Modernizing a pig house offers better returns
Traditional pig farming remains widespread in many parts of Asia, though issues like efficiency, sustainability, food safety and animal welfare have prompted calls for modernization.
RAJESWARI RAMANEE outlines some of the ways pig houses are being upgraded.
Pig farms across Asia have been reinventing themselves for sustainable and efficient operations.
Pig housing depends on the farm itself, whether it is has commercial, free-range, closed or open housing. Where a Vietnamese farmer may invest in a super-efficient, 90% automated closed system at smart farms, a free-range property in New Zealand would allow pigs to run free, with substantial manual work involved.
Nigel Godde, Regional Sales Director at Big Dutchman’s Pig Business Unit, told Asian Agribiz it is imperative to have the correct product range for each country in Asia’s diverse market.
“Markets such as Thailand are mature, and clients are well-versed in the benefits of investing in high-quality, biosecure systems. However, farmers in developing countries may not want or have the capacity to invest in such high-capacity systems and equipment,” he said.
His view is echoed by Wasu Kasimani, General Manager of Chau Yang Farm, a CP subsidiary in Malaysia. Dr Wasu, a swine veterinarian with over a decade of experience, said zoning is an issue in majority-Muslim Malaysia, where waste management issues are often raised in the local media, making it a key factor in housing plans.
Chau Yang has separate sow, breeder and gestational units; weaner and finishing units; and a fattening unit. It also has a biogas unit, sanitation building, workers’ quarters and observation area. It follows CP’s model in Thailand, which the livestock major has emulated in its other overseas operations.
CP has been replacing farrowing crates with gestation pens and expects all its pig houses to follow this model by 2025.
Dr Wasu told Asian Pork Magazine that a typical pen features shallow water canals in which the pigs can wade to cool down. Pits are present under the pen floors, which are sloped so that urine and manure will flow to the canals. The water in these canals is flushed daily and their contents are sent directly to the biogas installation. He said slate flooring is necessary to ease waste collection and prevent the pigs from slipping.
The biogas installation is a covered pond that is treated with chemicals; the resulting methane is piped back to produce 200kW of electricity. The biogas generated allows the farm to reduce its power bill by half.
Automation
Closed housing can feature automated solutions such as volume-controlled feed and water dispensers, pig separators, scales, light sensors, 3D-cameras and cloud data collection.
Pricing varies from big brands such as Big Dutchman to Chinese-made copies that are widespread in the market. However, automated housing has been gaining popularity as it can improve animal health, production and labor efficiency.
Mr Godde said the adoption of new technology is specific to location and climate. For instance, the focus in southern Thailand is on maximizing finisher production in hot weather while saving energy costs.
“For this, Big Dutchman concentrates on tunnel ventilation, incorporating into our climate design high-end direct-drive 57-inch BD Blue Fans. This is controlled with our 307 Climatic Computer. The combination delivers the highest air capacity while delivering reduced energy costs to our customers,” he said.
Nevertheless, pig producers in parts of Southern Queensland, where temperatures can vary from below freezing in winter to plus 40 degrees in the summer, require something different.
“We were asked for a ventilation package that gives a high level of control in the farrowing house to combat wide fluctuations in outside temperatures to maximize weaned piglets per sow while achieving a higher weaned weight,” Mr Godde said.
“We were able to deliver this solution through a turnkey design incorporating an Agricon insulated farrowing house while utilizing our CL600 variable speed fan in combination with the CL1540 Inlet,” he explained. Agricon is BD’s specialized arm that provides prefabricated building structures.
Big Dutchman also offers the Sunfarm concept which uses a photovoltaic system for environmentally friendly power generation and greater energy efficiency. It can bring savings of up to 70% on energy use and 70% CO2 reduction.