud at the bottom of a deep pit or lagoon waste system for example. Also top-level crusting is another common problem which leads to the unnecessary excessive odor as well as an excess number of flies in your waste holding system.

In dealing with those kinds of problems mentioned above, there are natural products such as Agra Sphere and Lagoon Agra Sphere that farmers can use which you can just readily find in the market. The thing about these products is that they contain no chemicals and instead use naturally occurring bacteria to basically eat up the sludge and crust that often forms in a waste system.

For especially difficult-to-treat top-level crusting, treat the waste management system with something like Activator Plus product that is recommended by many people in the market. This product naturally eats away at the crust which is a safe method to use. Once the crust has liquefied, continue to treat regularly with Agra Sphere. Not only will this natural product keep problems at bay for it also improves the nutrient value of your manure or hog waste.




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