With any belief, there is an opposing side, a different understanding, and clashing argument. We’re to the point in our journey in Iowa that the foundation has been set by many knowledgeable and passionate people that know what they believe. From farmers to professors alike, we talked with them all on their areas of expertise on farming and raising livestock. Today’s adventure took Ryan, Kyle, and I to the Friest farm to tour its facilities and get some first hand practice in artificially inseminating hogs. Mr. Brent’s operation was artfully efficient and awe inspiring to see in practice. Beginning with the sow insemination all the way to the finishing process, his operation has constant rotations with hogs farrowing constantly, maximizing productivity, and essentially profit. An independent farmer, he does not consider himself a factory farm, but I stopped to think, is he? Rows and rows of stalls of hogs waiting to be inseminated, only to be taken to gestation stalls after that. Their ability to walk around is limited and it would seem at first glance to be constricting and factory-esque. Friest, however, was very vocal on his beliefs on behalf of his mode of operation. The sows, he said, are not bothered by the stalls, and seem to be more at ease in them. I can attest that they seemed in no way distressed or unhappy to be in the stalls. In fact, the construction of the gestation stalls prevented piglet fatality from the mothers rolling on top of them. Hog barns such as these are under fire from animal rights activists all over the nation that see the use of these methods as cruel and inhumane. They call for the free range of animals with specific methods of handling and transporting as well. Friest even could attest to the requirements surrounding the loading and unloading of his hogs. One pig in particular would not cooperate with the handlers, and instead of being authorized to push it along, they resorted to waving and gesturing frantically. To anyone who has spent time around hogs, or rather livestock of any kind, this is rather ineffective to say the least. I, for one, think this is ridiculous. Animals are not equivalent to humans, and neither should they be treated as thus. So many accusations have been fired off by animal rights activists that farmers with confinement type facilities are mistreating their animals  never saw in any form or fashion animal abuse or mistreatment on Friest’s farm. I simply saw animals being treated as animals.

Mr. Friest had a lot to say on the current controversies surrounding farm policies, and one of those issues has stuck with me. It certainly isn’t the first time this issue has come up in our democratic society, and certainly isn’t the first time hearing it since being in Iowa. Blanket policies created by governmental legislation pointed towards farms and land-owners in Iowa are not effectively addressing the issues at hand. Varying soils, topography, and shifting weather conditions affect how land and animals are managed, resulting in each farm to have specific needs, sometimes, greatly different from the farm next door. This seems to be the unifying cry of farmers today. They desperately want the government to understand that a one size fits all act does more harm than help.