Assessment of a biological treatment process to reduce gaseous emissions from swine manure

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments

A recent survey conducted by PSCI showed that 83% of barn workers may be exposed to potentially hazardous levels of gases, especially hydrogen sulphide (H2S), generated during in-barn manure handling tasks. A biological treatment approach developed for the containment of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in oil reservoirs has been shown to reduce the emission of H2S from swine manure. The combined application of metabolic inhibitors such as nitrite and molybdate tended to reduce the odour concentration from gas samples in semi-pilot scale tests, but the impact on ammonia levels was not evident during the length of the treatment test considered. Preliminary work on isolation and enrichment of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria from manure showed promising results, but further study is needed to verify the possibility of enriching a sulphide-oxidizing culture from swine manure and to assess the activity of the enriched culture in reducing the emission of sulphides from manure slurries. An on-going study is currently underway to examine various factors affecting the microbial culture aspects of this treatment approach and to implement the treatment in controlled room-scale tests in the barn. It is anticipated that further development and successful application of this treatment process in swine barns will reduce worker exposure to potential gaseous hazards (especially hydrogen sulphide) and improve the overall work environment in swine barns, thereby leading to better health and productivity of workers and animals.

Effect of dietary fat type on meat quality and fatty acid composition of various tissues in growing–finishing swine

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Living High on the Hog: Factory Farms, Federal Policy, and the Structural Transformation of Swine Production

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Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), sometimes called factory farms or industrial animal operations, are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as livestock operations that do not sustain their own crops or other animal feed and that house more than 1,000 “animal units”—equivalent to 2,500 swine of 55 pounds or more. Hog CAFOs in particular have been widely criticized in the environmental, public health, and toxics literature. Main concerns include nutrient runoff from manure, which leads to water and soil contamination; particulate matter air pollution; and overwhelming odor. This study finds that after the passage of the 1996 Farm Bill, the average market price of hog feed was 26% lower than what the feed cost to produce. This decline brought operating costs for CAFOs down by 15%. The savings to CAFOs between 1997 and 2005 averaged $947 million per year, a 535% increase over the 1986-1996 period. Also drawing on data provided in two academic studies that assess the cost of alternative manure-management strategies, we find that the use of alternative technologies and/or the acquisition of more land to reduce over-application of manure would raise CAFOs’ operating costs by 2.4%-10.7%, depending on the strategy employed.
We conclude that in an economic climate of full-cost feed and with more stringent environmental regulation, CAFOs would see their operating costs rise by between 17.4% and 25.7%. According to USDA estimates, this could virtually eliminate the apparent cost advantage CAFOs have had over mid-sized diversified hog producers. With these added costs, CAFOs may have difficulty out-competing mid-sized, diversified hog producers purely on cost. It may well be shown that CAFOs’ apparent economies of scale have been less the result of efficiency than they are the result of government policies that have favored large-scale industrial animal production.

Emerging Diseases of Africa and the Middle East

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Multifactorial testing of enrichment criteria: Pigs ‘demand’ hygiene and destructibility more than sound

