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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:
COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF SWINE MANURE SLURRY IN A SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2000 | No Comments
Managing Manure as a Fertilizer
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When used properly, animal manure can be a valuable source of plant nutrients and organic matter to improve crop production and soil quality. It can be found in solid, semi-solid and liquid form. Solid and semi-solid have higher organic content than liquid. When using manure as a fertilizer, it is important to understand that only a portion of the manure nutrients are immediately available.
Some challenges facing the use of manure as a fertilizer are 1) Variability in nutrient content and form, which necessitates manure sampling and analysis to determine appropriate rates of application to meet crop nutrient requirements, 2) Manure may not match the cropa
Environmental Justice, Swine Production and Farm Loss in North Carolina
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Investigation of Seepage from Earthen Animal Manure Storages
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Largely because of their low cost, earthen manure storages are the choice of most Manitoba hog producers but currently there are few case studies documenting the effects of these storages on underlying groundwater supplies. This project involves study of six established storages in three distinct geological settings in southern Manitoba. The field component of the study included removing continuous sample cores from the bases of the structures and documenting local geology and groundwater condition. The laboratory component included geological classification of the sample cores and determining the concentration of contamination within the cores by determining the movement of chloride ions in seepage through the soil under the respective storages. Mathematical modeling was carried out so contaminant seepage could be predicted in the future. Contrary to what would be expected based on the usual hydraulic conductivity levels for Manitoba clay and till, the study showed contaminants from the storages moved deeper in clay than in till. These results suggest that fractures in the clay units examined acted as conduits for fluid flow, a factor that should be considered when developing design criteria for these kinds of storages.
Earthen Manure Storage Monitoring – PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc.
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Oil Sprinkling and Dietary Manipluation to Reduce Odour
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Estimating Lean Growth Rate In Grower Pigs Using Packer Plant Data
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The industry is increasingly using information on lean tissue gain to determine nutrient requirements of grower-finisher pigs. Therefore, a working knowledge of how to determine lean growth rates for a particular herd is essential when using any type of modeling or factorial approach, including NRC (1998), to determine nutrient requirements for growing-finishing pigs. There are many different ways to determine lean tissue gain, including the use of packing plant data obtained from the final carcass to the use of realtime ultrasound. This article will give a review of a method using packing plant carcass data that can be used on any farm.
The determined lean tissue gain over the grower-finisher period can then be used in any model, including NRC (1998), to determine the nutrient requirements for that particular herd. To determine lean tissue gain over the grow/finish period, the initial lean subtracted from the final lean gives an estimate of lean tissue gain during the grower-finisher period. To get the average daily lean growth rate, divide the lean tissue gain by the number of days in the grower-finisher period. This value is then entered into the model to determine the nutrient requirements for that herd (or pig). More specifically, assuming that the lean content in a 25 kg pig is constant at 35% of live body weight gives the initial lean for the pig. Information from the packing plant provides the information needed to determine lean in the pig at slaughter. Taking the dressed weight and multiplying it by the % yield (obtained from the grading certificate from the packing plant) will give the lean in the carcass. However, 8 kg must be subtracted from the carcass lean to account for the weight of the head, feet, tail, kidneys and leaf fat. An example calculation using Prairie Swine Centre Inc. data is provided in Table 1.
Specifically for the NRC (1998) model, the lean growth rate together with the diet DE content of feed intake information are entered to determine nutrient requirements. Therefore, it is important to measure the feed intake of the same pigs that provide the lean growth data. Be aware of some factors to consider when using this method to determine nutrient requirements. First, this approach cannot estimate a nutrient requirement higher than the level fed to the pigs whose performance was measured. For example, the approach estimates the amount of lysine needed to reach the measured level of performance. If the requirement estimate is near the amount fed, it is possible that lysine intake is limiting performance, and that the pig is capable of growing more rapidly with more lysine. In that case, it is important to repeat the measurements with a higher dietary lysine level. Requirement estimates made previously may no longer be appropriate after significant changes in genetics, health, stocking density, temperature or other factors. Close monitoring of performance and nutrients supplied in the diet will maximize productivity of that herd.
Two-airspace building design for reducing odour and gas emissions from grower-finisher barns
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Odour and gas emissions from swine operations have been known to be a nuisance to nearby residents. Since most pig barns in Canada have outside manure storage, there are two sources of odour and gas emissions. The possibility of keeping the manure inside the building would reduce the odour and gas emission sources to one. The objective of this study was to develop a two airspace building concept where pigs dung in an enclosed dunging area (EDA) above the slats which could result in an improvement of barn air quality as odours and gases would be contained in the EDA. Air removed from the EDA would be treated with a biofilter to reduce the overall emissions from a swine operation. Four types of openings for the EDA openings were investigated as well as the use of biofiltration for odour removal, pig behaviour and ventilation system. The use of an EDA with a full curtain opening was successful in reducing odour and ammonia concentrations by 20-40% respectively. Further steps to complete this project include full data analysis of the pig behaviour and odour and gas measurements based on the results obtained at the PSCI.