These barns were built near Mooreland last spring. A producer in North Carolina says he has never seen so many veterinarians scurrying around hog farms. Everyone has been scratching their heads wondering where the pigs are. Well, disease is a whole lot more serious than we give it credit for. Besides disease, poorer reproduction is hurting pig numbers.
Females are leaner, and subject to more problems.
Sow productivity has slipped the last few years. That's been a limiting factor. It will be March 1999 before anything gets going again in North Carolina. S eaboard Corporation, with its packing plant in Guymon, Oklahoma, has spurred much of the hog growth in the Panhandle. This Seaboard elevator is near Guymon.