Baseline Environmental Data Collection for Research and Production Facility

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Introduction
Potential environmental impacts associated with intensive livestock operations are recognized as a major factor limiting the establishment of these
operations in the Prairies. To determine the true environmental impacts of an intensive livestock
operation, one must compare the change in environmental conditions before and after the facility is constructed and in operation. The
PSCI Elstow Research Farm is included in this study.

Objectives
To collect environmental data for a “pre-operationa

Environmental Injustice in North Carolina's Hog Industry

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Concerns have been expressed about the development of North Carolina’s hog industry in poor and non-white communities of the state. Approximately 2,500 North Carolina hog opeations locations were examined in relation to racial, economic and water source and characteristics of census block groups. Poisson regression was used to determine relationships between racial, economic and water supply to intensive hog operations after adjusting for population density.

There were approximately 7.2 more hog operations in areas in the rngae of 21-100% poverty as compared to areas with less than 5% poverty, after making adjustments for population density. Areas with non-white residents between 8.8 – 100% were five times more likely to have a hog operation within 1-2 miles of their residence, as compared to areas with less than 5 % of the population represented by non-white residents after adjusting for population density. Hog operations were reported the greatest in areas of high poverty and a large non-white contingent, as well these operations were more likely to be operated by a corporate organization, opposed to independent producers.

Odor Treatment- Biofiltration

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A biofilter uses moist organic materials to absorb and then biologically degrade odorous compounds. The materials that have been used for biofilter construction include compost, soil, peat, chipped brush and bark and their depth typically ranges from 1 to 1.5 meters. They have been shown to be effective at treating essentially all of the odors associated with composting, including ammonia and a wide range of volatile organic compounds. In many cases biofiltration is both the least expensive and most effective treatment option in controlling odor.

Agricultural lung diseases

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Emission of greenhouse gases during composting of deep litter from pig production – effect of straw content

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Of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission in Denmark animal manure contributes an estimated
40% of methane (CH4) and 20% of nitrous oxide (N2O). Livestock production systems undergo
changes for the purpose of increasing animal welfare, and such changes often include increasing the
amounts of bedding manure. Emission of greenhouse gases from composting pig deep litter was
studied during a 4-month period. Effects of increasing the amount of straw used in deep litter
(reducing litter density) were included in the study. Methane was produced at a high rate in the centre of the heap at high density during the thermophilic phase of composting, and CH4 emission was only measured during this phase. In this treatment N2O was also produced in the centre both initially and after the temperature of the compost had dropped to below 45 A

Co-composting of spent pig litter and sludge with forced-aeration

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A Checklist of Nutritional, Environmental and Management Strategies for Voluntary Feed Intake

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Measuring feed intake is still one of the best ways to accurately formulate diets for swine. After all, if you don’t know what the average daily feed intake is how can you accurately predict carcass performance. In order to accurately measure feed intake, feed disappearance must be measured at two periods during each stage of the growth cycle. As well, pig weights need to be measured corresponding to the times when feed intake is monitored. Placing the collected information such as PorlMASTER (Univ of Guelph) or GrowthMASTER (Prairie Swine Centre) will plot the ADFI against NRC values. Only then will producers get an accurate reflection of the what the pigs are consuming on a daily basis.

Farrowing and Savaging in Wild Boar Sows (Poster)

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The Building of PSC Elstow Research Farm

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Micronized and flaked wheat in nursery diets

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Micronization and flaking are likely to improve grain nutrient utilization by young pigs. One hundred sixty pigs weaned at 13.4 +/- 1.0 days of age were used to determine the effect of the inclusion of either micronized, flaked and ground or just ground white wheat (AC Karma) in nursery diets. Micronization and flaking increased the wheata