Hog producers have traditionally focused on managing feed consumption while usually ignoring electrical, fuel and water consumption. The main reason has been the lower cost of these resources. However, in today’s hog market, each penny saved is precious. It is therefore very important to examine these resources and ask whether it is possible to reduce their costs. The answer to this question is not only a profound yes, but reduced costs are easily achievable. This is possible because there is strong evidence that wasted energy exists in any hog operation, regardless of the farm size, management skills and whether such waste is small or big. Lower costs are easily achievable if one understands the relationship between pig’s performance on one hand and energy consumption on the other, as reflected in managing farm operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting, washing or manure disposal. Although such understanding may exist for the majority of farm managers through training and experience, it is not very effective unless there is a continuous reminder that workers are aware of all the time. Once a reminder system becomes available, it is easy to manage farm energy consumption. In this paper, you will see that using visual management tools can save up to $0.80/pig. On the other hand the $0.80/pig annual saving is translated into 0.075 GJ/pig of energy saving or 4 kg/pig of CO2 emitted from the farm. Targeting energy consumption saving is important for both survival in the current economy as well as for the environment. Puratone has developed a resource consumption management tool called BarnMax. The tool is based on the powerful “visual management” concept where people worked in or managed a hog farm are continually and visually exposed to the status of resource consumption. The tool was tried in a rudimentary form in 15 finisher farms at Puratone during 03/04. Results showed significant reduction in annual cost of energy. Farm workers’ skills in managing some of the essential operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting and manure disposal also improved. To capitalize on this opportunity, Puratone began improving the rudimentary system used earlier by automating the measuring, monitoring and reporting mechanisms of the tool. The improvements included: adding feed and water consumption management, development of user-friendly software and inexpensive measuring/monitoring process. The tool is currently in the final testing and debugging before application to all Puratone farms. Benefits gained in finisher farms were $200,000 in annual savings in energy consumption cost. Projected annual savings of $1,800,000 are expected from extending use of the system to nursery and sow farms. Resource consumption is a major cost control centre for pork production. The Puratone experience has shown that very considerable savings are possible in energy consumption by implementing an improved process control system. This system is based upon using optimum consumption as the benchmark, rather than historical consumption. Successful application of the system is a result of active monitoring and involvement by the farm staff.
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