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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
EPA Region 6 Proposed NPDES CAFO General Permits: Requirements for Nutrient Management and Utilization
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 0000 | No Comments
Comparison of Alternative Grain Sources for Swine Diets and Their Effect on Performance, Meat Quality and Fat Quality Traits
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Barley and white corn are two alternative grain sources in swine diets that have been proposed to improve the meat quality of pork produced for value-added export markets. In addition to quality traits, performance and carcass characteristics of pigs fed diets based on alternative grain sources must be evaluated.In this study, animals fed diets containing different energy sources did not express a difference in average daily gain, average daily feed intake, feed efficiency, back fat depth, and percent fat-free lean. However, barley-fed pigs had a smaller loin muscle area than pigs fed corn-based diets. Diet did not have an effect on sensory panel traits for tenderness or chewiness and limited differences were observed for juiciness, flavor and off flavor. Percentage loin purge and cooking loss did not differ among diets with minimal differences noted for color values. Pigs fed barley diets did have a lower iodine value content within the subcutaneous fat, indicating that the fat is of a harder, firmer quality. Results of this trial suggest that barley does not have an advantage in meat quality traits when compared to traditional corn-based diets. Barley did, however, have a significant impact on the hardness of pork fat, but did not have an effect on subjective color values. Use of barley or white corn as an energy source in swine diets should be based on their relative cost and availability.
Comprehensive Animal Nutrient Management System (CANMS): A Decision Support Tool
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Gas and Odour Emissions
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Pressure continues to increase on swine producers to reduce gas and odour emissions. This paper discusses the differences between gases and odours and concentrations and emissions and method of control.
Odours are composed of a complex mixture of gases and low concentrations and cannot be reliably measured. Gases are individual chemicals with either high or low concentrations and can be measure by several methods. Gas emissions are becoming more of a concern to regulatory agencies but it is the number of pounds emitted per head per day that is the concern, rather than simply the gas concentration (pounds/cubic foot of air). It is much easier to measure these gas concentrations than emissions. Emission rates depend on both the airflow (ventilation) rate and the gas concentration.
Odour and gas emissions from animal production systems originate from three primary sources. Manure storage facilities where there are several ways to control or reduce emissions such as, biocovers, which are effective or pit additives, which are unreliable and expensive. The second source is animal housing units where reduction of emissions is challenging though biofilters work for mechanically ventilated units. Finally the last source is land application of manure where emissions are reduced best by direct injection of the manure into the soil.
New treatments for reducing odours, gases, emissions and concentrations are being tested. Some work, others dona
On-Farm Odour Control Technologies: Issues, Current Options and Perspective for the Future
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Odour issues are no longer simply nuisances but are becoming health risks. In the U.S and elsewhere, agribusiness industries and research institutions are expending considerable time and resources towards on-farm odour control technologies and management practices to address this challenge.
Current odour technologies include diet manipulation, manure treatment, emissions treatment and emissions dispersion. Others include simply increasing the distance between odour producing sources and their neighbours.
Research in North Carolina has come up with a number of new technologies such as greenhouse vegetable production systems, constructed wetlands systems, upflow biofiltration systems, manure solids conversion to insect biomass (for value-added processing into animal feed protein meal and oil system), and many more. Some of these are in operation and others are still in design stages.
The current technologies, which are primarily for controlling water pollution, will not likely be adequate in the near future. This is why these new technologies are being identified and going through performance verification and economic feasibility tests. It must also be recognized that significant time, resources and incentives will be required in order to implement these new or adjusted technologies.
Rural Perceptions on Livestock and the Environment
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Hog Production in the province is intensive: over 2300 animals on average per farm. Odour is a source of inconveniences for hog farm operatorsa
Ingredient Processing and Enzyme Supplementation for Minimizing Nutrient Excretion and Manure Volume
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Nutrient excretion in pig manure and the total amount of manure excreted by pigs presents major challenges to the swine industry and threatens future growth and development of the industry. This is because excessive nutrient excretion (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus) is implicated in environmental pollution while the large volume of manure increases the cost of handling and disposal. Of the many strategies that could be used to address these challenges, nutritional manipulation strategies have been suggested to provide the most effective means. The potential to use micronization (high intensity infrared heating) and enzyme supplementation to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus excretion and manure output from growing pigs fed barley-peas-based diets was investigated in the research project reported herein. The micronization procedure and enzyme supplementation have been reported to increase nutrient utilization in some studies with both poultry and pigs but their value in mitigating nutrient and manure excretion is poorly understood. In this project, three experiments were completed. The effect of micronization on indicators (lysine availability, starch gelatinization, and water extract viscosity) of nutritional value was assessed in Experiment 1. The results showed that micronizing peas at 110-115 C and a moisture content of 25% substantially improved indicators of the nutritive value of peas for pigs and that storage time (up to 6 weeks) had no effect on the composition of dried micronized peas. In Experiments 2 and 3, nitrogen and phosphorus excretion and manure output were determined; ileal and fecal digestibilities of nutrients were determined in Experiment 3 only. Fecal phosphorus excretion was reduced by 27% and 17%, respectively, when pigs were fed diets containing micronized peas with or without enzyme supplementation in Experiment 2. Overall, including micronized peas in pig grower diets reduced total (feces plus urine) phosphorus excretion by 16%. Total nitrogen excretion was reduced by approximately 20% in the two experiments. Enzyme supplementation substantially increased total tract phosphorus digestibly and both micronization and enzyme supplementation substantially improved ileal amino acid digestibilities in the barley-pea based diets. The findings of the current project clearly indicate that the two strategies tested, namely micronization and enzyme supplementation, are useful tools for mitigating environmental concerns associated with pork production. They should be investigated further to optimize their usefulness.
Site Selection for Swine Facilities Based on Air Quality Issues and Modeling
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The regulations of the various governmental units are among the several factors to consider when siting a new swine facility. Historically these types of regulations have attempted to protect the environment as well as human health but are increasingly attempting to limit the nuisance potential of these facilities. These sorts of regulations are either prescriptive-based, performance-based or some combination of the two. Prescriptive practices are typically easier to enforce but may not always prevent environmental, human health or nuisance issues. Performance standards are typically based on known health or environmental impacts for certain pollutant concentrations and frequencies.Unfortunately, nuisance odours are very subjective which makes setting ambient standards (for use with performance-based standards) very difficult. Also, the monitoring methods required to show compliance are limited and often require extensive regulatory staff time.Air quality modeling can be used to show the likely potential to meet annual emissions standards or ambient air quality standards for new or expanding facilities but the accuracy of this information is a function of the accuracy of emission data. For livestock and poultry facilities this data is extremely limited, especially in the case of odours.Future regulatory solutions to prevent odour nuisance problems will include modeling of odour dispersion but the best solution will be to drastically reduce the generation and emissions of odour from all livestock and poultry facilities.