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Sweltering Suns

         As the month of July progresses in earnest, so does the heat. This week alone is turning out to be one of the hottest this year with heat indexes residing in the triple-digit range. Add in the unrestrained humidity and you’re left with the outdoors resembling the inside of an oven. With the lack of rain, the dust rolls over the fields and never seems to settle; furrowing the brow of every farmer who understands the dire need for precipitation to land on their crops. It is something that is typical for this time of year in southeast Iowa.

          For the crew here at VG Farms, the heat and acute rainfall raise even larger concerns than crop health. While the fields are important, care for our swine herd takes an even higher precedence during these hot weeks. Here is a fun fact for you: pigs don’t sweat. That means their bodies don’t possess the ability to cool themselves off. Which means it’s all hands on deck to make sure every pig is cool and comfortable.


          A row of fans situated at the end of each of our buildings are responsible for air flow. These vital fans pull air through and over the pigs – lowering the temperature by about 5 degrees when compared to how hot it is outside. That might not seem like a lot, but it makes a world of difference for the animals. Without these, containing our swine herd in a survivable environment would not be possible; the body heat of the pigs alone would raise a building temperature upwards of 120 degrees. In addition to the fans, misters spray light amounts of water over the pigs, reducing their body temperature. Our sows are closely monitored by a few hands that spray down any pig that appears to be hot. All of these culminate into keeping pigs happy and healthy.



         It’s a lot of work to manage when there is a heat advisory in effect, but it must be done. Our pigs can’t sweat, so we do it for them. You start earlier in the day to avoid moving pigs during the hotter hours and drink a lot of water yourself to stay hydrated through the long days. Other than that, you can hope a cool evening, slight breeze, or rainfall breaks the spell. Yesterday morning we were blessed with a shower that brought 6/10ths of rain, the most we’ve had in close to a month. It takes the edge off, and reinvigorates the crew for the remaining sweltering days of summer and all that they bring.

- VG Farms


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