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Show Dadge City Nets PAGE 8 ATOUR OF ThE CIRCLE FOUR FARMS NURSERY JUNE 17, 1994 : does not depend on the medication used by PIC. "It is better to avoid medication if possible. We just don't think it is necessary," Glenna said. Glenna, who has been involved in the beginning phase of numerous start-up farms, Last Sunday afternoon I had the privilege of visiting the Circle Four Farms Nursery. Entrance to the office and nursery is through a shower room. A disinfecting shower, shampoo, complete makeup | removal, and changing into | sterilized clothing lessens the chance of carrying antibodies that could adversely affect the baby pigs. Street clothing and __ personal the project. Some amenities there are still under construction, but the basics are on site and in use. The obvious jokes about our — glamours appearance very quickly gave way to serious discussion about the baby pigs. The piglets were weaned as early as eight days in order to ship them while they still retained the belongings must be left behind in a holding room on colostrum sow for a few days after be a part-time job for one nursery house are from the the street side of the shower birth. Immunity protection from the sow _ peaks at person. We have three people working full-time here," she said. Under normal conditions, the pigs would leave the sow and go May 22nd shipment. directly on These babies Glenna expressed a different room. Glenna _ Alston, production manager for the’ project, checked my camera through the window, and immunity about provided by supplied by the that time, and will steadily decrease until the piglet's own immune system while I was in the shower it was disinfected. On the kicks in at about 10 weeks. Providing a temperature project side of the shower controlled environment room I donned sterile cotton underwear, coveralls and which is as close to sterile as possible helps the babies rubber boots, none of which through the transition phase. Pig Improvement Company (PIC), first experimented will ever be featured in the Victoria's Secret Catalogue. Gienna and Karen (LaOrange) were taking a short break in the office when I arrived. Supplies, with the modified, medicated, early wean (MMEW) program in 1988. Circle Four Farms is are working with a segregated stored in the office area of early wean program which including medicines, explained differences some basic between this project and the normal startup operation. "Normally, two nursery houses would solid food. arrived too young to be sustained on solid food alone; a milk supplement is required. Mixing and distributing the supplement - not to mention shipment born on the same day would be an advantage. However, even a hi-tech operation the size of Carroll's Foods is somewhat dependent on nature. Inhabitants of the next They range in age from 29 to 36 — days, in size to 25 or 30 pounds. The newborn cuteness view. has gone "When away. they are eating and when they are sleeping, they are making money. Anything else is just a detraction," she said. Future nursery shipments are scheduled at a rate of one every washed down from top to bottom. The best way to control the ever-present E. coli bacteria and resultant death | and increase Glenna has another helper, Carla Campeau. Both Carla and Karen are still receiving training, which takes extra time. Part of that training is a daily examination of each pig - all 1,200 of them. It was finally time to go see the pigs. Upon entering the nursery house, we rinsed our boots in a sterilizing solution before between pens. The pigs in the first house we visited are from the second shipment, which arrived on June 4. They range in age from 18 = to 25 days, and are tiny, noisy, and downright cute. Having the pigs in each other week. With only two nursery houses left to fill, necessity will demand that the pigs from the May 22nd shipment soon be transferred to one of the finishing houses. The nursery house will then be sanitizing the containers - is a BIG job. Aside from Karen, proceeding down the aisle “The "in" crowd at a social gathering. The way it should be. Glenna is a dedicated professional with a"strictly business" attitude where the pigs are concemed. She would never consider making a pet of one of the babies. However, this little gilt from the first shipment seems to be getting some extra attention. The piglet is rosy and healthy-looking, with a good appetite; it just refuses to grow. When we entered the nursery building, she went immediately to check on it. “It is definitely the house favorite. |
