Sow Barn Renovation Costs Lower than Projected

Jun 05, 2018

Research conducted on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc has found the cost of converting barns for housing gestating sows from stall housing to group housing to be substantially lower than originally projected.

To assist pork producers in planning for the conversion of existing stall housing systems for gestating sows to group housing researchers tracked and documented barn conversions across Canada and is making that information available to producers at groupsowhousing.com.

Dr. Jenifer Brown, a research Scientist Ethology with the Prairie Swine Centre, says 12 conversions were tracked across Canada.

Dr. Jenifer Brown-Prairie Swine Centre:

Certainly there was a lot of speculation on what the cost of these renovations would be and what we found was that the cost per sow was lower than what was actually projected.

Certainly it does depend on how much concrete work has to be done or if you need to do a full renovation, stripping down the walls and altering your ventilation and those sorts of things.

In most cases farms did a minimal amount of concrete work.

Source : Farmscape

Video: Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.