The COVID-19 outbreak at the slaughterhouse led to the largest pig culling effort

Perhaps there is no more vivid example of devastating disasters that plague the food supply chain in the United States: as the grocery store ran out of meat, thousands of pigs rotted in the compost.
The COVID-19 outbreak at the slaughterhouse led to the largest pig culling effort in the history of the United States. Thousands of animals have been backed up, and CoBank estimates that 7 million animals may need to be destroyed in this quarter alone. Consumers lost approximately one billion pounds of meat.
Some farms in Minnesota even use chippers (they are reminiscent of the 1996 movie “Fargo”) to crush dead bodies and spread them out for compost. The refinery saw a large amount of pigs turned into gelatin into sausage casings.
Behind the huge waste are thousands of farmers, some of them persevering, hoping that the slaughterhouse can resume operations before the animals become too heavy. Others are reducing losses and eliminating the herd. The “decrease in population” of pigs created a euphemism in the industry, highlighting this separation, which was caused by the pandemic that made workers want to increase the food supply in large factories across the United States.

“In the agricultural industry, what you have to prepare for is animal disease. Minnesota Animal Health Commission spokesperson Michael Crusan said: “Never thought that there would be no market. “Compost up to 2,000 pigs every day and put them in the haystacks in Nobles County. “We have a lot of pig carcasses and we must compost effectively on the landscape. “
After President Donald Trump issued an executive order, most meat factories that were closed due to workers’ illnesses have been reopened. But considering social distancing measures and high absenteeism, the processing industry is still far from the pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the number of meat crates in American grocery stores has decreased, the supply has decreased, and prices have increased. Since April, wholesale pork prices in the United States have doubled.
Liz Wagstrom said the U.S. pork supply chain is designed to be “made in time” because mature pigs are transported from the barn to the slaughterhouse, while another batch of young pigs passes through the factory. Be in place within a few days after disinfection. Chief veterinarian of the National Pork Producers Council.
The slowdown in processing speeds left young pigs nowhere to go because farmers initially tried to hold mature animals for longer periods of time. Wagstrom said, but when the pigs weighed 330 pounds (150 kilograms), they were too large to be used in slaughterhouse equipment, and the cut meat could not be put in boxes or styrofoam. Intraday.
Wagstrom said that farmers have limited options for euthanizing animals. Some people are setting up containers, such as airtight truck boxes, to inhale carbon dioxide and put animals to sleep. Other methods are less common because they cause more harm to workers and animals. They include gunshot or blunt force injuries to the head.
In some states, landfills are fishing for animals, while in other states, shallow graves lined with wood chips are being dug.
Wagstrom said on the phone: “This is devastating.” “This is a tragedy, this is a waste of food.”
In Nobles County, Minnesota, pig carcasses are being put into a chipper designed for the wood industry, originally proposed in response to the outbreak of African swine fever. The material is then applied to a bed of wood chips and covered with more wood chips. Compared with a complete car body, this will significantly speed up composting.
Beth Thompson, executive director of the Minnesota Animal Health Commission and state veterinarian, said composting makes sense because the state’s high groundwater levels make it difficult to bury, and burning is not an option for farmers who raise large numbers of animals.
CEO Randall Stuewe said in an earnings conference call last week that Darling Ingredients Inc., headquartered in Texas, converts fat into food, feed, and fuel, and in recent weeks has received a “large amount” of pigs and chickens for refining. . . Large producers are trying to make room in the pig barn so that the next small garbage can be piled up. “This is a sad thing for them,” he said.
Stuewe said: “Ultimately, the animal supply chain, at least especially for pork, they have to keep the animals coming.” “Now, our Midwest factory transports 30 to 35 pigs a day, and the population there is declining.”
Animal welfare organizations say the virus has exposed vulnerabilities in the country’s food system and cruel but not yet approved methods of killing animals that cannot be sent to slaughterhouses.
Josh Barker, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society, said that the industry needs to get rid of intensive operations and provide more space for animals so that manufacturers do not have to rush to use “temporary killing methods” when the supply chain is interrupted. United States.
In the current livestock dispute, farmers are also victims—at least economically and emotionally. The decision to slaughter can help farms survive, but when meat prices are skyrocketing and supermarkets are in short supply, this can cause damage to the industry for producers and the public.
“In the past few weeks, we have lost our marketing capabilities and this has started to build up a backlog of orders,” said Mike Boerboom, who raises pigs in Minnesota with his family. “At some point, if we can’t sell them, they will reach the point where they are too big for the supply chain, and we will face euthanasia.”