By Jane Messenger, Pork Magazine - While the results tend to favor confinement facilities when compared annually, hoop structures can be competitive in certain situations

Researchers compared the two types of grow/finish production systems with six groups of hogs. Three groups of hogs were fed during the winter season and three during the summer. Each facility finished out two groups of pigs annually, with seasonal comparisons made by starting hogs in the spring and fall.

For all but one of the groups, researchers placed the hogs on feed over a four-week period. Through that period, a supply of hogs was placed in each of the three hoop structures and the confinement facility.

The take-away message is that 損ork production in hoops can compete with other systems,?says Jim Kliebenstein, Iowa State agricultural economist. 揚ork can be produced in a number of ways, but a lot depends on the availability of finances, labor and management resources.?

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(May 2003)