農(nóng)民們想辦法挽救數(shù)百萬頭豬免于被屠宰

農(nóng)民們想辦法挽救數(shù)百萬頭豬免于被屠宰

A month ago, America's pork farmers were in crisis. About 40 percent of the country's pork plants were shut down because they had become hot spots of coronavirus infection.

一個月前，美國的豬肉養(yǎng)殖戶陷入了危機。全國約有40%的豬肉工廠被關(guān)閉，因為它們已經(jīng)成為冠狀病毒感染的熱點。

Pork producers who had been shipping, collectively, almost half a million hogs each day to those plants suddenly had no place to send of all their animals, and little space to house the equal number of new piglets that are born every day.

那些每天向這些工廠運送近50萬頭豬的豬肉生產(chǎn)商，突然沒有地方運送他們所有的動物，也沒有足夠的空間容納每天出生的同等數(shù)量的新生仔豬。

Pork producers and industry analysts said that if factories didn't re-open quickly, they'd be forced to euthanize millions of hogs on their farms.

豬肉生產(chǎn)商和行業(yè)分析人士說，如果工廠不迅速復(fù)工，他們將被迫對自家農(nóng)場的數(shù)百萬頭豬實施安樂死。

But that worst case scenario seems to not be happening. According to estimates of pork producers and officials in the hardest-hit states of Minnesota and Iowa, hog farmers have been forced to kill and dispose of fewer than 200,000 animals so far.

但最糟糕的情況似乎并沒有發(fā)生。據(jù)豬肉生產(chǎn)商和受影響最嚴(yán)重的明尼蘇達州和愛荷華州官員估計，迄今為止，養(yǎng)豬戶被迫宰殺和處置的生豬不足20萬只。

"Farmers are pretty inventive people," says David Preisler, CEO of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association. He says farmers made some quick adaptations--they converted older buildings into additional housing for hogs, fed the animals low-energy rations that kept them from gaining weight rapidly, and sent some of their animals to local butcher shops.

“農(nóng)民是很有創(chuàng)造力的人，”明尼蘇達州豬肉生產(chǎn)者協(xié)會的首席執(zhí)行官大衛(wèi)·普里斯勒說。他說，農(nóng)民們迅速做出了一些調(diào)整——他們把老舊的建筑改造成額外的養(yǎng)豬場所，用低能量的口糧喂養(yǎng)動物以防止它們迅速長胖，還把一些動物送到當(dāng)?shù)氐娜獾辍?/p>

Others hogs were shipped halfway across the country, from Minnesota to Pennsylvania or California, to processing plants that could handle them.

其他的豬則被運到美國的另一邊，從明尼蘇達運到賓夕法尼亞或加利福尼亞，運到有能力處理它們的加工廠。

Minnesota's Board of Animal Health acquired two 80-acre sites. As of May 29, the sites had accepted 17,058 hog carcasses. They could handle many more. Perhaps 100,000 to 150,000 carcasses have been trucked to rendering plants, which convert them into basic materials like grease and protein powder.

明尼蘇達州動物健康委員會收購了兩處80英畝的土地。截至5月29日，有關(guān)地點共接收17058頭豬尸體。他們可以處理更多。大約有10萬到15萬頭牛的尸體被用卡車運到工廠，由工廠將它們轉(zhuǎn)化為基本原料，如油脂和蛋白粉。

In Iowa, the state is offering financial help to farmers who need to euthanize hogs. Farmers applied for funding to dispose of about 25,000 animals but have not yet told the state how many of them actually were euthanized. In mid-May, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig told Iowa Public Radio that farmers in his state had been forced to kill fewer than 5,000 market-ready hogs so far.

在愛荷華州，州政府為需要對豬實施安樂死的農(nóng)民提供財政援助。農(nóng)民們申請了資金來處理大約25000只動物，但是他們還沒有告訴州政府到底有多少動物被實施了安樂死。5月中旬，愛荷華州農(nóng)業(yè)部長邁克·奈格對愛荷華州公共電臺說，該州農(nóng)民迄今被迫宰殺了不到5000頭準(zhǔn)備上市的生豬。

Hog industry officials say they've heard of few cases of euthanized hogs in other major pork-producing states.

養(yǎng)豬業(yè)官員說，他們很少聽說其他主要養(yǎng)豬州對豬實施安樂死的案例。

At the moment, the crisis appears to be ebbing. Most pork plants have resumed production, but Preisler says "it's too early to tell" whether farmers will be forced to kill more of their pigs. The plants, he says, are running at about 82 percent of their normal capacity."

目前，(疫情)危機似乎正在消退。大多數(shù)豬肉加工廠已經(jīng)恢復(fù)生產(chǎn)，但是普里斯勒說“現(xiàn)在判斷”農(nóng)戶是否會被迫宰殺更多的豬還為時過早。他說，這些工廠的運行速度大約只有正常產(chǎn)能的82%。“