From the National Post and the “climate change, is there anything it can’t do?” department comes this porkie:
Climate change is making pigs skinnier, which could mean more expensive pork
A new report claims higher temperatures mean hogs produce less protein, which could result in pricier pork
Pork is the most widely consumed animal protein in the world. Representing more than 36 per cent of global meat-eating, a hit to production could have devastating effects. As a new Scientific American report suggests, a warming planet may result in skinnier pigs that produce less meat. The potential outcome: a future where pork is scarce and strips of bacon will cost you dearly.
The National Pork Board in the U.S. has been monitoring the effect of high temperatures on pigs since 2013, according to Scientific American, due to the possible consequences for a US$20 billion industry.
Swine are particularly vulnerable to hot weather: they wallow in cool mud or water because their sweat glands don’t effectively regulate body temperature. Studies have shown that when the animals are exposed to temperatures in excess of 25 degrees Celsius, they produce less protein, with the added drawback of decreased fertility.
“And the impact is not limited to one generation — if a pregnant sow suffers heat stress, she will birth fewer babies, which will grow slower, store less protein and have fewer and lower-quality eggs and sperm compared with pigs born to mothers raised at cooler temperatures,” Scientific American reports.
Previous studies have identified climate change as a threat to livestock in general as rising temperatures affect feed quality, availability of water and biodiversity. By 2050, worldwide demand for livestock products is anticipated to double, according to a 2017 study by Michigan State University.
Caught in a vicious meaty circle, climate change will influence livestock production and thus food security. And the fallout of animal farming – deforestation and feed production – in turn contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
“Agricultural scientists say pork could get more expensive in a warmer and more humid world because raising pigs will require more food, energy, water and labour to meet the protein requirements of a growing human population,” Scientific American reports, adding that cooling technologies and a return to indigenous breeds may help mitigate the threat to the industry.
Meanwhile, in the real world, as the Earth warms over the last 50 years…. we see this:
Source: Our World in Data
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So, my question: “Is a skinny pig replacing the starving polar bear as the iconic image of climate doom?”
A related question: “What’s the global average weight of a pig? “
Robert,
Re the average weight, Karl and chums at NOAA had a crackling at this a couple of years back when they produced their ERBMIv5 (extended reconstructed bacon mass index version 5). It was later published by the IPCC (International Porcine Calorie Council) but many thought they had painted a wurst case scenario.
Don’t worry, that’s all folks.
The creation of ERBMIv5 would certainly be a proud day in science. I’m not saying what KIND of science.
Thanks, you’ve made my day.
LOL….Ian, made my day!
A world that allows those puns to exist deserves to fry
The size of pigs millennia ago can be determined by examining the amount of fossilized truffles. Probably. Maybe. Who knows.
Anyway, it’s worth a well funded study.
Either that, or the isotopic measurements of bones among populations known to eat pigs.
African or European pig?
[The mods refuse to swallow your bait. No matter how fast either flies. .mod]
Matt S and the long suffering Mods are both right. Ahhhhhhh!!!!! {launched off the bridge}
Matt,
The African giant forest hog was first described by British Great War soldier and ornithologist Richard_Meinertzhagen (nephew of Beatrice Webb), made famous in the movie of Oz, “The Lighthorsemen”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Meinertzhagen
Skinny pig = more meat less fat, good on climate change (another+), bad for pigs.
Vuk, if I had a pig that was as obese as the one in the fist pic I’d be checking with my Vet real quick.
I’d be checking with my butcher! I smell bacon!
NAH, …… ya raise fat hogs for “lard” ……. and ya raise lean hogs for “bacon”.
The Tamworth is …… the ‘Bacon Pig’
https://ofbf.org/2010/08/24/the-bacon-pig/
European pig or African pig?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SzS9YsJX14k
Here’s a comment: Climate change affecting pork yields from pigs are about as related as vaccines and autism
Thanks for this article, and especially those photographs – gave me the best laugh of the day!
I wonder if that slimming effect is working on Big Al as global temperatures continue to boar, I mean soar?
Before and after photos for him would be instructive too.
But Algorebull is the biggest bore on the planet, you see, so it’s all relative.
Awe man , the HTTPS image didn’t come through…. Too big?
It seems WordPress prefers “http” instead of “https”.
The new “old” comment system reversion isn’t allowing them to be displayed. None of them. Regardless of source, https, or size.
Yeah, this new-old comment system bites the Big Phallōta.
Back on the old farm in Texas where I come from, there are many
marauding feral hogs. They get really big and Texas is still hot.
They referenced using indeginous breeds as a response to warming. I would dearly love to see a pig farmer raise marauding feral hogs!
Razorbacks are some of the consarndest critters you ever met. Safer to jump in the river with the Gators, I recon.
The picture before and after is brilliant, so hilarious.
Yeah but what does Hillary have to do with this?
@Tom
ZING!