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Environmental enrichment is important for the welfare of farm animals, which are often kept in barren environments (e.g. Young, 2003). In 2001 the European Commission adopted a directive (2001/93/EC) which states that: ‘‘Pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities, such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a mixture of such, which does not compromise the health of the animals.’’ The directive leaves considerable room for interpretation, as it is not clear what is proper investigation and manipulation. Furthermore, the value of enrichment material is most likely determined not only by the type of material as listed in the directive, but also by other material properties such as the amount and frequency of material provision, hygiene, destructibility and responsiveness. A semantic model, called RICHPIG, was constructed based on a systematic and formalized analysis of scientific information collected in a database (Bracke et al., 2007a,b). The relative importance of three assessment criteria (destructibility, hygiene and sound) were studied as treatments applied to groups of growing pigs in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorially designed experiment measuring a range of behavioural parameters. The objectives of the study were to examine how the treatments affect pig behaviour, how intensity-related measures relate to AMI, what this means for the relative importance of the three assessment criteria, and by implication to help further validate RICHPIG. These material properties were studied using a specially constructed object consisting of a piece of sisal rope, metal wire and three fixed chain links hanging in the pens. The object was considered to be not destructible (ND), hygienic (HY) and not making sound (NS). After a habituation period of 18 h treatments were applied in that the object was (or was not) made destructible with a partial cut in the rope (DE) and/or was soiled with excreta (not hygienic, NH) and/or was allowed to make a tinkling sound by releasing the chain links (SO). The three treatments were applied in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design on a commercial farm in seven replicates using seven different units containing eight pens per unit. At five moments in time, ranging from 18 h before until 1 h after treatment, a range of behaviours was recorded including the frequency-related parameter AMI (animal–material interactions) and four intensity related parameters. Repeated measures ANOVA’s showed significant effects of time and hygiene as well as interactions between time and hygiene, between time and destructibility and between destructibility and sound. Soiling (NH) significantly decreased, and destructibility (DE) significantly increased attractiveness, while sound (SO) was not significant. Only moderate correlations between AMI and the four, intensity related parameters were found, indicating that frequency-related parameters alone may not suffice to determine behavioural importance for animal welfare. This study showed that it is in principle possible to study material properties independent of material type and that it is in principle possible to measure behavioural intensities on a commercial farm. Furthermore, the finding that hygiene and destructibility were more important for pigs than tinkling sounds provided preliminary support for the RICHPIG model.

Nutrient Requirements of Prolific Sows

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The nutrient requirements of modern sows, and the availability of dietary nutrients for sows, are very poorly known in comparison to our knowledge of growing pigs. The number of published research papers in the last 40 years on growing pig nutrition is in the tens of thousands, however, there are only about 800 publications on sow nutrition listed in the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau database –less than 1% of all publications concerning pigs. If we still don’t know everything we need to about how to feed growing pigs – imagine what we don’t know about sows! The productivity of sows has increased dramatically in the last 20 years, however, the research, upon which current dietary recommendations are based, dates from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s (ARC 1981, NRC 1998).
In addition, many of the nutrient recommendations for sows are unverified extrapolations from research in growing pigs. Our recent research shows that the current recommendations for both energy and amino acid intake in sows (NRC 1998) are incorrect by a significant margin. The economic benefit to producers of research to revise and update the energy and amino acid requirements of sows is estimated to be worth in excess of $4.50 per pig marketed (Grier et al 2006).

History of Porcine Circoviral Disease (PCVD) and Current Western Canadian Situation

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Harding provides a look into the history of PCVD and PMWS diagnosis, including pathology and history of outbreaks. Today it is estimated that PCVD is present in 14% of finisher and farrow-to-finish operations in the 3 Western Canadian provinces. Common signs include wasting, pallor, diarrhoea, and laboured breathing. There are 2 vaccinations available at the time of writing and 2 more awaiting registration. PCV2 vaccinations are administered in the breeding herd in order to improve colostral immunity passage to piglets.

Quality of US Soybean Meal Compared to the Quality of Soybean Meal from Other Origins

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Water Utilization in Early Weaned Piglets Following Transport – Effect of Season and Space Allowance in Transit

