Seventeen staff members from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture toured Springer Family Foods earlier this month to gain a better understanding of modern pig farming practices.
Michael Springer, part owner and operator, gave the group a history of his family’s farrow-to-finish farm, located in rural Sycamore. Started in the late 1940’s by his grandparents, Lee and Dorothy, the farm has grown to also raise wheat, corn and soybeans.
Staffers toured the farrowing, nursery and finishing barns, and were able to ask questions on industry practices such as antibiotic use, gestation stalls and environmental regulations.
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture staff members tour Kansas pig farm