Prequestions:

Before you start this session, please answer the following question

How should we raise organic pigs?

a) Try to create a natural setting for them
b) Give them a shower every day
c) Adminster central control
d) None of the above

Module 3. Raising Pigs

In 2002, the Pulitzer Prize winnder Annie Proulx wrote That Old Ace in the Hole, a novel that dramatizes the tension between organic pig farming and industrial pig farming. Our advice on the ways to raise pigs is gleaned from this novel, which I have translated into Chinese in 2003.

In this novel, the hero Bob Dollar, a pig farm land scout, is trying to find a location for a Tokyo-based pig farm. However, on all fronts of his effort, he finds himself engaged in a fight with Ace, an old man who is dertermined to preserve the traditioinal way of life, including life for the pig. Confronted with Bob’s accusation, Ace said that one should treat pigs nicely, let them have a life, instead of pushing them tightly together in an industrial farm. Ace said to the effect that pigs are animials, but they also have brains. They like fresh air and a good landscape. They make nests. They play. They take care of their little piglets. In a pig farm, however, pigs are all confined together, continuously giving birth to more and more piglets. They do not have mud to play in. They do not have grass to eat. Pigs are gregarious, however, this was made impossible by the pig farms.

We recommend the following H-O-G way to raise pigs:

  • Healthy food. Do not buy artificial pig food with chemicals to speed up their growth. Let them eat vegetables and grass and weeds.

  • Open space. Whenever possible, let pigs play in open spaces. Let them wander in wild settings with grass or mud. Let them take straw and branches home to make nests for their younger ones.

  • Group life. Let pigs live together, instead of putting pigs in separate little cells. Let them network.

In one word, try to create a natural setting for pigs to live in. Let pigs be pigs. A healthy way of life means a healthy way of life for anyone who eats pork. For the way we raise the pigs will influence the way their pork is produced. If we give pigs too much artificial food and chemical additions, the harmful elements will go into our bodies as we consume pork. Therefore, it was not exactly about them, it can be about us!

Review Question:

  • What does H-O-G stands for?

Questions, concerns, decisions, assertions, suggestions?

 

References:

All images have been linked to their sources