All the Right Reasons to Raise Pigs

Did you know that agriculture itself could scarcely have evolved eons ago without the recycling abilities of the pig? Yet fewer and fewer farmers raise even a single pig these days. Here are some quirky, interesting facts about our smelly little friends.

No barnyard animal has a better nose, yet none produce more odoriferous manure.

The pig has cloven hooves—an adaptation shared with flighty prey animals like the sheep, deer, and antelope—yet no barnyard animal displays as much swagger or is less afraid.

No animal is said to be smarter, yet pigs will stay out in the sun so long that they’ll repeatedly end up with second-degree sunburns.

The pig is the friendliest animal on the farm by far: always available for a scratch behind the ears, hardly ever moody, and quick with a grunt of delight. Yet the pig would also eat you for supper, if circumstances were right. Pigs are the only meat-eating animals that we humans, in turn, raise for meat.

The pig is said to be the cleanest animal on the farm, yet every child knows that a pig will roll in a mud puddle at the first opportunity.

Pigskin (the traditional covering of a football) is one of the toughest and most useful of animal hides, yet a pig’s skin is extremely sensitive to temperature and injury.

Some breeds of pigs grow ferocious-looking tusks yet dine primarily on roots and vegetables.

The fastest member of the pig family is the warthog, which can reach speeds of 35 MPH.

Though "pigging out" is synonymous with gluttony, the stomach of a pig is proportionately much smaller than that of a sheep or a cow.

The best types of goats for meat

There are some strains of #goats that have been genetically selected by man specifically for #meat.  Some of these are actual #breeds while others of these are just beginning to have distinct traits that pass reliably from parents to offspring.  The breeds or stains used in the #U.S. have all been genetically selected from populations of goats brought by settlers to new countries.  These #goats were often allowed to become almost feral (run wild).  Under these conditions, only those who could survive their rugged environment lived long enough to produce offspring.  This type of genetic selection where nature not man choses which #livestock will be used to produce offspring is called natural selection. These breeds or strains include:

                1)  Spanish Meat Goat - Spanish goats are the descendants of goats brought to the U.S. by early New England settlers. They migrated south and probably interbred with goats brought into Texas and Mexico by early Spanish settlers. Their ancestry is as mixed up as that of a mongrel dog.  Their rugged environment shaped them into very tough, rather small goats.  Specific ranchers have genetically selected Spanish goats for better meat production by keeping only the biggest or meatiest bucks for breeding to females.  Nubian bucks have sometimes been crossed with them to improve size, milk production of dams, and fleshiness of the kids.   These meatier goats are known as Spanish Meat goats.  They come in almost any color and are usually left horned.  Their ears are somewhat pendulous but shorter than a Nubian’s.   Many of them produce a cashmere undercoat in winter.  

                2)  Tennessee Meat Goat - in 1880 a flock of myotonic goats was identified on a farm in Tennessee. Myotonic means that they have a condition that caused their muscles to lock up whenever they were startled. Sometimes their muscles lock up so suddenly that they fall over.  This was the origin of the Tennesee Stiff-Leg or Fainting Goat population.  These goats come in many color combinations and have airplane ears (shaped like Alpine ears but not erect, instead they jut out sideways). Texas ranchers at Onion Creek Farm chose from this population, goats with the largest frames and heaviest muscles to keep for breeding purposes.  Gradually they produced a goat that is larger and heavier than the original strain. These selected goats are known as Tennesse Meat Goats.  The constant stiffening and relaxing of the muscles of myotonic goats may result in heavy rear leg muscling, tender meat, and a high meat to bone ratio.

                3)  South African Boer Goat - This South African breed probably resulted from crossbreeding of native goats raised by Bantu tribes and various European and Asian goats brought in by Dutch immigrants.  In the 1800s, SA goat farmers started selecting  for compact, muscular, short-haired goats.  They were able to produce a strain of goat that bred true for high growth rate, muscular  carcasses, good fertility, and short hair combined with a very distinct color pattern (white body and red head). In 1959, breed standards were adopted and they became a recognized breed.  Boer goats were introduced into the US in the early 1990s.  Under good nutritional conditions, Boer goat crossbreds produce outstanding weight gains and carcasses.

                4)  New Zealand Kiko Goat - The Kiko goat was produced in New Zealand by taking feral does that exhibited  good meat conformation and breeding them with Saanen and Nubian bucks to increase their milk yield and butterfat content.  Those bucks and does whose offspring grew best (as measured by weight gain) under rugged conditions were chosen to produce the future generations.  Kikos have similar ears to Spanish goats but are usually larger framed.  They are often white like their Saanen ancestors.

5 Critical Tips For Livestock Farmers As Weather Turns Harsh

When Minnesota's weather turns extreme, the pressure is on for #livestock #farmers.

Extension's #livestock team has the latest in research to #help #farmers ensure the safety environments, both indoors and outdoors, for their #animals.

1.Cold stress in #calves can spell trouble

2.Wind, snow and cold temperatures impact all #cattle. Nutritional needs can provide a particular challenge for #cattle owners. 

3. #Horses can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. but they have a host of health needs in the colder months.

4.For the #pork #farmers, building safety is paramount. 

5.#Lambing season will be here soon. #Lambs need an environment with the right mixture of warmth and fresh air at birth so they can thrive in the longer term. 

First bionic leg implants !

Oscar the cat is the first #animal to have received two bionic leg implants. Oscar’s hind legs were accidentally chopped off in a combine harvester, and his prosthetic legs were drilled into what remained of his original legs.

The bionic legs aren’t suited for an outside environment, so Oscar is now an indoor #cat, and he’s surely grateful for his remaining eight lives.

Rare birds flock to British shores in record numbers.

Hurricanes and global warming bring unusual visitor.

Britain's avian immigration figures are set to soar to a record level this year. #Birdwatchers say hurricanes and severe weather in north America and Asia have caused major disruptions to #bird migrations across the globe and swept an unprecedented number of #species towards the British Isles.

#Birds winging their way to their #breeding grounds on the other side of the Atlantic or in the Pacific have been left stranded in Britain and Ireland, adding their numbers to native #species.

Twitchers, as the most fanatical birdwatching enthusiasts are termed, have already observed a total of 442 species in the British Isles this year. The highest number ever spotted in one year is 445, in 2008.

Last month a Siberian rubythroat – a tiny brown bird with a scarlet chest – was spotted outside Lerwick in Shetland. A native of east Asia, it is extremely rare in Britain, but has now spent the past two weeks at the very northern edge of the nation, caught by the cameras of twitchers who have flocked to the island.

Similarly, a #bufflehead – a small #duck with a distinctive bulbous head – was spotted in a #farm pond on the Lizard in Cornwall.

"It had been migrating south from Canada to southern United States when it was swept out into the Atlantic by a storm. It had probably travelled more than 3,000 miles, which explains why it was knackered." The bufflehead has since flown on, probably to Portugal, he added.

Albino kangaroo

A rare albino kangaroo, its startlingly white coat standing out in sharp contrast to its grey-coloured companions, has been spotted near Canberra.

According to rangers, the animal is an eastern grey kangaroo, probably female and aged around two years old.

Albinism, which is caused by a genetic mutation, is extremely rare in kangaroos, similar to other species. 

The tallest horse in the world !

Poe, Clydesdale #horse #breed is the tallest #horse in the world, according to owner Shereen Thompson.

Poe weighs 1.5 tons, has a height of over 3 meters high head.

The owner, who owns a #farm in Upperville, Ontario, wants this to be confirmed by Guinness World Records.