Next it was time to venture out on farm to get some practical experience of pig farming. The 3 weeks I spent there were so informative. I worked closely with the manager, getting involved in feed trials, the daily routine tasks as well as getting up close and personal with dung! The team there gave me an understanding of what is involved in running a pig farm including the management tools available to pig farmers, particularly those relating to nutrition.
I know that the management of farms I see and work with over the next year will vary massively, along with their systems, which I’m looking forward to seeing. But getting a in depth flavour of one farm means I definitely have a better understanding of what works practically at farm level particularly around trial work, having now experienced the everyday challenges of running a trial on a commercial farm.
The smell of pigs hitting me every morning never failed to surprise me along with how relentlessness the bigger piglets were to get a chunk out of my overalls whenever I entered the pens. And of course, the cute piglet cuddles obviously didn’t go a miss either!