According to the Center for Rural Affairs, between 1982 and 1996, the U.S. gained 10 percent more hogs, but lost 67 percent of its pork producers. In North Carolina hog numbers increased by 433 percent between those same years while hog producers declined by 77 percent. Hog production has shifted from operations with less than 1,000 head to those with 2,000 or more.

To many innovative producers and researchers, the change in the swine industry, coupled with depressed prices, is a challenge to raise pigs in a different manner — mixing the best of yesterday’s hog production with high-tech management to maximize profit.

"The biggest advantage of hoops is price. That jumps right out at you," Weis said.

Originally developed in Canada, hoop shelters are arched metal frames covered with a UV-resistant, polyethylene tarp. Wood sidewalls are 4 to 6 feet high. When used to house swine, hoops have earthen floors — deep-bedded and cleaned after a group of pigs is marketed — except for a feeding and watering area on a concrete slab. Ends of the hoops are left open for natural ventilation and adjusted for winter weather. The building is typically 30 feet wide by 72 feet long with a maximum capacity of 180 to 200 hogs.

The popularity of these Quonset-shaped buildings is rising, with more than 1,000 hoop structures recently built in Iowa, and many others popping up in dry, windy climates.

Weis purchased his hoop structure, easily assembled by his family members, for about $11,000, or $65 per head (compared with up to $200 per head for confinement facilities). Overall production costs in hoop houses have been reduced by approximately $4 per hog, according to the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA).

"Versatility is another major advantage," Weis said. "You are not locked into raising hogs in this building. You can use it for machinery or hay storage, or other livestock."

Weis finishes hogs in his hoop buildings, but has plans for farrowing and growing pigs in a system where hogs stay in hoops from weaning through marketing.

Other advantages farmers have found with hoops include: lower pig stress, worker comfort, easily achieved all in/all out management, less odor, and healthier pigs.

Weis added, "It looks like health will be much better in my hoops. And stress is obviously lower. The first thing hogs do when they get in that hoop is just run and chew on the bedding. You see the same need in confinement buildings, but they can’t run and have nothing to chew on but tails."

"The biggest challenge for me has been finding a source of bedding that’s plentiful and as cheap as possible," said Weis, who received a 1996 SARE producer grant to investigate a hoop system. "You need material close to your farm, and it’s very important to get it baled."

Most producers report using nearly 200 pounds of bedding per pig marketed. Weis has used corn stalks, millet, soybean straw and even paper to bed his swine.

Deep bedding not only provides an attractive environment for hogs, but also a source of heat in the winter — bedding temperature in hoops is at least 80º F and air temperatures are 5º to 10º F warmer than outside temperatures.

More labor may be needed to manage bedding, but Weis said his manure management takes no more time than in a confinement facility, even with a 2 to 3 foot bedding pack in the winter months.

"You have a lot more alternatives with composted bedding than with liquid manure. You can spread the compost, and the odor is not nearly as bad," Weis said.

In feeding his hoop hogs, Weis found that his Average Daily Gain (ADG) is comparable to confinement production; however, feed efficiency (FE) of hoop-raised swine has been poorer. ISU reported up to 10 percent lower FE in cold seasons. But Weis said that back fat and yield of his hoop hogs were the same as confinement hogs with higher feed intake.

"Hoop owners do things differently. There’s no right way to do it, and innovation is key," Weis said. For example, he has placed laying hens around his hoop structure for fly control.

In the 1980s, Swedish farmers developed a deep-bedded swine nursing and weaning system to comply with restrictive animal welfare laws and a ban on subtherapeutic antibiotics. Called Västgötamodellen, for the Swedish area in which it was developed, this system relies on straw, pigs’ natural behavior, group housing and keen animal husbandry.

Recently, Swedish techniques have been transported to the U.S.

Looking for an income-generating practice that would allow him to quit his off-farm job and help support three families, Nolan Jungclaus established a Swedish-style system on his Minnesota farm in 1995. With Honeyman and other researchers and farmers, he traveled to Sweden to look at the systems firsthand.

He found that Swedish farmers fit the system to the animal rather than the animal to the system. In doing so, hog producers must have excellent stockmanship skills, an appreciation of pig behavior, attention to detail and a desire to work with pigs in a more natural environment.

The two versions of Västgötamodellen are Ljungström, farrowing in individual pens in a farrowing room and transferring sows and litters to a group nursery when pigs are 14 to 20 days old; and Thorstensson, farrowing in temporary wooden boxes in a group room with removal of boxes when pigs are seven to 10 days old.

Nolan and Susan Jungclaus received a 1994 SARE producer grant to remodel an existing 36-by-60 foot machinery pole shed to accommodate four phases of Thorstensson swine production: breeding/gestation, farrowing, nursery, and growing.

After their first year of production, the Jungclauses decided that their set-up would eventually be a profitable, environmentally safe, and family friendly way to raise hogs.

Gilts start litters in temporary, but roomy "nesting boxes," which are removed after about one week, when sows and piglets are free to roam the large room together. In a typical Swedish system, sows should farrow within five days for optimum group lactation. At weaning, the piglets stay in the building and sows are moved.

The Jungclaus hogs are blessed with ventilation from intake and exhaust fans, plenty of space (the equivalent of about 80 square feet per sow and litter), and quiet surroundings — where they can exhibit natural desires to nest and live in family units.

