In Nigeria, India, china, and some other parts of the world, the pervasive challenge linked with raising pigs (hogs) is keeping the odours from getting worse or probably eliminating them.
Most of the questions associated with controlling odours are; where are the odours originating from? What is the level of difficulty in managing the odours? How much will it cost a pig farmer to control these odours?
This article will look at seven (7) effective steps that can be used to manage odour in an environment where pigs are raised (piggery).
7 Ways to Manage Odours on a Pig Farm
1. Good Farm location
The location of your proposed pig farm matters a lot. The production facilities also depend on the farm location. That is why you must take into account the distance of piggery from residential places, the scale of production, and waste disposal channel available.
The farmer must also study the past prevailing winds for their direction, and regularity in different times of the year before siting a farm. The farm terrain also influences the intensity of the odour because as winds subside, it flows downward via valleys. Therefore, choosing an appropriate site for raising your pigs is the cheapest means of controlling odours in piggeries.
2. Proper Handling of Manure
When you inject manure (dung of pigs), you’ll reduce odour to about 52-76% in comparison to spreading the same manure. Injection of manure here is just like evacuating sewage from a sewage tank through the help of suction machines.
3. Manipulating Animal’s Diet
This may include reducing the levels of crude protein and bounding crystalline amino acids in the diet of the pigs. This is another cheap method and it can reduce odour by 20%.
4. Ventilation of the Pit
Majority of the odours generated in a pig farm comes from the dung pit. This adds more than half to the whole odour. When the dung pit is ventilated, volatilization is increased, and that provides limited advantages to the air quality inside.
5. Use of Biofilters
You can reduce odours and ammonia up to 65-80% by drawing exhaust air through a biofilter bed. Biofilter is an odour-curbing technology that is very effective but its moisture content must be properly managed. You must ensure that the biofilter design is very compatible with your piggery ventilation system.
6. Vegetative Environmental Buffers
This is where planting of trees, shrubs and other vegetative plants is very important. So if you want to reduce odour, then plant trees and shrubs on your farm. This won’t cost you much; just plant them.
7. Good General Management
If you manage your farm in terms of waste management, sewage disposal, and proper cleaning of pigs’ pen, then you will have little or less odour problem.
Leave a Reply