User:Samsamgal96/sandbox

The overall article about pig farming does not have any mention of the specific factors involving pig breeding, the current effects and outcomes occurring due to the changes made in recent years. So here in my sandbox I am beginning drafts of sections I believe need to be added to the article since they are non-existent there. The article is a bit vague in certain areas that I would like to contribute to as well. To help me practice, I will put my sources here in the layout so when I do add them to the actual article I will be rehearsed on where everything needs to go.

Key mentions I would like to add;

Impacts on sow breeding

Genetic changes and manipulation to hog body systems to make more economical for farmers

More details of types of machines/barriers used in different kinds of pig farms/factories

The comparison of smaller more natural pig farms to the larger factory setups

Discuss more about intelligence of pigs and awareness

The high numbers of deaths in female pigs in the last 15 years

Causes and solutions being figured out to solve

Impacts on Sow Breeding
Hogs raised in confinement systems tend to produce 23.5 piglets per year. From 2013 to 2016, sow death rates have nearly doubled from 5.8%-10.2%, 25-50% of these deaths have been caused by the condition prolapse.

Other probable causes of death include vitamin deficiency, mycotoxins in feed, high density diets or abdominal issues. Currently mortality data is being collected by Iowa's Pork Industry Center in collaboration with the National Pork Board to collect data from over 400,000 sows from 16 U.S. states. The farms all range in different size and facility types. Raising rates in death are a profit concern to the industry, so money is being invested into research to find potential solutions of preventing prolapse.

Genetic Manipulation
Pigs originally started to be bred to rapidly gain weight and backfat in the late 1980's. In a more fat conscious modern day America, pigs are now being bred to produce more offspring for profit. But being bred to now have less back fat but bred to produce more pushes the sow's body too far and is deemed as one of the causes of the current prolapse epidemic.

Considering Porcine Future
Moderate solutions for hog preservation include downsizing to smaller farms and choosing to back away from productivity focuses.

Being bold is important on Wikipedia.