Providing Safe Food for Your Family and Mine

If you pick up a package of Farmland bacon at the grocery store, there’s a chance it could be pork from the pigs raised on my farm. And behind that national brand are individual farmers like myself committed to animal care.

Take a short drive outside of Chicago, and you’ll see some of the modern pig buildings we use. They are long white metal buildings, usually with a few metal feed bins outside. These barns provide us the opportunity to care for each individual pig. Some of the things we do to care for pigs on our farm include:

Specialized diet. A piglet weighing 8-10 pounds needs a completely different diet than a pig weighing 250 pounds.
Adding beneficial ingredients to their feed. Chili powder helps keep pigs cool, and essential oils and oregano help to improve immunity and overall health. Finding alternative ways to keep pigs healthy allows us to preserve and sustain the effectiveness of antibiotics.
Raising them indoors. I can keep them at a comfortable temperature, safe from predators and parasites and provide individual care to each pig.
Never using hormones. But that’s not because it’s unsafe. It’s because there are no hormones approved for use in pork or poultry farming. So, you won’t see any pig or poultry farmers administering hormones to their animals.

Some days, the pigs require extra attention. For example, if one of them does get sick, I work with my veterinarian to treat the pig with an antibiotic, if necessary. We also give extra attention to sows (mother pigs) that have given birth to a new litter of piglets to make sure both mom and babies are healthy and comfortable.

As a sixth-generation pig farmer, husband and father, there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing I’ve done the best I can to care for our animals and provide safe food for my family and yours.