Final thoughts

      Throughout my blog assignment I have learned several details that I didn’t know before. Porcine stress syndrome should definitely be taken seriously. Although I have little background knowledge about PSS I have learned it is a much bigger topic then discussed in our community.  Now knowing the effects on pigs and the meat we receive from them has opened my views on my subject. I believe that porcine stress syndrome isn’t a big issue when it comes to breeding and pigs containing this disorder. I think that these animals should be better taken care of. Should all swine containing porcine stress syndrome be provided with higher quality facilities before being slaughtered? My answer would have to be yes having all the information on what a pig goes through I think slaughter houses should update facilities to make them better suitable.  A slaughter house might have to spend money to build pigs the right environment but in the long run they would be getting more money because more pigs would be living and more meat would be sold. Also if fewer pigs underwent porcine stress syndrome before being slaughtered we would all be provided better quality meat without having to spend the big bucks. Breeders throughout the United States aren’t going to stop raising pigs with porcine stress syndrome anytime soon, so should we make another change?

How our meat is being affected and why it matters

     In earlier blogs I talked about how market hogs are used for shows and how they are sold for their meat. Why is porcine stress syndrome so important when it comes to pigs? Every time a pig undergoes PSS it affects the quality of their meat. A pigs meat can shrink up to seven percent when it undergoes stress giving us poor quality meat.  Stress can also cause meat to lose its ability to hold water giving the meat a grayish color. If pigs are undergoing porcine stress syndrome before being slaughtered why isn’t anyone trying to change it?

     Why should porcine stress syndrome be important to others? Well, poor quality meat can not only harm our source of meat but can also cause sickness. You should care about what meat is being provided to our citizens. What would we do without pork? Pork is one of the cheapest meats on the market today. With the poor economy people can’t afford to be eating steaks and chicken every night. If the issue of porcine stress syndrome doesn’t get taken care of pork might not be know of in the near future. Another thought is that if there is very little quantity, will the prices of pork go up?   

 Picture taken from www.fao.org

Producing the perfect marrket hog and the environment they are forced to deal with.

                At this point most of you are wondering what these pigs are used for.  Most pigs with porcine stress syndrome are being used to produce the idea market hog. What is a market hog? A market hog is a pig that weighs 200 to 280 pounds being five to eight months of age; these pigs are sold for slaughter. Most market hogs are shown at fairs or nationwide shows, producers are using pigs with PSS to help them get the idea market hog. The idea market hog has a lot of muscle and good structure, having these qualities in a pig will give you a winner when it comes to shows. A pig containing porcine stress syndrome gives you heaver muscled pigs then ones without. Doing research I also found out that a pig with PSS is known to eat less food per day, saving people thousands of dollars.  So is having the idea market hog worth risking a pigs life? I think there isn’t a problem with using pigs with porcine stress syndrome as long as they a properly taken care of. I also believe that having heavier muscled pigs will give us better quality meat. On the other hand if a pig goes through stress it will decrease the quality of meat.

                What environment is a pig put through before being slaughtered? Above I talked about how market hogs are used for shows, but now what happens to them after that? At most shows the winners are sold for thousands of dollars to business people involved in the meat industry. Once they are sold they go from being well taken care of to a poor environment.  They get thrown in pens with several other pigs putting several stress situations upon them. Every sell there is at least 100 pigs sold every time, knowing this; they ship all these pigs in a trailer at the same time. Wouldn’t you be stressed if put in a situation like this? Knowing what a pigs has to go through after caring for these animals it disappoints me to know that they’re not better taken care of. Should slaughter houses take the time to care for the animals they will be feeding to us?

Here I provided a couple links about my topics:

• Pictures of the idea market pig to help you get an idea of what im talking about.

• Process a pig goes through before being slaughtered.

Symptoms of porcine stress syndrome and the perfect environment

Needing more information on porcine stress syndrome I started to do more research on types of symptoms that occur with this disorder. Reading several articles from Pork Quality Assurance lead me to details I never knew. When a pig starts to stress it progressively leads to heart shocks leading in death. The process can go very slow or extremely fast. A pig will undergo a 40◦ C increase in temperature instantly. Their skin will become reddish purple and they have a tendency to squeal very loudly. It is common to have shaking in the face and for them to collapse without any movement, as they start to stiffen. All these symptoms strongly depend on the type of environment their in. Reading this article showed me how important it is to keep all swine in the least stress situation possible.

            What is the best environment for a pig and is it really important. From raising pigs I know how different a pig can react in different environments. When a pig is little it adapts to a certain environment ranging from the mud to an air conditioned building. When you take a pig a put them in somewhere totally different of coarse, their going to stress. I think that they should be provided with the best environment possible to keep from having deaths. I also believe that a pig shouldnt have to be taken out of the enviroment there used to.      

Should all swine containing porcine stress syndrome be provided with higher quality facilities before being slaughtered?

           Coming from a small town I grew up raising and breeding market hogs. We strive for the best quality that the market is looking for. Swine containing porcine stress syndrome are starting to over populate the swine industry, providing us with better meat and producing the idea market hog. Having the quality that the swine industry needs is very important because it gives people the opportunity to higher quality meat, at a cheaper price.

            So you’re probably asking yourself what is porcine stress syndrome? PSS is an inherited genetic disorder found only in swine. The disorder is part of their stress gene causing swine several issues if not taken care of correctly. If a pig is stress positive, which means they have porcine stress syndrome, several health issues are at risk for these animals. A pig containing PSS has a higher risk for being stressed easily. When a pig starts to stress several symptoms will occur, usually causing death. Not all pigs will die if they start to stress but it does have a tremendous impact on the meat they produce.

            Having most the meat industry populated with the porcine stress syndrome, Shouldn’t this issue be taken seriously? There are thousands of pigs that die from this disorder everyday. Without these thousands of pigs it leaves thousands of people without quality meat. Pigs with PSS are dying because they are being poorly taken care of.

            Should all swine containing porcine stress syndrome be provided with higher quality facilities before being slaughtered? This question means a lot to me and should matter to others as it is a very important topic. Being around pigs with this disorder I know what it takes to maintain the perfect environment. When pigs go from the perfect environment and get thrown into a pen with hundreds of pigs the stress is going to hit instantly. As said before the swine industry is becoming over populated with pigs containing porcine stress syndrome. If several are being killed caused by stressed situations in slaughter houses, where will we get our pork?