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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:
Environmental Challenges and Opportunities to Manure Handling
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For many generations, animal manure has been used as organic fertiliser to grow various crops on Canadian farms. After numerous developments in manure treatments and technologies over the last 20 years, a large portion of swine manure produced every year is still land applied, as this agricultural practice continues to represent a sustainable way of managing nutrients. More recently, areas have emerged where swine production is concentrated and where it is no longer possible to simply handle manure as a raw crop fertiliser. Some of the factors responsible for that concentration include a decrease in the number of farms, increasing average farm size, access to feed, labour, packing plants, etc. Consequently, it is crucial to develop new production practices or manure treatment techniques to help the industry and protect the environment. Numerous research projects completed in Canada and elsewhere have clearly showed that excessive manure application rates can deteriorate soil conditions and water quality. Gaseous contaminants are also emitted from swine manure handling and contribute to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Raw swine manure can also contain pathogens representing some risks for human health. Under certain conditions, applying manure to the land can represent an environmental risk. When this risk is increased to a certain level by the combination of various factors, alternatives to land application need to be considered. Handling liquid manure still reduces labour and building capital costs, as was the case in the early eighties. However, liquid manure also brings numerous challenges and one option recently considered is the separation of feces and urine right at the source without producing liquid manure. This will slow down the manure degradation process, which will reduce odour emissions. If only few technologies were available to treat swine manure in Canada 10 years ago, there are now all kinds of options available on the market. Most of these treatment systems are based on the following basic principles: mechanical separation, aerobic or anaerobic digestion, nitrification/denitrification processes, aggregation, ultra-filtration, reverse osmoses, and biological treatment. Some of the technologies are ready to be used on farms and others are still in development. The selection of the best manure treatment system for a particular farm will require the professional assistance of competent and complementary resources. Research teams should continue to dedicate efforts in developing new production practices for the swine industry. Although more work has to be done to bring existing and promising manure treatment technologies to a level where they are more applicable and practical for farms, we need to think outside the box and review the overall production system. The potential impact of swine manure on the environment can be reduced using manure handling technologies. These technologies will improve the ambient air, water and soil quality. Continuous research and development efforts to identify new integrated strategies for manure handling will help the Canadian swine industry becoming even more sustainable.
Soil Nitrogen and Phosphorus Availability for Field-Applied Slurry from Swine Fed Traditional and Low-Phytate Corn
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The objectives of this paper is to compare in situ availability of nitrogen and phosphorus content at two field sites. One site received three annual additions of manure from swine fed low-phytate corn or traditional corn diets or inorganic fertilizer, surface applied to rainfed no-till sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. A second site received a one-time application and incorporation of the same nutrient treatments to irrigated corn. Potentially mineralizable N was 70% of applied N and extractable P was 100% of applied P for manure from both diets. Incorporation of swine slurry reduced potentially mineralizable N to 40% the year of application and 30% the year after application and reduced extractable P to 60% the year of application and 40% the year after application for both diets. Modified diets reduced the P content of the manure but not the availability of N or P.
Hog Manure and Domestic Wastewater Management Objectives
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The objective of this publication is to identify the differences and similarities between managing municipal wastewater and managing the manure from grow-finish pig systems. There are two defining differences between domestic wastewater treatment and animal manure systems:1. Domestic wastewater systems discharge large volumes of treated water directly to surface waters of the state, whereas it is illegal to discharge manure from storage facilities or in runoff
from agricultural fields into surface waters of the state. 2. Manure is a valued fertilizer on many hog operations, whereas human excreta are a component of a waste stream that is a net cost for homeowners, towns and municipalities.
Hog manure typically has little added wasteewater,
resulting in a product that has substantially higher concentrations of nutrients and organic matter than human wastewater. These higher concentrations make it feasible to use the manure as a fertilizer source for crop production.
On-farm demonstration of a technology for recuperation and elimination of methane from the manure storage tank
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2006 | No Comments
The Canadian swine industry produces around 2 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents of methane gas per year. This corresponds to 54% of the emissions coming from manure management in Canada. A reduction in methane emissions would mean a better management of organic carbon coming from manure. Regarding dinitrogen oxide (N2O), pig manure emits annually 130 000 tons of this gas in CO2 equivalents. Reducing these nitrogen losses to the atmosphere would improve the energy efficiency of soil fertilizers. The efficiency of a floating roof to reduce nitrogen losses and the ability of a biofilter to trap and oxidize methane emitted from a slurry storage tank had been examined. This study confirmed that a covered tank emits much less ammonia than a non-covered one. This improved nitrogen conservation reduces the cost of nitrogen fertilizers. Considering annual precipitations of 600mm, a floating roof increases the storage capacity of the tank by 15%. Generally, installing a cover on an existing tank is less expensive than building a new covered tank. According to literature, hermetic covers offer an excellent odour-reducing potential. In terms of methane oxidization and its consequent decreased emission, biofiltration showed very encouraging results: a decrease in methane emissions by 80% or more with every type of filter material tested. Thus, a floating cover can altogether decrease odours and manure dilution, and increase the storage capacity of the tank and the nitrogen concentration of the pig slurry.
Pilot project on composting dead animals with the Biovator(TM) composter
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A cylindrical composter designed for composting dead animals has been commercialized for a certain time in Canada under the brand name BiovatorTM.. The main objective was to confirm the efficiency of the BiovatorTM. in Québec’s province pig farms. After a technical adaptation period, the appropriate stability of the process has been reached. Numerous samplings and physicochemical, microbiological and pathogenicity analyses showed that the compost, although not mature, is adequate for spreading in the field, under Québec’s governmental dispositions, having interesting soil fertilizer and amendment characteristics. Despite episodes of less intense composting due to massive inputs of swine carcasses (associated with a temperature drop inside the first section of the composter), the process has always been stabilized afterwards. Moreover, no leachate run-off was observed. The compost produced was stored on a concrete slab, in an area protected against bad weather. An economical study was also done, detailing the costs related to this technology and offering an interesting decision-making tool. Québec’s ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food validated this new technology. This project showed the BiovatorTM to have many advantages: it requires little more labour than for the carcass collection service, performs efficiently in the diverse weather conditions of southern Québec, allows rapid removal of pig carcasses from the buildings and rapidly decomposes those carcasses (within two weeks). It also eliminates the cost of the dead stock collection service and the risk of contamination by the incoming collection trucks.
SIDE-DELIVERY SPREADING OF MANURE
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Nitrogen budgets and losses in livestock systems
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