Phosphorus Losses through Agricultural Tile Drainage in Nova Scotia, Canada

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Monitoring of Aerial Pollutants Emitted from Swine Houses in Korea

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Determination of Ammonia Emission Factors for Swine Manure Application in Western Canada

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Ammonia loss from land-applied manure depends on weather conditions, manure characteristics, application technique and soil characteristics. Weather factors include temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and wind speed. Soil properties include moisture content, infiltration capacity, nutrient retention capacity, pH and soil chemistry. Manure characteristics affecting ammonia emissions include the ammonium concentration, pH and viscosity. The primary objective of an on-going research project at Brandon Research Centre is to develop ammonia emission factors for liquid swine manure under western Canadian conditions and practices. A secondary goal is to suggest methods (BMPs) for reducing emissions, particularly during periods when air quality is at risk. Since phosphorus accumulation in soils receiving manure is of concern due to increasing eutrification occurring in rivers and lakes, separating manures in order to improve the N:P ratio is under consideration as a method to improve phosphorus distribution. However chemicals added to enhance solids separation also alter the chemistry of manure and subsequently affect ammonia emissions from the liquids and solids after application. Accurate ammonia loss estimates from manure are needed to improve nutrient management recommendations and test the value of ammonia abatement techniques. Reliable measurements will assist in the development of emission calculation models to evaluate best cost, effective alternatives for reducing ammonia emissions. Many types of apparatuses have been developed for testing ammonia volatilization models to predict contributions to global livestock ammonia emissions. This study used wind tunnel measurements this technique has been identified as more suitable than small stationary chambers because temperature, humidity and natural airflow are more easily simulated. Wind tunnels can also be used on a small scale to compare multiple manure treatments and application techniques in a side-by-side analysis. This study concluded that under conditions of high air temperatures, a significant proportion of the ammonia nitrogen in manure could be lost from shallow banding or enhanced infiltration application techniques. Manure separation technologies that require the addition of alkaline flocculating agents could contribute to further ammonia losses by elevating the pH of both the liquid and the solid portion of the manure. The elevated pH increases nutrient loss and decreases the N:P ratio of the solid portion of the manure which may contribute to the phosphorus enrichment problem. Acidifying the liquids after solid-liquid separation should keep more of the ammonia in solution.

Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci and Fecal Indicators in Surface Water and Groundwater Impacted by a Concentrated Swine Feeding Operation

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Using Electricity to Kill Odour in Hog Manure

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Researching how to reduce odours from hog operations
is important in building good community relationships
between producers and their neighbours. Nigel J. Bunce, Professor of Chemistry, Research Associate
Dorin Bejan and Lisa Rabson, who will shortly start her M. Sc.
in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Guelph,
have previously shown that flowing an electric current
through liquid hog manure, using a process known as electrolysis,
can kill bacteria effectively on a small scale.
Even though there are challenges, using electrolysis is
advantageous to chemical treatment of manure because
it requires less complicated equipment and can be accomplished
at ordinary temperature and pressure. Additionally,
Bunce says, “reducing odour with electricity costs less than
using chemicals.” The team is planning further studies involving more
field treatments at a scale of 1,500 litres, which will
identify the lower limit of applied current needed and
the optimum treatment period
required to reduce bacterial populations
and odour in manure on
a large scale.

Production vs. Profit: Balancing Revenues and Costs

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Response of growing and finishing pigs to high and low crude protein diets

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Availability of crystalline amino acids has allowed reduction in the crude protein (CP) content of swine diets. Low CP diets supplemented with essential amino acids can decrease nitrogen excretion in the manure and is often more cost effective than using an additional amount of the particular protein source. Two experiments were conducted to study the performance of growing and finishing pigs fed high and low CP (4% lower) diets supplemented with crystalline amino acids. These experiment confirmed that performance could be maintained when either high or low crude protein diets are fed if amino acids are balanced and the diets are formulated to be similar in net energy.

Does Marketing Heavier Weights Pay

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Changes in agricultural policy throughout North America have seen a significant shift in the production and consumption of traditional feed grains. In particular the development of the ethanol industry will create significant challenges for the feeding sectors, especially in years when grain supplies may be limiting. Within the past 12 months pork producers within western Canada have experienced an increase in feed prices of between $10 – $16 per hog marketed.

Historically low feed grain prices through the previous two years have resulted in a higher finished hog weight, simply put, because pork producers generated a higher net income due to the low cost per kg gain. In addition, packers within western Canada have also taken this lead, through grid and loin premium enhancements that encouraged pork producers to increase market hog weight. Rising feed costs and fluctuating market hog prices are generating tight profit margins. Does marketing hogs at heavier weights continue to generate the greatest profit potential?

