A western Iowa farmer says a particular type of corn is to blame for some serious problems in his hogs. Jerry Rosman of Harlan says it’s causing his sows to have a fake pregnancy.Rosman says the animals go through all the motions — the equivalent of a woman going through a nine-month pregnancy and delivering a bag of water. Rosman says the culprit is Garst corn. Rosman’s vet and medical researchers, including a researcher at the U-S-D-A’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, asked that the corn be held for testing, but a judge has ordered that it be sold. Rosman says it shouldn’t be fed it to any animal.Rosman says there’s an unknown compound in the corn, and Baylor University researchers have detected it in canned corn and tortilla chips, too.Rosman’s swine herd has had reproductive problems for the past two years.He says federal ag officials are “scared to death to touch this thing” and “don’t want to intervene.” He says it’s a “shame, because we’ve got a real problem here.” Rosman is inviting reporters to his farm today to watch as the corn is hauled away under court order.
