Composting Dead Pigs

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Separation of Pig Manure Under Slats: to Reduce Releases in the Environment!

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APPLICATION OF NEAR-INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY FOR DETERMINATION OF NUTRIENT CONTENTS IN LIQUID AND SOLID MANURES

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Nitrogen availability of anaerobic swine lagoon sludge: sludge source effects

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Optimization of Liquid Swine Manure Sidedress Rate and Method for Grain Corn

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Lagoon-Biogas Emissions and Carbon Balance Estimates of a Swine Production Facility

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Vegetated buffer strips to remove phosphorous in runoff – are they as good as people say?

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Vegetated buffer strips (VBS) are often promoted as a management practice that farmers can use to help prevent the environmental effects of runoff. Reports in the literature suggest that VBS can be remarkably effective for phosphorous (P) and other farm sourced environmental contaminants. Some claim up to 90% of P can be stopped by VBS. But these are in controlled experiments. What happens in the real world? This study, conducted by ECOMatters Inc., set out to answer that question for cropped land in Manitoba. Vegetated buffer strips are not precisely defined. They are best described as a band of perennial vegetation between a cropped field and the surface drainage ditch or stream. The overall conclusion is that VBS do retain P, but putting them into practice for Manitoba farmers will be very difficult. Runoff happens mostly in spring during snowmelt, and usually is focused into a few spots along the edge of the field. A VBS running the length of the field will be mostly unused, but where the runoff happens, unless the VBS is expanded in width at this location, the VBS will be saturated and unable to fully meet the demand. Vegetated swales should be much more effective, because the runoff passes over a greater length of vegetated ground. A field-edge VBS will help in rainfall events, and will have some limited benefit for snowmelt. Perhaps more importantly is how the VBS is managed. To be most effective, the vegetation should be harvested at intervals, perhaps at least every few years. Burning the VBS probably completely erases any benefit, because the P in the ash will be especially easily carried by runoff.

Industry Leadership Award presented to John Patience

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For Immediate Release:

Industry Leadership Award presented to John Patience

Saskatoon, SK., March 30, 2005: Dr. John Patience, President and CEO of Prairie Swine Centre recently received the Industry Leadership Award from the Alberta Pork Congress.
“The Elanco Animal Health sponsored Pork Industry Leadership Award seeks to honour individuals whose efforts reflect a commitment above and beyond accepted expectations of the pork industry in Alberta; to recognize individuals whose actions have become a valuable asset to the pork industry; and to acknowledge individuals whose actions have become models for peer recognition” quoted Trent Harris, Awards Chair for the Alberta Pork Congress. Mr. Harris went on to note “The committee was very supportive of the nomination of Dr. Patience as a worthy recipient of this award, and our first out-of-province award winner”.
Harry Korthuis, a member of the committee who nominated Dr. Patience, points out “John’s been an active participant in the pork industry for over 20 years in western Canada, providing a significant resource to pork producers both small and large. In particular, the activities of the Prairie Swine Centre over the past dozen years have made it easy to access practical research at numerous local meetings across the prairie region. “ On the nomination for the Leadership Award Mr. Korthuis stated “Personally I really appreciate being able to get straight answers from John, you know they are backed up with good data, and the fact that he has always made himself available to answer questions and help you apply the information profitably – This is the defining difference when I think of leadership.”
Dr. Patience accepted the Industry Leadership Award at the Alberta Pork Congress Industry Awards Banquet March 16 in Red Deer, Alberta. In accepting the award Dr. Patience noted the importance of the team of researchers, technicians, students and managers at Prairie Swine Centre Inc. who make it possible to receive such recognition.
Prairie Swine Centre Inc., located in Saskatoon, is a non-profit research corporation affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and is recognized globally for its contributions to practical, applied science in pork production in the disciplines of Nutrition, Engineering and Animal Behaviour.

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For more information, contact:
John Patience
President,
Prairie Swine Centre Inc.
Phone: 306-667-7442
Fax: 306-955-2510
E-mail: patience@sask.usask.ca

Lee Whittington
Manager, Information Services
Prairie Swine Centre Inc.
Phone: 306-667-7447
Fax: 306-955-2510
E-mail: Whittington@sask.usask.ca

The effects of housing grow-finish pigs in two different group sizes and at two floor space allocations

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Past studies on small group housing has found negative impacts of crowding on welfare. It has also been suggested that pigs in large groups are able to use space more efficiently. However, there has not been much research done on crowding in large groups. This study assesses space requirements for both small and large groups of pigs. The effects of space restriction on pig performance, behaviour, physiology, health and welfare was evaluated. Overall, crowded pigs had a lower growth rate and lower final body weight than uncrowded pigs. During the final week of the study growth rate was depressed 9.8%. Pigs housed in large groups experienced a 5.4% growth depression during the first 4 days after group formation. Interestingly, the first sign of depression in response to crowding occurred much sooner in large groups than in the small groups. However, the rate of depression of gain was more gradual in the large groups, therefore, final weights were similar for both small and large crowded groups of pigs. Overall crowded pigs had lower feed efficiency than uncrowded pigs. The level of crowding did not seem to have an effect on injury scoring or need for medical treatment. Group size did seem to affect injury scoring since pigs housed in large groups experienced a greater severity of lameness and leg injuries. Both crowding and large group housing were found to have negative impacts on pig performance. There was also little evidence to support that pigs in large groups were able to use space more efficiently than pigs in small groups.

Electricity generation from swine wastewater using microbial fuel cells

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Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a new method for treating animal wastewaters and simultaneously producing electricity. Preliminary tests using a two-chambered MFC with an aqueous cathode indicated that electricity could be generated from swine wastewater containing 83207190 mg/L of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) (maximum power density of 45mW/m2). More extensive tests with a single-chambered air cathode MFC produced a maximum power density with the animal wastewater of 261mW/m2 (200O resistor), which was 79% larger than that previously obtained with the same system using domestic wastewater (14678mW/m2) due to the higher concentration of organic matter in the swine wastewater. Power generation as a function of substrate concentration was modeled according to
saturation kinetics, with a maximum power density of Pmax ¼ 225mW=m2 (fixed 1000O resistor) and half-saturation concentration of Ks ¼ 1512mg=L (total COD). Ammonia was removed from 19871 to 3471 mg/L (83% removal). In order to try to increase power output and overall treatment efficiency, diluted (1:10) wastewater was sonicated and autoclaved. This pretreated wastewater generated 16% more power after treatment (11074mW/m2) than before treatment (9674mW/m2). SCOD removal was increased from 88% to 92% by stirring diluted wastewater, although power output slightly decreased. These results demonstrate that animal wastewaters such as this swine wastewater can be used for power generation in MFCs while at the same time achieving wastewater treatment.