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On Monday, October 14, 1996, our Advanced Track English class went to Nathan Hudson's hog farm within the outskirts of Laurel. When we looked down, we saw many different things. The first thing that came to our attention was an array of earthy tones. We saw short chickweed grass growing in clusters throughout the moist, grayish-brown soil. There were rough, red, and yellow ears of corn lying on the ground, decomposing in the sun. A layer of thin corn husks covered the ground.
As we looked out ten feet, there were even more things to see. A long, thin electric fence, about knee high, surrounded the farm, keeping the pigs from wandering. Enclosed in the fence, were about twenty-five wooden hog houses arranged in rows. These triangular shaped houses sheltered the pigs from the weather and sat four feet high and five feet long, reminding us of small teepees. There were eight metal grain dispensers whose purpose was to feed the hogs. You could hear the clanging from the dome shaped feeders, as the pigs opened and closed the feeder doors with their snouts to get food. There were also water troughs to quench the pigs' thirst. These troughs resembled miniature, wooden bathtubs. As we looked around we saw pink, black, white, brown, and spotted knee-high pigs. Some of the six month old pigs were caked with mud. They were playing, eating, drinking, and rooting in the ground.
In the distance, there were several other fields with a long, irrigation system for watering them. These fields also had pigs running through them. In one of the fields was a small shed where a tractor was kept. Pine and deciduous trees were fading into fall colors and swaying in the wind.
Besides seeing things, there are many things to hear and smell. Crickets were chirping loudly and pigs were grunting. The wind was whistling softly all around us. Surprisingly, there was no stench; it smelled like woods and hay.
As you can see, there are many things to observe on farms and many ways to observe them. The farm is an interesting place and represents our economy well.
Watch our movie of our trip! Note: the
movie is in .mov format and is 2.6 Meg in length.
Eighth Grade Advanced Track English Class
Laurel Middle School
Laurel, Delaware
