Touring A USDA-Inspected On-Farm Processing Facility - How Farms Are Treated Differently Based On Size (live Farm Tour) - Gunthorp Farms | #113
Episode description
Gunthorp Farms is a 3rd generation pork and poultry operation in northern Indiana with on-farm USDA-inspected processing. This tour covers the full farm from farrowing paddocks to kill floor, smokehouse, and wastewater treatment. Watch alongside the full podcast episode for the full story.
Key Topics
- Adaptive multi-paddock grazing in practice
- 50-paddock farrowing system and piglet management
- Building and running a USDA-inspected on-farm processing facility
- USDA enforcement: how small and large plants are treated differently
- Constructed wetland wastewater treatment
What You'll Learn
- How paddock size and recovery time shift by season
- What to ask when you visit a pig farm
- What it costs to build on-farm processing and where permitting breaks down
- How HACCP regulation actually gives small plants flexibility if you understand it
- Why scale changes food safety risk in ways inspection policy doesn't reflect
Connect w Greg & Gunthorp Farms
Full podcast interview
Follow the tour on YouTube
Timestamps
00:00:00 Adaptive multi-paddock grazing explained
00:03:00 Pig health, thermoregulation, and antibiotic-free management
00:05:00 What consumers should ask when visiting a pig farm
00:15:00 Energy-free waterers and farrowing paddock design
00:27:00 Kill floor overview and processing plant history
00:36:00 Permitting, wastewater, and navigating USDA regulation
00:45:00 Food safety: small vs large plant accountability
00:51:00 USDA enforcement disparities and advocacy
01:02:00 Packaging equipment walkthrough
01:13:00 Smokehouse construction and constructed wetland wastewater system