This environment produces a happy, healthy pig, free of antibiotics, and provides the Jungclauses with a clean, healthy working environment. Nolan said the system allows him to farm with his children, who are often found romping with piglets.

With the Swedish system requiring about 2 tons of straw per sow per year, manure handling can be time-consuming. Bedding is cleaned out in 3-month intervals for gestating sows and can reach a depth of up to 2 feet. High straw to manure ratio is crucial to induce composting, which reduces disease problems, improves hygiene and puts the Jungclauses on good terms with neighbors who would rather not smell liquid manure.

Pig mortality can be problem, but a watchful eye from the farmer and culling bad mothers can help alleviate the lay-ons. A "farmer’s eye" is also necessary in battling infection and disease without the use of antibiotics.

In general, the Swedish system requires more management, observation and planning than a conventional system, but labor averages only about 18 hours per sow per year. And repairs, cleaning, moving, medicating and assistance at farrowing is lower in the Swedish system.

Bedding in huts could include low-quality grass hay, whole or ground corn cobs, baled corn stalks, shredded paper, or straw.

Pasture-farrowed hogs can feed on row-crops or on pasture. Frantzen’s rotation includes underseeding oats with clover then pasture farrowing there after combining the oats and baling the straw. He then plants corn the following year. In the fall, his sows and gilts graze corn and soybean stubble.

Frantzen has been happy with pig health, and it has been documented that pasture farrowers have lower swine health expenses than producers using confinement systems. However, outdoor herds need a rigorous parasite control program.

"Alternative systems are pig friendly, people friendly, community friendly and environmentally friendly," said Honeyman, who has been exploring alternative hog production systems for a decade.

He suggests that mid-sized family farmers and risk-averse, part-time or beginning farmers would fare well in alternative swine production.

In his work, he has found that alternative systems can be cost competitive with hog confinement systems under the right circumstances. A hog producer must take a self-inventory and make sure he or she enjoys working with animals, has access to high-quality bedding, is located in a proper climate and wants to integrate hogs into his or her farm system.

Producers must also be willing to relinquish some control to nature. In his travels through Europe, Honeyman found a different attitude towards farming systems.

"Americans have a mindset of wanting to control nature, and we are capitalists. We often solve problems with capital, automation and technology while some Europeans tend to work with nature and solve problems with management," Honeyman said.

Honeyman is beginning to gather more research data on alternative swine production, as he explores coupling various systems.

NCR-SARE’s Professional Development Program (PDP) will have nearly $500,000 for educational projects that share sustainable agriculture information with Extension Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) personnel.

Competitive grants will be given to develop and deliver sustainable agriculture in-service training programs. Projects with a multi-state scope involving a diverse group of teachers, especially farmers and nonprofit groups, are encouraged.

Past projects have included: a program for educators and bankers on the benefits of Management-Intensive Grazing in Wisconsin; training in soil quality and whole-farm planning in Ohio; sustainable agriculture distance learning in the Dakotas; video training with decision case studies in Minnesota; and a legal guide for farm marketers in Iowa.

If you are in charge of hosting a meeting, you may be interested in reserving the NCR-SARE display or tapping into our Speakers Bureau funding.

We can ship the display -- free of charge -- to any location in the North Central region. With photos, informational text panels and a graphic depicting "sustainability," the display can offer a colorful addition to your meeting. Publications and brochures are included.

The NCR-SARE program Council members represent all North Central states: Illinois: Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant (Cooperative Extension — CE); Indiana: vacant; Iowa: Dan Specht (farmer); Kansas: Alan Schlegel (Land Grant Research — LGR); Michigan: Ben Bartlett (CE); Minnesota: Bill Wilcke (LGR); Missouri: Ron Macher (farmer); Nebraska: David Baltensperger (LGR); North Dakota: Patrick Carr (LGR); Ohio: Peter Bierman (CE); South Dakota: Doug Zalesky (CE); Wisconsin: James Goodman (farmer).

NCR Council members also represent regional agencies and institutions: CE: Daryl Buchholz; National SARE Professional Development Program (PDP): Jerry Dewitt; Agricultural Research Service: Adrianna Hewings; State Department of Agriculture: Christine Lietzau; Natural Resources Conservation Service: Jeffrey Vonk; Environmental Protection Agency: Harry Wells; Agribusiness: John Hirzel; Non-Profit Organization: Renee Hunt; Geological Survey: Fred Madison.

The Council includes past chair David Swaim, Technical Committee co-chairs David Macarus and Helene Murray and Jill Auburn, SARE’s national director.

Craig Cramer, former editor of The New Farm magazine and Webmaster of the Sustainable Farming Connection Website, is the project coordinator. Cramer works under the direction of John Ikerd, agricultural economist and coordinator of the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

For more information about the project, including how to nominate a farmer for a case study, see 1000ways.baka.com or send e-mail to Cramer.

Join the ranks of farmers and ranchers who have broadened their scope of crops and livestock for higher profits and productivity. A new 12-page bulletin from SARE’s Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) -- SARE’s outreach arm -- offers practical information about how to diversify.

Diversifying the Agricultural Landscape features methods of choosing and growing alternative oilseeds, legumes, cereal grains and other specialty crops. This free publication also details agroforestry practices such as alley-cropping, windbreaks and buffer strips. A section on cover crops rounds out the bulletin.