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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:
Humane on-farm killing of spent hens.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 1996 | No Comments
The Effect of Sawdust and Straw on Composting Swine Carcasses.
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As only two methods for carcasses disposal are accepted in Ontario: rendering and burial (carcasses covered with at least 0.6 m (2 ft) of soil), composting has been studied as an other alternative. The experiment was realized at the Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology where two composting protocols (fill for 2 months, compost 2 months turn and compost further for 2 other months; fill for 3 months, turn and compost further for 3 months) were tested and sawdust and straw were used as substrate/cover. 8 replications were done and 224 carcasses (192 market pig and 32 sow carcasses) were used where each compost heap received 6 carcasses > 100kg and 1 sow > 200kg. Observations showed that the composting process released low level of odour, resulted in fairly complete breakdown of the carcasses when using sawdust and that the demineralization of the skeletal components was good particularly when the sawdust was used. Temperatures were higher using sawdust compared to straw (60 vs. 53 C) and composting continued year round. Composting conditions were kept during the winter however, starting a compost cycle during severe cold winter conditions is not recommended. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the potential for disease transmission to the herd; to evaluate the impact of leachate to the environment; to evaluate other substrates; to develop simpler and less expensive protocol; and to evaluate the performance of chopped straw vs. long straw as sawdust is not always available at prices that can be compared to straw.
The composting process is interesting however as no composting cycle should be started in the cold winter period, this technique doesn’t give a year round solution to carcass disposal. No on-farm provisions is presented for this period of the year. The control of leachates would require some attention in order to prevent contamination.
Manure Value and Liveweight Swine Decisions
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When does Hog Odour Stink?
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The changes in the swine industry are presented as the number of swine producers decrease and the number of swine produced tend to increase. The production has also developed in area where few pigs were produced before such as North Carolina. As those changes happen enormous efforts have been made to understand the technical aspects of the production but no to little attention has been given to the understanding of how people and rural communities relate to those changes. Little effort has been given into understanding how odour objections relate to social factors, what is the nature of odour complaints from the perspective of the people complaining. In the expansion of the swine industry, in some case core social values of good neighboring are being violated: honesty, respect, reciprocity and sharing an identity. The common denominator of the resistance organizations in many states is a view that the rights to enjoy family and property have been violated and they have little recourse against it.
This brings a good view of some of the social factors under the opposition to swine production expansion.
Water Use and Drinker Management
Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments
Physiological responses to stress in the horse.
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An assessment of stress caused in sheep by watching slaughter of other sheep.
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Composting Dead Swine.
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Procedures are given for the composting of dead swine. When considering the location for the composter, attention should be given to natural drainage so the water coming from the precipitation does not stay in the compost pile and the composter should be away from waterways. Also in choosing the location, the nearby residences should be considered as the handling of dead swine is not slightly. Sawdust is a very good material for composting and gave better results than straw (with straw lower temperature were obtained, the composting process took longer time and leaching occurred). If using straw, hay, rice hulls or cornstalks, the particles should be chopped finely. In order to obtain a good compost, the design and management of the composter are important. 2.8 cubic meter (100 cubic feet) of saw dust are necessary per 450 kg (1000 LB) of carcasses. The composting system presented is composed of primary bins where the carcasses are first brought and secondary bins where the composted is moved after 3 months for the final 3 months composting cycle. Moving the compost helps the degradation as the material is mixed and oxygen is also added. A worksheet is presented to calculate the necessary parameter for the composter design (weight of carcasses to be composted, bin volume, bin surface, number of bins necessary, bins’ dimensions, sawdust required). For good composting, the inner temperature of the material should stay around 55 to 70 C (130 to 160 F) for 6 months. During cold weather, the process will slow down and in some cases (when frozen carcasses are brought to the composter) stop and will start again when the temperature warms up; the time needed to compost carcasses will be longer. A front-end of skid loader is needed in order to transport the sawdust, the carcasses and also the compost from the primary bin to the secondary bin and also to load the final compost into conventional “beater-type” manure spreader. Management of the composter is essential in order to control well the process (verification of the temperature in order to estimate of the 6 months period is enough to obtain mature compost, maintain correct level of humidity, add some nitrogen to speed up the degradation process) and prevent nuisances (such as odour, flies, rodents). As much as 50% mature compost can be used and mixed with dry sawdust as compost material.
This system is interesting however not enough information is given on the effect of prolonged extreme cold temperature. The design suggested for the bins would than not work as more time would be spent for the composting.
All elements are given for the composting of dead pigs, However in cold conditions, the degradation and composting process would probably be slower. More time would be needed to obtain mature compost. Some testing should be done to verify the efficiency of this process for long cold winter conditions. In soils that are permeable, a lining (concrete, clay, membrane) under the compost pile should be installed in order to prevent leachates infiltration that could occur.