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In spite of high health status, segregated early-weaned (SEW) piglets often show inadequate levels of feed intake immediately following weaning. Changes in housing and social reorganization, as well as the transition from liquid to solid feed, are believed to be contributing factors to the growth check in early-weaned piglets. In addition, a SEW management system requires piglets to be moved to a separate production site, often involving transport in excess of 12 hours. Transport is an additional stressor, involving mixing, crowding, cold, heat, temperature fluctuations, vibration and noise. The stress of weaning and transport may collectively cause dehydration at the end of the transport period. Diarrhea is often a problem at the time of weaning and can further exacerbate dehydration if piglets are not consuming adequate amounts of water. While post transport drinking behaviour is a valuable indication of thirst, a direct measure of water utilization may be more valuable to producers. This research project was designed to find out how much water is utilized by early-weaned transported piglets in each season and if space allowance during transport affects water utilization. The results confirmed that early-weaned piglets, especially in summer, utilized (consumed and spilled) more water on the first day following 24 hours of transport indicating a need to replace water losses. It is important to ensure water is accessible, clean and fresh to encourage drinking. Piglets on this study utilized an average of 5.32 L/pig on the day following a 24 hours transport. On this first day piglets drank most water during summer, an intermediate amount in spring and least following winter transport. This is probably a reflection of seasonal temperatures. As the risk of dehydration increases with increased ambient temperature, producers may benefit from taking measures to reduce truck temperatures in summer. Transport in the cooler parts of the day may be one such measure. Further research is still needed to determine the actual amounts of water consumed and wasted following transport in different seasons.

CLT & TQA Working Together

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Animal care and welfare are priorities of the pork industry. This is equally important when animals leave the farm for transport to market. The transportation of pigs in Canada and the United States is similar. The Certified Livestock Transporter (CLT) program in Canada and the Trucker Quality Assurance (TQA) in the United States share a common goal: To educate individuals who handle pigs about the importance of proper handling in the loading, transportation and unloading of the pig with attention to animal care. The National (USA) Pork Board introduced TQA in 2002. This program is offered to anyone delivering pigs to federally inspected packers in the USA. TQA addresses loading, transportation, unloading of pigs and how this affects animal welfare, biosecurity and pork quality. The CLT program received permission from the US National Pork Board to use their Trucker Quality Assurance training course as the basis for the CLT hog module. It was created under the guidance of Canadian transporters, researchers, federal and provincial government personnel, hog producers, veterinarians and industry representatives and was launched in May 2007. Both CLT and the TQA programs deal with how the driver’s attitude must be positive when handling and transporting animals. Tone of voice, body language, and handling practices affect the condition of livestock during loading and unloading. It is crucial for truckers and handlers to understand pig behavior and physiology in order to transport and handle them effectively. These courses also help in understanding that when a handler takes advantage of the animal’s natural movement the animal loads more quickly and arrives at the processor with less bruising and skin injuries, resulting in fewer losses. These courses also teach how to recognize signs of stress and how to read the body language of the animal. This helps the loader/driver determine whether or not to load the animal. Transporters have the responsibility not to ship any animal that shows symptoms of illness, has a severe injury or is extremely fatigued. Improperly designed chutes and ramps cause problems during loading and unloading. Design of the system should promote a pig’s natural following behavior. Loaders should use driving aids that help move animals in a safe, humane and timely manner. Sorting boards, plastic paddles and a witch’s cape are tools that are effective and humane. The CLT and TQA courses also teach drivers that they need to know how different weather conditions affect the pigs in their care. Best management techniques including, checklist of extreme weather measures and loading densities are covered. CLT provides truckers with a toll free line (1-800-506-2273) to report on concerns and seek advice, as well the truckers are notified of any regulatory changes, updates, security issues and other professional development workshops. The CLT and TQA courses also teach truckers that loaded commercial livestock trailers are at greater risk of being involved in a rollover situation than standard freight trailers. Studies indicate that the point of no return for a loaded double-decked livestock trailer is as little as 5º level. TQA gives a suggested plan of action in the case of a truck/trailer rollover. CLT covers emergency procedures as well as suggestions on incident response in its core manual. In 2006, almost six million Canadian feeder pigs were transported to the United States, most hauled by Canadian truckers. Total live hog exports in 2007 are on a pace to break the 2006 record of 8.76 million head exported. It makes sense that those who are involved with the transportation of pigs have access to programs on both sides of the border. Processors in both countries benefit because their customers, both domestic and foreign, will know that the animal was transported with the utmost animal welfare, biosecurity and pork quality in mind.