SEARCH
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:
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
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
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
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Nitrogen budgets and losses in livestock systems
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Production Systems Management and Conservation Practices
Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments
Farmers manage soils, pests, nutrients, and other inputs as part of a system of inter-related production and conservation practices, whether in conventional systems (used by most U.S. farmers) or organic systems. Among all U.S. farmers, those who adopt selected conservation practices (such as crop
rotation, conservation tillage, scouting for pests, and soil testing) are more likely than non-adopters to be younger, full-time operators who plant more acreage and participate in government programs. (Characteristics of organic farming systems are examined in chapter 4.9.)
Development of Weanling Feeding Program Based on Age and Weight
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Summary
Pigs were divided at weaning into 2 weight groups and 2 age groups and fed 3 different amounts of a Phase 1 diet to examine whether weaning feeding programs should be tailored to the age and/or weight of the pig. Bodyweight at weaning, but not age resulted in improved performance at day 53 post-weaning. Feeding program had no effect on growth or feed efficiency performance, or the variability in growth.
Introduction
Feeding the newly weaned pig is becoming an increasingly complex challenge, as multiple forces present themselves to pork producers. These forces include needs for lower cost, less antibiotic usage, improved performance and reduced variability. In this experiment, the impact of both the pig weight and age at weaning, as well as the quantity of each phase of diet offered to the pig were evaluated. We hypothesized that the lighter pig, and the younger pig within the lighter sub-group, would respond more to the higher quality diets; and therefore they would improve relative to similar pigs fed a poorer diet. This would result in improved overall performance and a reduction in body weight variability at the time of nursery exit.
Results and Discussion
Diet nor intake treatment affected performance (P > 0.05).> Initial body weight group affected final BW (Table 2), ADG (Table 3) and ADFI (Table 4) throughout the trial (P < 0.001). Initial age affected BW and feed intake, but surprisingly had no effect on ADG or feed efficiency. Within a weight block, the older pigs began the trial 40 to 70 grams heavier than the younger pigs. The effect of initial weight and age on BW was observed at each weigh point, but became less pronounced as the trial progressed. Heavier pigs consistently grew faster than lighter pigs, and older pigs generally grew faster than younger pigs. Similar results were observed for feed intake. The effects of initial body weight group and age on feed efficiency (Table 5) were inconsistent. Generally, heavier pigs used feed more efficiently than lighter pigs; this effect achieved significance by the second half of the experiment. However, by the final week of the experiment, pigs in the young treatment group tended to have an improved feed efficiency relative to those which were older at weaning.
The coefficient of variability (CV) of body weight was calculated within pens (n = 8); therefore it is possible that single aberrant pigs may skew the result (Table 6) and these numbers are not representative of the CV of the weaning group. The CV was less for heavier pigs throughout the experiment. Since this effect was observed at d 0 it is a reflection of the variability observed with the light weight pigs at the experiment initiation. Age had no effect on CV.
Implications
Pigs which are heavier at weaning perform better than lighter pigs, regardless of age or intake of Phase 1 diet, which had only modest effects on performance.
Acknowledgements
Strategic funding provided by Sask Pork, Alberta Pork, Manitoba Pork and Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Development Fund. Funding for this project Hamlet Protein, Denmark is gratefully appreciated.