The Impact of Feeder Adjustment and Group Size/Density on Weanling Pig Performance
Nursery performance is negatively affected when crowding or reduced floor space increases ear chewing, tail-biting and side-nudging. Crowing often leads to decreased feed intake. Feeder adjustment may work synergistically with adequate floor space to improve pig performance. Reduced crowding is favoured as it increases body...
Mask Use in Swine Barns Reduces Health Effects
Dust and gas exposure is common in swine barns. Workers exposed are at a higher risk of having decreases in lung function levels, developing respiratory symptoms and increases in airway reactions. To reduce exposure, workers should wear a disposable respirator while in the barn. This...
Clogging and Flow Reduction in Soil Materials by Ponded Hog Manure
An economically viable option for storing manure is using earthen manure storage. Proper construction and soil materials are crucial to avoid contamination. Soil pores can be clogged by liquid hog manure, though this clogging is a surface effect and can be easily disturbed. Properly chosen...
Influence of Hog Manure Application on Water Quality and Soil Productivity
Impacts of organic fertilizers on the environment are not known on ecosystems that are semi-arid to sub-humid. Hog manure is a source of nutrients as a fertilizer and more research should be done to understand its impact. The presence and potential pollutants in the soil,...
Particle Size Reduction and Enzyme Supplementation Reduce Nutrient Excretion
Long-term sustainability of the swine industry is impacted by nutrient management. In order to reduce the nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen being produced at operations, some strategies that can be used are particle size reduction and enzyme supplementation. To reduce phosphorous excretion, the addition of phytase...
Earthen Manure Storage Monitoring: PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc.
As the Saskatchewan hog industry grows, so does the publics environmental awareness. This has led to earthen manure storages having higher standards to uphold to. These improvements have not decreased public concern, so solute migration through the liners of different hog manure storages are being...
Evaluation and Demonstration of Deads Composting as an Option for Dead Animal Management in Saskatchewan
As the hog industry expands, new advancements must be developed to ensure it is sustainable both economically and environmentally. An option that meets this criteria is composting for on-farm disposal of dead stock. A straw/manure mix made up a test compost pile with mortalities added...
Baseline Environmental Data Collection for Research and Production Facility
Intensive livestock operations have potential environmental impacts which limit the establishment of these operations. To understand the impact that is produced, the changes in environmental conditions before and after the facility is operating must be made. Air, soil and water were sampled around the facility...
Oil Sprinkling and Dietary Manipulation to Reduce Odour Control and Gas Emissions from Grower-Finisher Buildings – Laboratory Scale Experiment
Hog barns emit a continuous emission of odours by the ventilation system which have a negative impact on the surrounding area. Canola oil sprinkling and specific pig diets may be able to decrease the gas and odour emissions from swine buildings. Three diets were observed,...
Two-Airspace Buildings Design for Reducing Odour and Gas Emissions from Grower-Finisher Barns
Nearby residents often find odour and gas emissions from swine operations to be a nuisance. Most barns have outside manure storage which increases the odour sources; the outside manure storage and the barn. To reduce the emissions from the area, the manure could be kept...
Optimizing of a Sprinkling System using Undiluted Canola Oil for Dust Control in Pig Buildings
High dust levels in pig barns are a health hazard for farm workers. Different methods have been tested with oil spraying or sprinkling being the most effective method so far. Unfortunately, this used to require very intensive labour to manually spray the oil and its...
PAMI Builds Tanker Truck for Research and Demonstration
A truck-based system with vacuum/pressure tank was developed to apply swine manure to research and demonstration plots throughout Saskatchewan. It can travel long distances, use a high or low disturbance injection to apply swine manure and be able to pump manure from swine directly from...