Swedish Livestock Production

There was very limited time to write while I was in Sweden, so I set aside a bit of reflection time on the evening we arrived at our accommodation in Gimo to write about the agricultural systems we toured during the day. I was luckyto have a desk to write at facing the forest and a cluster classic red Swedish houses. The evening windows were lit by Advent candles, which could be found in nearly every window of homes and shops around Sweden.

Advent Candles

December 29th, 2012
The Swedes make me hopeful. I want to emulate their ideas in the United States. However, I also believe the practices have room for improvement.

The Swedes are extremely proud of their happy pigs. The tails of Swedish pigs are not cut, so to prevent pigs from biting each other's tails, pigs are given a greater amount of space in which to live. Pigs are also required to have straw bedding at indoor facilities. I am under the impression all facilities are indoor due to the harsh Swedish winters. When viewing the operation at Esplunda, the needs of the pigs certainly seemed to be satisfied based on simple observation from an unskilled eye. However, I cannot claim a professional opinion; I classify myself as a plant scientist. The pigs did not fight and each had ample room to move about and lie down. The amount of straw on the stall floors did not impress me. If I was a pig, I would have appreciated a bit more straw to lay on. I'd be a picky pig. Pig operations are also limited to a few hundred pigs (I cannot recall the exact number), which is significantly smaller than in the United States.

Happy Swedish Pigs at Esplunda Farm

I was also impressed by the way the beef calves were kept at the Esplunda beef farm. The calves are kept in a barn that has one side open to the outdoors. Bales of hay are pilled across the open side of the barn to keep wind and snow out and to allow fresh air and light in. There is also a great amount of hay in the stalls, and the calves are not crowded.  I was less impressed with the standards for adult cattle, although I am aware the standards are much better than anywhere else in the world. I am always looking for areas of improvement. For the benefit of the cattle, the males are not castrated. All cattle must be kept in open air barns with ample room to lie down for rest. The conditions of the barn were still more dirty than a pasture. I would not want to walk down where the cattle lived even wearing heavy boots due to the film of manure. However, I'm inclined to believe this film of manure is much better than operations elsewhere in the world. I was sad to learn that beef cattle were not required to be release into pasturing during the summer months.

Swedish Calves at Esplunda Farm

In all animal productions, antibiotics are used as prescription medications, not as preventative measures. As a result, Swedish livestock have some of the lowest rates of bacterial antibiotic resistance in the world. To accomplish this, each farm employs a veterinarian to diagnose and treat sick animals.

Slaughter is also progressive. Anesthesia is required in all slaughter and the animals cannot be transported for more than eight hours before slaughter. I was astonished to learn these were not already standardized regulations around the world.

We visited the dairy research farm Lovsta, and for those who are interested in dairy, all we learned there deserves a separate blog post. I will be sure to include a summary of the notes I took there. You may view a pdf in English about the farm here. You may also view the website in Swedish at http://www.slu.se/lovsta.

Despite all the wonderful programs the Swedes have for their animals, I always see room for improvement. These farms need to be polyphase. This would create a closed, natural system that could promote a more natural habitat for animals, plants, and people. This habitat would be cleaner, healthier, more eco-friendly. Most of all, it would be a more fulfilling and wholesome way of life. I want to ask the cattle farmer if he uses the manure as fertilizer for his fields. How could the environments of crops, feed, and animals be combined but still maintain efficiency? This is the problem I want to address for the improvement of agriculture around the world. The answer will be different in each climate and ecosystem, but I believe the results will be worth the effort of answering this question. This is already being accomplished on a small scale with hydroponics. It is time to expand this systems approach to terrestrial agriculture.

Thank you for reading! The post on dairy will follow, and I plan to comment with my thoughts on meat production in general. The comment function of the blog has been activated, so please feel free to start a conversation or provide feedback. I apologize: I was unaware that this function needed to be activated.