Skip to main content

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


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Backing Away from Basics

How many times have you said to yourself or to others that there is a need to get back to basics? A return to the basics can help us realign with the fundamental principles of the task at hand. It’s generally very helpful. When I was struggling in a sport, I often backtracked to the fundamentals to discovered my point of error. Other’s use it in work, family life, and in cooking. Unfortunately, I believe that we have remained a bit too basic in our approach to pork. Go to a retail store and you will see the same cuts that have been available for the past 30 years. You will see chops, shoulder and loin roasts, tenderloins, ham steaks, etc. Now there is nothing wrong with those cuts as they present a myriad of cooking opportunities. But the wonderful pig produces so much more! Take for example some of the dishes we served this week at a pork education event. We made street tacos out of pork steaks (it’s the Spinalis muscle if you want to get technical). We made Chulet...

Priorities

Much like fall, spring is a very busy time on a livestock/crop farm. Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to decide what to do first. When the weather warms and the fields dry it is time to put the crop in the ground. Time is of the essence when it comes to planting. There are weeks were you may only get a few hours in the fields due to weather. An dry, early spring is no indication of a dry later spring. Despite the pressures of planting, the crops are not the first priority of the day.                                                                                                                    The pigs always get top billing. Chores, weaning, breeding, load for market, all get don...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas has finally arrived here at VG Farms. It is finally white and actually looks like Christmas. Before I go on, let me issue an apology for the lack of blog posts these past few weeks. Between my end-of-semester finals and my father’s busy work-load, it has been difficult to find the time to write. So consider this special Christmas edition a gift from us to you. As any family does, the Van Gilst’s hold several Christmas traditions. Some are small and informal – like watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation at least a half dozen times. Others are a bit more significant – such as gathering with each side of the family (Van Gilst and Branderhorst) to celebrate the holidays alongside grandparents, aunts and uncles, and an endless supply of cousins. We watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play in their bowl game (fingers crossed for a victory in a few days) and occasionally us boys will head off to Iowa City to catch some hoops. Whatever it may be, there is never a dull moment ov...