By Diane DeWitte, The Land
The University of Minnesota has Animal Science faculty who have successfully studied group sow housing, organic pigs and alternative swine production for several years. Readers here are familiar with Dr. Yuzhi Li’s work at the U of M’s West Central Research and Outreach Center conducting university-based, peer-reviewed studies of organic pig farming. Li and Dr. Lee Johnston, both U of M Department of Animal Science faculty, have spent more than a decade developing projects which have measured how well pigs raised in non-traditional or alternative production systems grow, take care of their piglets, and survive.
Li, Johnston, and a varied team of faculty from agronomy, economics, nutrient management and Extension are currently 18 months into a complex study of organic hybrid rye — grown for feed and bedding of organic pigs raised at WCROC. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, this project is an ambitious look at the economics of raising organic grain and pigs, along with the environmental impacts of an organic crop and livestock management system.
Read the full article at The Land Online