SOCIOLOGIE

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Les contraintes sociales comme décrites par Thu (1996) se réfèrent aux relations, interactions et valeurs
entre les personnes, la famille, le voisinage, la communauté et un groupe et celles-ci influencent le
comportement, les perceptions, les croyances, la qualité de vie et l’adaptation à des conditions
économiques. Les interactions entre les gens et leur environnement sont au coeur de ces contraintes
sociales.
Comme rapporté dans les comptes rendus de « Understanding the Impacts of Large-scale Swine
Production », organisé par Donham et Thu (1995), l’expansion de la production porcine est bien
documentée. Jusqu’à maintenant la plupart de l’attention a été portée sur les aspects technologiques de la
production et peu d’information existe sur les dimensions sociales de ces changements. Une attention
insuffisante a été consacrée à la compréhension de la manière dont les résidents et les communautés
rurales réagissent à ces importants changements technologiques qui surviennent avec l’industrialisation de
la production porcine (Thu, 1996). Par conséquent, plusieurs questions formulées par des producteurs,
des leaders communautaires et des groupes de développement communautaire sur les impacts potentiels
de l’expansion des porcheries de grande taille restent sans réponse.
Dans une tentative de mieux comprendre les contraintes sociales dont fait face la production porcine (tant
du point de vue des opposants que du point de vue des défenseurs), des entrevues personnelles et de
groupe ont été utilisées pour fournir des données qualitatives sur leurs raisons et leurs arguments. Ces
entrevues aident à comprendre « la réalité et l’objectivité » des plaintes des communautés (Donham et
Thu, 1996), et souvent comment la communication entre des groupes opposés est mauvaise.
L’honnêteté, le respect et la réciprocité sont les bases pour des relations humaines, sociales et de bon
voisinage harmonieuses. Dans certains cas, les changements survenus dans l’industrie porcine ont violé
ces valeurs. Inclus dans la liste des violations sont les exemples suivants: une construction qui débute
sans que les voisins ne soient informés comme si aucun inconvénient ne découlerait de cette nouvelle
installation; les craintes des voisins à propos des odeurs considérées comme n’étant qu’émotionnelles,
subjectives, ne relevant que des perceptions et invalides et, comme n’ayant aucune base scientifique; le
manque de solidarité car les voisins ne travaillent pas ensemble pour trouver des solutions; et finalement
les aspects économiques et politiques du projet qui prennent une place prédominante dans les relations
entre voisins avec bien peu d’emphase les aspects sociaux (Thu, 1996).
Les odeurs sont perçues comme la principale contrainte de l’industrie porcine, cependant Thu (1996)
présente plusieurs autres aspects qui ont été soulevés lors des entrevues avec des résidents représentant
différents milieux en Caroline du Nord et en Iowa. Ceci suggère que la résolution des problèmes
d’odeurs ne solutionnerait pas tous les problèmes auquels font face les producteurs de porcs. Thu
(1996:63) a listé ces craintes comme étant: la peur de contamination des cours d’eau publics et des puits,
une diminution des valeurs immobiliaires, la disparition des fermes porcines familiales, des pertes
d’emplois, une perte de contrôle au niveau de la communauté, une perte de valeurs communautaires
comme le voisinage, une absence de prises de décision officielles en plus de problèmes plus spécifiques
reliés aux odeurs qui incluent les empêchements des activités sociales et familiales habituelles et le
développement d’une foule de symptômes au niveau de la santé.
Par exemple, des individus se sentiront lésés par les activités agricoles lorsqu’ils ne peuvent plus profiter
des activités de plein air dans leur cour autant qu’ils n’aimeraient et ce à cause des nuisances (odeurs ou
poussières), que des odeurs fortes envahissent leur maison sur de longues périodes, que les eaux de
surface et souterraines se dégradent ou qu’ils sentent une menace pour leur santé (Tessier, 1998).

Visual Management and Energy Consumption on Hog Farms

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Hog producers have traditionally focused on managing feed consumption while usually ignoring electrical, fuel and water consumption. The main reason has been the lower cost of these resources. However, in today’s hog market, each penny saved is precious. It is therefore very important to examine these resources and ask whether it is possible to reduce their costs. The answer to this question is not only a profound yes, but reduced costs are easily achievable. This is possible because there is strong evidence that wasted energy exists in any hog operation, regardless of the farm size, management skills and whether such waste is small or big. Lower costs are easily achievable if one understands the relationship between pig’s performance on one hand and energy consumption on the other, as reflected in managing farm operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting, washing or manure disposal. Although such understanding may exist for the majority of farm managers through training and experience, it is not very effective unless there is a continuous reminder that workers are aware of all the time. Once a reminder system becomes available, it is easy to manage farm energy consumption. In this paper, you will see that using visual management tools can save up to $0.80/pig. On the other hand the $0.80/pig annual saving is translated into 0.075 GJ/pig of energy saving or 4 kg/pig of CO2 emitted from the farm. Targeting energy consumption saving is important for both survival in the current economy as well as for the environment. Puratone has developed a resource consumption management tool called BarnMax. The tool is based on the powerful “visual management” concept where people worked in or managed a hog farm are continually and visually exposed to the status of resource consumption. The tool was tried in a rudimentary form in 15 finisher farms at Puratone during 03/04. Results showed significant reduction in annual cost of energy. Farm workers’ skills in managing some of the essential operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting and manure disposal also improved. To capitalize on this opportunity, Puratone began improving the rudimentary system used earlier by automating the measuring, monitoring and reporting mechanisms of the tool. The improvements included: adding feed and water consumption management, development of user-friendly software and inexpensive measuring/monitoring process. The tool is currently in the final testing and debugging before application to all Puratone farms. Benefits gained in finisher farms were $200,000 in annual savings in energy consumption cost. Projected annual savings of $1,800,000 are expected from extending use of the system to nursery and sow farms. Resource consumption is a major cost control centre for pork production. The Puratone experience has shown that very considerable savings are possible in energy consumption by implementing an improved process control system. This system is based upon using optimum consumption as the benchmark, rather than historical consumption. Successful application of the system is a result of active monitoring and involvement by the farm staff.