Yes, Day 21 of my internship just so happened to also be the 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone enjoyed their HOT day of celebration!
While everyone else was out enjoying (?) the heat of the 4th, I was at work from 6 AM until 2PM. We DID manage to get off work a little early for the holiday, but we still had lots of stuff to get done! The Farm MUST be tended to, animals MUST be fed, and Piglets MUST be born to continue production!
I did a lot of "filling in" today. Many people had the day off so I filled whatever position was needed at the time. I helped with anything. Setting feed, weighing up for tomorrow, disinfecting the nursery, power0washing, putting down lime and cardboard, checking heat lamps, as well as filling in as farrowing monitor for a few hours.
Thursday, July 5th:
Today was pretty busy. We were able to farrow over 70 Sows today (our average for the past week has been about 30)... With a total of over 900 piglets born alive, we had a killer day. I helped a lot with monitoring today as one of our monitors had the day off. I also assisted with weaning, scraping, unloading, pulling PL's, recording data for my research, liming, checking heat lamps, replacing light bulbs, fixing a water pipe break, and much more. Today was a very exciting day! We were constantly on our toes with so much stuff going on. We also managed to load another room, hopefully helping us lower the work load for tomorrow. :)
I'm very excited for tomorrow as I will be getting off early again (2pm). My dad is coming camping here in Anita and I am looking forward to seeing my little sisters! :) I'm excited to have a weekend on the lake, watching the mud bogs, and spending time with a few people I love!
Today I saw a video, and thought I'd share it with you. This is one of the many things pigs do at work that makes me laugh. When baby pigs are sleeping, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to wake them up. Sometimes you can even pick them up by their back legs, hold them like a baby, clap your hands, and they don't wake up. I often confuse sleeping piglets with dead ones because they are IMPOSSIBLE to wake! :) But, they are definitely adorable while doing so!
These Videos are something I found while searching the Smithfield Website. I think these videos are GREAT resources for those who do not understand what goes on behind the doors of swine production.
Animal Care:
Sow Farms:
Nursery Farms:
Finishers:
Hope everyone learns something new!
<3 Roz
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