COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US) (3 Viewers)

Previous Next
Status
Not open for further replies.
KiwiSaint said:
It's obvious that most of you don't know how your food is grown and processed in most of the industrialised world. Poultry and pork production systems are highly efficient and are focused on weekly production batches. In the pork production system, large sow farms produce weekly batches of weaned pigs...12-14 lb. at 21 days of age. These operations have specific areas dedicated to mating sows, gestating sows and areas where they give birth. At any one time, there will be 16 weeks of pregnant sows in the pipeline plus 3 weeks of sows lactating. It is imperative that every week, sows wean their piglets so that the next batch can enter the birthing unit. Now to put numbers in perspective, the usual size of a sow farm is 5000 head. This farm will produce 2,400 piglets each week.
These weaned pigs must then be moved to a wean-finish facility where they will spend the next 24 weeks of their life growing from 12 lb to 300 lb. at which time they are slaughtered. Again...at the end of the 24 weeks, the pigs must go to the slaughterhouse to accommodate the next batch of weaned pigs. There is no buffer in the system. Closure of a processing plant for one week is a disaster in the making...farmers can possibly get by one to two weeks by double-stocking their facilities...meaning placing twice as many pigs in their facility as they would normally. This has serious animal welfare implications because the animals have half as much space as they need including access to feed and water is reduced by 50%. Three or more weeks and the only alternative is to euthanise animals just like what is occurring now. You have a pipeline of pigs coming every week and cannot turn it off...and that pipeline is 43 weeks long (16 weeks of pregnancy, 3 weeks of lactation and 24 weeks of post-weaning growth).
Now, the poultry industry is similar in many respects...but more easy to shut off the pipeline by not setting or hatching the weekly batch of chicks. However, broiler chickens (genetically improved for fast and efficient growth and high yields of breast meat) cannot be held one or two weeks longer than normal. Their skeletal structure will not support the additional weight that these birds would gain in the 7-14 extra days.
Click to expand...
I read that yesterday, but prior to that article, I was completely unaware regarding beef and pork. I understand the chicken growing process a little better, and indeed always thought it curious that poultry producers refer to their contractors as "growers". Back in the day you were a chicken "farmer." But then the term "Grower" allows chickens to be commoditized and "Farmer" implies a level of personalization.

I went to high school with a lot of chicken farmers, and they really cared about their flocks. These literal mom and pop farms have been replaced by chicken factories; huge, industrial looking chicken houses staffed by..you guessed it...immigrants, since 'Muricans won't do the work.
 
KiwiSaint said:
This isn't quite accurate. Pork is not a luxury in China...it is their largest protein source and China is by far and away the largest producer and consumer of pork by a large margin. The US exported 665 thousand metric tons to China/Hong Kong last year while we produced 15,000,000 metric tons. That means we exported 4.4% of our pork to China, not well over 1/4 as you stated.

2019's exports to China increased 89% from 2018 due to another completely unrelated viral problem. A disease called African Swine Fever decimated the Chinese herd and because pork is a staple in China (not a luxury), China held their nose and increased the amount of imported pork from the US. That means before 2019, US exports to China accounted for 2.3% of the US national production.

FInally, the total percent of US pork exported worldwide is about 26% and Mexico is our biggest customer at over 700,000 metric tons.

I am in daily contact with my former employer, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer and processor in the world as we import a lot of their pork here in Australia. The situation is dire and beyond anyone's worst imaginations. Because of the closure of numerous processing plants and others at reduced capacity, the pigs are backing up on farms. Imagine 12,000,000 pigs processed per month and packer capacity reduced by 40%. This means that 1.1 million pigs cannot be processed each and every week that this continues. As shown in a previous post, there is no way to stop the flow of pigs through the 43 week pipeline except to euthanise piglets or induce abortions in pregnant sows. Both of these options are now being implemented on a large scale across North America. As John Tyson stated earlier in the week, the meat supply chain is at a breaking point.

Final point...the large meat producers in the US have no one to blame but themselves. They completely mishandled their work forces in the plants. Many are migrants and in one Smithfield plant in South Dakota, over 90 languages are spoken so COVID mitigation strategies could not be communicated effectively. In addition, they were paying bonuses to staff to not call in sick. This was a recipe for disaster. Now compare that to what we did here in Australia...as soon as the crisis started, we instituted thermal cameras at our processing plants and screened all employees. Staff were told to stay home if they felt ill or had even a slight fever. Staggered shifts were implemented and strict social distancing rules put in place in break rooms and work areas where possible. All areas frequented by staff are cleaned and disinfected four times per shift. We have had no reduction of the operational capacity of any of our plants. Now our only problem is that we don't have enough imported US meat to meet our customer demands!
Click to expand...

What are you some kind of pork scientist?
 
It will be interesting to see how businesses and states handle this
=======================

The message to workers is “endanger your life or starve,” critics say

Iowa, Oklahoma and other states reopening soon amid the coronavirus outbreak are issuing early warnings to their worried workers: Return to your jobs or risk losing unemployment benefits.

The threats have been loudest among Republican leaders in recent days, reflecting their anxious attempts to jump-start local economic recovery roughly two months after most businesses shut their doors.

In Iowa, for example, state officials even have posted a public call for companies to get in touch if an “employee refuses to return to work.”...........

 
Loose Cannon said:
What are you some kind of pork scientist?
Click to expand...
:) That's one way to put it. In a previous life I managed the Smithfield Foods live operation in the US and Poland. For the last ten years, I've been working as a pork production consultant internationally in Russia, New Zealand and now Australia.
 
optimus...condolences to you and family on your loss. Good to see you got to spend some time w/ him.
 
KiwiSaint said:
:) That's one way to put it. In a previous life I managed the Smithfield Foods live operation in the US and Poland. For the last ten years, I've been working as a pork production consultant internationally in Russia, New Zealand and now Australia.
Click to expand...

Fascinating and very eye opening info. I appreciate you taking the time to explain. The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing, lol.
 
KiwiSaint said:
:) That's one way to put it. In a previous life I managed the Smithfield Foods live operation in the US and Poland. For the last ten years, I've been working as a pork production consultant internationally in Russia, New Zealand and now Australia.
Click to expand...
You definitely let us peer into a world I did know existed, but didn't realize the complexities!

Look, with your connections, maybe I can borrow a horse trailer and go ride up and pick up a dozen pigs on the hoof for cheap before the get euthanized!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Previous Next

Users who are viewing this thread

    Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)

    Share this page

     

    Twitter

    Back
    Top Bottom