If the price of pork goes up, less will be purchased and consumed. Fewer pigs, less “fallout of animal farming – deforestation and feed production.”
Problem solved.
Then farmers will move %north or higher in elevation. *Porklem solved.
%farmers down under try south
*Problem
What’s the difference between a climate alarmist and a pig? — None, they are both subject to being roasted.
Suggestion: Change the name of the “Greenhouse Theory” to the “Slaughterhouse Theory”, in order to push the comparison between CO2 and lard — CO2 is like a layer of lard that fries humanity.
Sorry, I’m incapable of contributing anything remotely serious on this one.
I take my bacon very seriously Robert, and when I do, I prefer lean bacon! 😉
“Slaughterhouse Theory”? Kurt Vonnegut, call your office. (And yes, I know he’s dead.)
Would of thought Warmistas would welcome skinny pigs. They’re always trying to make them fly.
Global Warming will result in Pigs Flying.
Seems like they forgot the wings on the after pig.
Eventually, after the runaway warming, we will have Pigs in Space.
Hey there! I liked Pigs In Space. Great skit in a great show!
It’s worse than we thought – the skinnier ones will be harder to catch.
Is the one on the right Al Gore? ‘Cause he should be on the Left!
So, by that theory, pigs raised in Pennsylvania are going to be skinnier than ones raised in Georgia. That should be pretty easy to measure and confirm.
Right?
Good point.
..and then there’s the famous swimming pigs in the Bahamas
Oops, I just realized I meant the other way around. Georgia has the skinny pigs.
Fortunately, as the Rutgers study summarized on WUWT earlier today shows, the eastern 2/3 of the US, where nearly all pigs are raised, has been cooler of late.
New picture request.
Climate Change Scientists
With funding. Without Funding.
(Same Pigs)
Nice. (^_^)
💲🐷💲 ==> ⚠🐖⚠
That’s the best I could do with the resources available.
[The mods do not wonder where the $ signs went. .mod]
“…because raising pigs will require more food, energy, water and labour to meet the protein requirements of a growing human population…”
That ignores the tremendous genetic gains made over the last 2 to 3 decades. Pigs have been selected and bred to increase in growth rate with a herd improvement of about 10 grams/day each year … ie, pigs today grow on average 200 grams/day faster than they did in 1998. (Now about 780 grams/day = 120 kg liveweight at 20 weeks of age). With that comes improved efficiency. as they are also selected and bred for improved feed efficiency: the kgs of feed needed for 1 kg of growth. That has improved from 2.8 kg of feed per kg of gain to 2.3. Further gains come from improved reproductive efficiency.
When I first heard of these ‘year on year’ genetic gains in the 1990s I thought to myself, “Well, that can’t go on forever”.
But it has and is recently further accelerating with the advent of affordable genetic testing, enabling the use of gene markers to accurately select for the required traits.
Gains in poultry and cattle and sheep have been similarly spectacular, and that too will continue and accelerate further.
There may be a ceiling there somewhere, but we can’t see it yet.
(Incidentally, the weight chart shown in the article reflects the improved growth rates, but more so the tendency to slaughter at heavier weights due to that improved growth rate).
[The mods wonder if that indicates we need a Moore’s Law for Pigs. Or just One Moore’s Pig Law? But then would be two Moore’s Laws – which is one more than one Moore’s Law. .mod]
Climate Science is getting cloudier all the time. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take them cirrusly.
… bad, and yet good. (^_^)
I rate that one higher than Bastardi’s comment that a Napoleon storm is one that gets “Blonaparte”.
Here’s what pigs looked like before Al Gore was an alarmist.
A sign of the anthroporcine epoch?
Surely all this proves is that thanks to global warming the now thinner pigs will also become denser and therefore tougher to eat. Dentists everywhere should rejoice.
Will this apply to other animals? I feel we should be told.
“Swine are particularly vulnerable to hot weather:”
Geez, the pigs I saw in the South East Pacific and Thailand, where it is like really hot and humid, have never heard of this. And the pigs were doing exceptionally fine there. That they are particularly vulnerable to hot weather I don’t dispute…I was having a whale of time getting by too. As long as they have mud to wallow in, and have a proper diet and clean water, they seem to just thrive whatever the temperature is. And global warming is not accelerating temps at the equator anyway, it is just hot there all the time and pork is their principal meat market. Don’t tell the pigs this, or they will be wanting A/C.
Maybe this is a little off topic but, it has to do with PIG/Humans.
https://www.sott.net/article/265736-Human-origins-Are-we-primate-pig-hybrids
USA’s overweight problem just solved by global warming! Everything is awesome! /SARC
This news is a blow to all Muslims who had hoped that Global Warming would eventually eliminate all pigs by atrophy, (and all dogs too)! This is a swine of a blow to their hopes.
Don’t tell the feral pigs where I live in Queensland Australia. I live next to a National Park, in the Tropics. Every 1 to 2 years they bring in shooters to cut the numbers.
Scientific American. ‘Nuff said.