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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:
EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES FROM A TYPICAL CHINESE SWINE FARROWING BARN
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
Effect of low initial C/N ratio on aerobic composting of swine manure with rice straw
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Emission inventory in Austria: state of the art and future developments
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It is mandatory for countries to annually report emissions. The Division of Agricultural Engi-neering (ILT) is involved in compiling the emission inventory for the agricultural sector in Austria. ILT is member of national and international working groups that update guidelines for emission inventories, and make proposals for abatement measures.
Measurement of odour and greenhouse gas emissions in two swine farrowing operations
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Odour associated with swine operations is from three main sources: (1) building exhaust, (2) manure storage, and (3) land application. However, odour from land application is becoming less of a concern as more and more swine producers are adopting manure injection. Odour emission from swine buildings is influenced by a number of factors, such as the type of operation, management practice, manure handling and storage, and ventilation. To develop odour control strategies, it is important to quantify odour emissions from each of the two main sources (buildings and manure storage). The first objective of this study was to quantify these relative odour contributions by comparing odour emissions between two similar swine operations with different manure storage systems – open and covered manure storage. This information will assist producers and regulatory authorities in making decisions on what to focus on, barns or manure storage, when adopting and recommending odour control technologies. It is estimated that agricultural operations contribute approximately 8% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2002 in Canada, with about 49% of that originating from livestock production (Matin et al. 2004). However, little is known about the relative contributions to GHG emissions from barns and manure storage in swine production. The second objective of this study was to determine these relative contibutions. Odour and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were measured on two 3000-sow swine farrowing farms, one with open earthen manure storage (EMS) and another with negative air pressure (NAP) covered EMS. Air samples were taken in Tedlar bags with a vacuum chamber from exhaust fans of barns and the NAP EMS. A wind tunnel was used to collect air samples from the manure surface in the open EMS. Collected samples were analyzed for odour concentrations with a dynamic dilution olfactometer and for GHG concentrations with gas chromatography. It was concluded that the open EMS contributed 57% to the total odour emission from the operation; whereas the NAP EMS contributed only 2% to the total emission. The total odour emission from the farm with NCP EMS was 58% of that from the farm with open EMS. The CO2 emission rates from the building exhaust were significantly higher in the farrowing rooms than that from gestation rooms. Both CO2 and CH4 emissions from the secondary cell of the NAP EMS were negligible in comparison with the primary cell or with the open EMS. The CO2 emission rate from the primary cell of the NAP EMS was significantly lower than that from the open EMS. Although the CH4 emission rate from primary cell of the NCP EMS was not significantly different from the open EMS, the total CH4 emission from the NCP EMS was only 26% of that from the open EMS because the size of the primary cell of the EMS was small in comparison with the open EMS.
Methods and data for the environmental inventory of contrasting pig production systems
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Factors Influencing the Concentration of Volatile Fatty Acids, Ammonia, and Other Nutrients in Stored Liquid Pig Manure
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In order to minimize odor and manage nutrients in liquid pig manure
we need to be able to predict what operational practices most influence
the concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), ammonium
nitrogen (NH4 1–N), and other nutrients present in the manure. It was found that the main reason for the differences
between the three types of manure was manure dilution. The average
dry matter content of finishing pig manure was 4.5 times that of sow
manure.
Flaxseed Meal in Swine Rations: Chemical Composition, Energy Content and Phosphorus Availability
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Flaxseed meal is a by-product of the flax processing industry. There is potential to use FSM as an ingredient for swine; however, prior to including it as a regular ingredient, its full nutritional profile must be determined. This includes determination of the DE and NE values, as well as determining the chemical composition of the meal and the availability of minerals such as phosphorus. FSM contains a high level of total P; however, up to 70% of this is bound by phytic acid and is thus unavailable for absorption by monogastric animals such as pigs. Evaluation of the effects of including microbial phytase into FSM based diets is important when looking at P availability. The first objective was to determine the DE of FSM in both sows and growing pigs through digestibility trials, allowing for the estimation of NE. Individually housed pigs were fed diets containing 0 or 30% FSM (6 gestating sows (200-300 kg) and 8 barrows (70 kg) per diet). FSM was included at the expense of the basal diet, which consisted of barley, wheat, soybean meal, and premix. Celite was included as an indigestible marker. The second objective was to determine the effects of including exogenous phytase (Phyzyme XP 5000G; EC 3.1.3.26, Danisco Animal Nutrition) on P availability. Barrows with average weights of 45 kg were assigned to one of 5 dietary treatments (8 pigs per treatment), each containing 30% FSM with increasing levels of exogenous phytase (0, 575, 1185, 2400 and 2570 FTU/kg diet). The semi-synthetic basal diet was composed of pea starch (50%), Solka-floc® (4%), casein (6%), dextrose (6%), vitamin/mineral premix (2%), canola oil (2%) and FSM (30%). This ensured that FSM was the only source of P, and celite was included as an indigestible marker. It was concluded that flaxseed meal contains, on average, 3520 kcal DE/kg and 2445 kcal NE/kg dry matter. There was no difference between age groups in terms of the DE or NE value of FSM. The crude protein content of FSM is 31.6% DM and the ether extract content is 12.2%. Inclusion of microbial phytase in diets containing 30% FSM significantly improves the apparent digestibility of P, which reduces the need to rely on dietary P supplementation. Inclusion of 575 FTU/kg diet phytase accounted for half of the overall improvement in P digestibility.
Survival Strategies – When Every Penny Counts
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It is a significant challenge to suggest how a Canadian pork producer in today’s economic environment can turn a loss into a profit. It is the intent of this paper to reinforce production practices backed by research and actual commercial practice to produce savings up to approximately $15 per hog for some farms. The focus of this paper is to look at the cost areas with the greatest potential for payback for the efforts invested. Feed, wages & benefits, and utilities & fuel account for nearly 70% of all expenditures in 2007 for a typical farm in western Canada. In order to minimize feed costs you must define the objectives of the feeding program to make it possible to select ingredients and a diet formulation that will minimize operational losses, as well you must ensure that the particle size stays within the 650-700 micron range. Utilities are the third largest expense in pork production after feed and labour. Today’s electricity prices are three times what they were in 2003. The utility costs can be cut down by limiting the use of heat lamps and move to heat mats, change from incandescent to T-8 fluorescent bulbs, reduce amount of light in nursery and grow finish rooms, and replace fans with energy efficient ones. Also you must ensure that the ventilation system in the barn is working properly. Conserving water is another way to reduce costs. Wasted water ends up as slurry and increases the cost of manure handling. There are opportunities for savings on every farm in Canada. Finding these savings takes a methodical and careful process of comparing targets to what is actually being achieved. These savings do not exist on all farms but some of these exist on all farms and in order to save money you must find and correct these problems. See the survival checklist at the end of this paper.