PF
Thank you.
What do you suggest would be the very best approach to pig farming that people could follow?
That is -if those people had a totally free hand and the funds behind them.
Would you recomend lots of small free range farms for example?

If so how could a School For Agriculture etc be established do you think?
Are there enough people in Australia in your opinion to give lectures on free range pig farming?

Do you think some of the already established Free Range Pig Farmers would be prepaired to perhaps turn part of their farms into Education Agriculture Farms if all costs were met and of course they were also receiving an income from the schools?

Do you know any free range pig farmers who would discuss the possibilty of any of the above with people from Russia for Eg.

Would you be concerned that a market ought be established for the sale of Free Range Pork To companies such as Aldi or Woolworths etc before opening more Free Range pigs Farms?

If overseas adult students for example trained in these schools with a view to establish free range Pig Farms how long would you envisage a course would take to complete.

.

Many questions Sorry

Rojo, there is a great deal of scientific evidence readily available which states that pigs are, at the very least, as intelligent, sensitive and curious as dogs. Friends I know who have pigs attest to that.
Do you keep your dog in a steel and concrete structure for most of its life? Would you claim that such monstrous cruelty is justified on "welfare" grounds? Of course not. Would you feed it drugs that are just to enable it to survive in these appalling conditions? Then, when it is "past its use by date", would you haul it out to a truck (depending on whether it is still able to walk) to be carted off to slaughter? I'd love the RSPCA to hear about that. I just read a story on an ABC Rural News archive in which a NSW pig farmer stated his stalls were "5-10cms too short". If you cannot even comply with your own code of practice now, what hope have the millions of pigs in Australia got over the next 10 years in which you are to be permitted to use these atrocious farming methods?
You need to wake up to public opinion, as the largest producers in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU have done. My family has refused to buy any pork or ham products because we have not been able to source any free range ones here in Tasmania. This is the reality that is out there, and it is growing. Deal with it.
From Jenna

PF,
No, aggression is a result of hormonal change during pregnancy. Logically they wouldn't be penned to avoid aggression injuries if the pens were the initial cause of aggression.
You are correct that the stalls enable individual attention to the animals.

Jenna,
If you read the post closely we are not talking about "most of it's life" . We are talking weeks, during pregnancy.
Free range pigs can be grown where climate allows, perhaps Tas. is too cool.
You seem to be under the impression I grow pigs, I don't. I don't have a dog either. And yes pigs are relatively intelligent.

paleif,
Bull? perhaps Boar is more appropriate. I don't believe anything I've said is false.

I'm overwhelmed by the number of free range pig producers on the site. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking free range, it just constitutes a few percent of pig production.
It just happens that for the reasons I expressed, not all areas are suitable for free range pig husbandry. Cold/drizzly and hot/humid conditions are not in the welfare interests of the animal. Some form of housing is required.
Not every producer would have the space to convert to free range even if they could in suitable areas.

Free range will have a growing market niche much like the organic industry, and good luck to them.

No, rojo, aggression due to hormonal changes will present itself after the birth, not before in most cases. I currently have 85 sows in a dry sow paddock, all pregnant, no aggression.
Were did we get the idea that pigs require housing? It certainly isn’t for the pigs benefit in my view, only for that of the intensive farmer. Keeps the animal contained so there is minimal handling (which means minimal staff) and they can cram hundreds of them into a tiny little area. We have a situation now were pigs are just massed produced and as with anything mass produced, they are priced accordingly. Feed amounts to 70% of the value of a pig, why then is it the cheapest meat on the market. Well yes, the poor quality of the meat produced from intensive farms does have something to do with that. Intensive farmers need to get off the treadmill and take a good look at what they are doing.

If an area of the country is unsuitable for raising pigs then it just shouldn’t happen. Do we build huge sheds for sheep and raise them under artificial conditions just because we decided to grow them in an unsuitable area? No, we grow them in areas suitable for their needs, so why should pigs be treated any different? There is already an outcry over the few ultrafine,coated sheep that are shedded, imagine if they were now kept in little stalls to cram even more into the shed. Would never happen would it

PF,
Yes, I do use the term pregnancy too loosely as stalls are used pre and post birth. Obviously they are no longer pregnant after birth. My mistake.

Who says re: housing?

http://202.139.150.50/JustTheFacts_522_14_2_0.html

This site suggests 3-5% of Australia is suitable for free range production.
And the Vic DPI say cold/drizzly and hot/humid climates are unsuitable.

I suspect the price differential is more to do with consumption/head in Australia being 40% less than that of either beef or chicken. That and the 80 000 tonnes of pork meat imports.

Pork producer numbers have fallen from 50 000 in 1960 to 2000 today. Is it a reflection on the labour component?