“All the mama pigs have names, all the boars have names, all the cows have names. They're all treated equally and with love.”
Oh really?
Yeah so they cut it like, over half.
Since it’s a family farm how did you guys get the farm?
It was actually my step-dads grandparents and the he took it over about, I wanna say ten years ago.
Did they pass away?
Yeah, yeah they passed away. But its been in the family since probably the early 1800’s.
What is everyone's roles, like, are you guys given specific chores or what?
Not really, I was pretty much the main barn cleaner. It was such a pain, nobody else ever did it so… I, every single night, after work, ‘cause you know I work after school for my internship. So I get out of work and I go and I clean the barn and I get done about seven or eight o’clock at night.
Do you plan to keep farming when you graduate?
Nope [chuckles] I… I, it’s fun to do but it’s more of a side hobby kind of thing for me. It’s not something I’d want to do every single day of my life. It’s something like, if I were to get like a job in like, the IT field, ‘cause you know, that’s what I’m going to college for.
Yeah…
It’d be something that like, I maybe like, to have a small farm. But that’s it. Maybe like, five pigs and like… two cows.
Since your animals are free range, this isn’t something I wrote down, but since your animals are free range do you say you prefer it over how they’re are ultimately raised in mass quantities?
Oh yeah, I’m so against commercial farming. Like, it’s so horrible the conditions and stuff those animals have to go through. At like, my farm, each animals gets treated, I mean, you know, since it’s…
Suzie
Yeah, man. I love my Suzie. Yeah, every animal at my farm has a name that includes… well except the baby pigs I mean you know, can’t name all friggin’ 200 of them but. All the mama pigs have names, all the boars have names, all the cows have names. They're all treated equally and with love.
And I’ve been there too and they’re all clearly like, “neglected” and “hurting.”
Oh yeah, I love my piggies. But at like, commercial farms and stuff I’ve been to a couple of them. Just because you know, in the farming industry you visit, you go to places like that a lot. I’ve been to a couple where it’s just horrible. It is so disgusting… like…
I’ve seen documentaries. Like, the difference between commercial and free range.
I’ve seen the ones on like YouTube where like, kicking the animals and stuff. I’ve actually never seen that happen but like, I have seen you know, pigs in their own crap up to like, their friggin’ knees and stuff and it’s so disgusting. I wouldn’t let my piggies live in that
PIGGIES! So yeah, you’d say you’d prefer it over the latter?
Yeah definitely, free range is the way to go.
Awesome. Any other perks to the free range lifestyle? Like, are they healthier and what not?
They’re definitely a lot happier. They don’t fight as much. I can see how in their containment they could definitely get stressed a lot easier. Making them you know, a lot more aggressive and stuff but… when they’re free range they can just kinda do what they want when they want. And it’s really stress free on the animals so… Yeah. Free range for life.
Awesome, well thanks for comin’, Chan.
Swag
After learning about that free range farming lifestyle, I personally hold a bigger appreciation for farmers who choose to raise their animals in that manner. It is much more personalized and at the end of the day, all those creatures go to sleep stress free and happy. I also have a bigger appreciation for my my friend because at his age, this is a huge responsibility; but it is a responsibility that he is happy to take head on. All the hard work and dedication he puts into his farm comes to show that the less gruesome method of farming is the way to go.
Tinkerbell(2014)
Chandler's cow, Tinkerbell - 2014