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Friday, February 24, 2012

The Mystery of the Exploding Pig Farms

by Michael


Pig farming doesn't have a lot going for it, aesthetically.
There's the smell.
There's the pollution and waste. 
There's all the slaughter, of course. 
And now, apparently, there's the mysterious foam that traps methane and then explodes, killing thousands of pigs and injuring humans. 
That's the word out of Minnesota in a story that's been making the rounds today on the internet.
Here's the scoop, according to the Minnesota Daily. 
According to the article, pig farmers in the Midwest have noticed a grayish foam on their manure pits.
Not just any foam. Foam that can reach up to four feet high, and then explodes on contact with a spark.
The strange stuff has destroyed at least a half dozen pig barns since 2009. At market time the pigs value is approximately $300,000.00 and the cost of clean up after an explosion tops $1,000,000.00....for 1 barn!!
It's still a mystery, though some early theories are emerging. 
"The researchers still aren’t sure what causes the foam," the Minnesota Daily writes. "But they have noticed a correlation between adding dried distillers grains in soluble — a product of the ethanol production process increasingly used in livestock diets — to the hogs’ diets and the foam."
Scary and apocalyptic thoughts aside, this is also an important business story.
Minnesota's pig industry alone is worth a billion dollars a year, and there are pig farms across the Midwest.
The mysterious explosions have so far cost farmers millions of dollars in lost pork, clean-up costs and insurance.
Any advice you may have that might help these poor pigs would be appreciated. They live in constant fear of a spark near a manure pit and KA-BOOM!!

13 comments:

Unknown said...

oink...

Lynn D said...

Pig Floats?

Michael I did take a peek at your avatar yesterday and my first thought was I have seen prettier.

Is Dianne there yet?

Tinka said...

Good Morning Michael and Lynn - I just got up. It's a long time since I slept this long. I will read your blog after breakfast, ok Michael?

Unknown said...

Lynn..

Dianne is in Houston. I mean her plane landed.

Waiting for her to post here and say whats what...

Did you see the Mormon converter I put on FB...fun...fun!

Unknown said...

Tinka...

We were typing at the same time....

My avatar surprise didn't work. I put a genie in it and no one would enlarge it...to get their 3 wishes...

I don't know when I might see Dianne....she seems to be maintaining radio silence...

Funniest thing...it has been so warm and nice here...today is cold....bleech! At least maybe it won't get nasty hot for Diannes visit.

Lynn D said...

I did Michael. I posted it the day before yesterday and offended one of my friends on my list, but we had a civil exchange about it.

Life is always interesting. :)

Unknown said...

Well they did Anna Frank for goodness sake!!!

Just_Lin said...

Michael Thanks for the blog but that was disturbing.

We had a case on the news last night of a chicken ranch where thousands of chickens were dead or dying because they had been without food or water for weeks. The owner of the property said he ran out of money to feed them. WTF???? He couldn't pick up a phone and call the local humane society or the appropriate county office to report it so the animals would be rescued? What a worthless piece of crap that man is. They are pursuing criminal charges against him.

Just_Lin said...

I have to run. I meet with the tax accountant today. Waving at you all.

Unknown said...

J/L...

In doing this blog I keep coming across cruelty and abuse in pig farming and I couldn't bring myself to continue in that direction. I do not understand these people who don't understand that these animals feel pain and a lot more than many give them credit for...

its sickening...

Tinka said...

Michael - Sorry it took me so long to get back to the blog. Jack is home today so I have not been on the computer.

The pig story is disturbing. I hope they find the reason and prevent it from happening again. I find any stories about animal cruelty very upsetting.

I enlarged your piggy avatar and loved it.

Tinka said...

Just_Lin - You have inspired me. I will get my tax papers ready today. We do have two weeks longer in Canada, (April 30th is the deadline) but I want to get my refund back as soon as possible.

Dianne/Denver said...

I arrived yesterday. I had a good flight. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner and tomorrow the wedding. The weather is perfect today. It was very hot yesterday!! Very humid. My family here r all freezing. I'm in short sleeves. Its so pretty to see the green and flowers blooming.

I didn't have a chance to read the blog but I will now. I did read the comments and hello to everyone