Murphy-Brown is working hard to change the landscape of the pork production industry. Everything we do, from raising the standards of production efficiency to an industry-leading focus on environmental stewardship and animal welfare, stems from our commitment to providing the best quality product at the lowest price.
Genetics
Through our genetics development company, Smithfield Premium Genetics (SPG), we are constantly working to produce animals that have the most desirable traits such as large litters, fast growth rates, efficient feed conversion and nutritious healthy pork products. Our Ph.D. geneticists work on specially designed farms to collect, process and deliver the semen from only the finest breeding stock for use in our artificial insemination process, thereby ensuring that the hogs we produce for the market will be of the highest quality.
Production Phases
Our swine production practices follow a three-site concept.
Site 1 — The Sow Farm
Adult female hogs (sows) are housed in facilities designed to ensure their comfort and well-being during the breeding, gestation and farrowing (the birthing process for pigs) cycles.
We utilize artificial insemination techniques to breed all our sows. We collect and process semen from only the very best, genetically superior, adult male hogs (boars). The boars, kept at a separate specialized facility, have been selected to sire pigs with the best possible combination of desirable traits for today’s consumers. The gestation period for sows is 114 days. During the gestation period sows are individually monitored for a variety of well-being indicators such as adequate food and water intake, weight, body condition, absence of lesions, and sound feet and leg condition. Each sow has an individual health record which is used to track her health status and productivity.
A few days before the sow is due to farrow she is moved to a specially designed farrowing barn. In the past, she would have been placed in an individual gestation stall, but today we are incorporating more group pens in our operations (see our Gestation Stall Policy for full details). In this barn she receives individual attention as she prepares to give birth. If she needs assistance with the delivery, a specially trained person assists with the delivery and immediate care of the newborn pigs. A typical litter has from 10 – 12 piglets.
After the piglets are born they stay with their mother until weaning at approximately three weeks of age. During this time they nurse and also learn to eat a prepared dry ration, growing to approximately 10 – 12 pounds each. After the pigs are weaned they are prepared to be moved to the next site.
Site 2 — The Nursery
Nursery facilities are designed to meet the special needs of newly weaned pigs. Nursery barns have special temperature and ventilation equipment and controls to provide the right amount of heat and fresh air as the young pigs grow. Typically, twenty or more pigs are placed in each pen. The pen is sized to ensure plenty of room for the pigs to move around, play and get exercise. Each pen has its own water supply and feeders. The young pigs are fed a series of specially formulated feed diets during their stay at the nursery, formulations which meet the changing nutritional needs of the animal. Pigs in the nursery are looked after by personnel who are trained to understand their special needs.
Pigs typically stay at the nursery facility for approximately seven weeks. During this time they grow to about 50 pounds. Once pigs reach this stage of growth they are moved to a third site, known as a finishing farm.
Site 3 — The Finishing Farm
At the finishing farm the animals are placed in barns, which are very similar to nursery barns, except they are quite a bit larger in order to accommodate the continued growth of the pigs, giving them plenty of room to move around and get exercise.
During their stay, approximately 22 weeks, they grow from 50 pounds to market weight of approximately 260 pounds. At this time they are loaded onto specially designed trucks for transport to a processing facility.
Overview
At each of the three types of farms, the facilities are designed with the well-being, comfort and safety of the animals in mind. Animal well-being is one of our top priorities and our production practices and procedures were developed to ensure this priority is achieved.
All of our production employees receive specialized training for their particular job duties and our farm managers are on site every day to make sure that all of the animals receive appropriate care. At Murphy-Brown we implement a very clear Animal Welfare Policy.
All of our facilities are designed to separate animal waste from the animals as efficiently as possible. The typical barn has a slatted floor which allows feces and urine to pass through and away from the animals into a containment area. These containment areas below the floor are flushed out on a regular schedule and the waste is moved to the waste management system for use as fertilizer. By utilizing these types of facilities we are able to keep the animals clean and minimize odors. We utilize the stored animal waste as a natural fertilizer to grow a variety of crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat.
Nutritional needs vary depending on the age of the animals and our in-house nutritionists formulate different rations for the different stages of an animal’s growth cycle. Adequate amounts of fresh water are provided to all animals.
