Farmscape for March 31, 2022

A Research Scientist with the Prairie Swine Center says, by optimising the flow rates of nipple drinkers, swine barn operators can reduce the volumes of water wasted that ends up in the manure pit and dramatically reduce the cost of manure processing.
"Tips for Improving Your Facilities Operational Efficiency" was the topic yesterday of the first of two Prairie Swine Center 2022 spring producer meetings held via Zoom.
Dr. Bernardo Predicala, a Research Scientist Engineering with the Prairie Swine Center, who outlined a range of tips for improving swine barn operational efficiencies, says as much as 80 percent of the water used in barns is for animal drinking, some barns have cooling and the rest is used for cleaning.

Clip-Dr. Bernardo Predicala-Prairie Swine Center:
Flow rates contribute significantly to water wastage.
A study that looked at the flow rates of nipples in different barns, showed as much as 27 percent of them are set at flow rates that exceed the recommendations and this contributes directly to additional volumes for the manure slurry.
With additional volumes of slurry, due to as much as 40 percent of the water in the water nipple being wasted, then this translates to about 70 cents per pig in additional costs for hauling or managing the slurry.
It's been shown also that wet-dry feeders can contribute to savings of 34 percent for avoiding wastage of water.

Even though in many cases producers don't actually pay for the water, Dr. Predicala estimates they can save as much as nine dollars per pig by adjusting flow rates and by employing other strategies to reduce water wastage and the amount of water processed as manure.
For more visit the Prairie Swine Centre website at prairieswine.com or Farmscape.Ca.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

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