Farmscape News

Solid-Liquid Separation Offers Alternative for Managing Manure Phosphorus

Lorne Grieger - Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for February 3, 2012 (Episode 4079)

Research conducted by PAMI suggests solid-liquid separation offers a potential alternative for addressing concerns related to the phosphorus contained in livestock manure.

The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in partnership with the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the University of Manitoba, the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment and the Puratone Corporation has completed an evaluation of two commercially available technologies for solid-liquid swine manure separation.

Preliminary results were presented yesterday as part of the 2012 Manitoba Swine Seminar in Winnipeg.

PAMI Agricultural Projects Manager Lorne Grieger says researchers evaluated a centrifuge and a Fournier rotary press.

Clip-Lorne Grieger-Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute:
Key findings so far, I would say the biggest thing is the phosphorus removal.

We've seen removal rates around up to 50 to 60 percent phosphorus removal with different technologies under different conditions and even higher than that depending on the manure concentration of phosphorus going into the systems.

Other key findings would include the implementation method.

It's not just as simple as hooking up a system to an existing operation.

There's different considerations that have to be taken care of before the systems go on line.

These include how additional manure solids are handled.

There's an additional manure stream that now needs to be managed and taken care of as well as some potential health and safety issues that can arise from working with liquid manure that sits and has a potential for hydrogen sulfide gas release.

Grieger says these results indicate there is potential to modify the manure stream to allow the export of the dry solids, which contain a high percentage of the phosphorus, but a key considerations is cost including capital equipment, labor and operating expenses.

Results of the evaluation are now being compiled and a final report will be released by the end of next month.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

* Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Manitoba Swine Seminar 2012 Audio Special

Farmscape Staff - — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape Audio Special from the 2012 Manitoba Swine Seminar

Dr. Blaine Tully, a partner with Swine Health Professionals, discusses "Diseases in Manitoba: An Update."

-Feature Runs 6:32

James Hofer, the Barn Manager with Starlite Colony at Starbuck, Manitoba, discusses "Workplace Health and Well-Being for Pork Producers."

-Feature Runs 7:39

Dean Gurney, the Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility with the Puratone Corporation, discusses "Puratone’s Experience With Manure Management."

-Feature Runs 8:07

To access these reports visit Farmscape.Ca

New Technologies Improve Ability to Diagnose and Track Swine Diseases

Dr. Blaine Tully - Swine Health Professionals — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for February 2, 2012 (Episode 4077)

A Southern Manitoba swine veterinarian foresees a greater reliance on new technology to diagnose and track the movement of swine diseases in Canada.

Thanks to a stepped up focus on biosecurity the health status of the Manitoba swine herd has remained fairly stable but over time health changes between farms and between regions.

"Diseases in Manitoba: An Update" was among the topics discussed yesterday as part of the 2012 Manitoba Swine Seminar.

Dr. Blaine Tully, a partner with Steinbach based Swine Health Professionals says we've heard some pretty dramatic health challenges with PRRS in other parts of Canada and the midwest U.S. over the past winter and other disease challenges on our radar screen include swine influenza viruses and bracysprira.

Clip-Dr. Blaine Tully-Swine Health Professionals:
We've been using a lot more technology in some of our diagnostic approaches.

When we look at, for example, PRRS circulation on farms we're now very interested in specifically finding out what strain of PRRS virus is on the farm and we now have tools available to be able to compare those strains with other farms not only in our region but in other areas across Canada and North America.

I think going forward that's going to be pretty critical in understanding not only disease transmission but control strategies as well.

We're just starting to really play around with them but already we've seen instances where we've been able to connect the dots between farms where common viruses are found and try and look at linkages where transmission could have happened and develop strategies to prevent that in the future.

Dr. Tully predicts we'll see more use of technology to identify specific disease challenges, stepped up surveillance to track any pathogen movement in regions and further development of control strategies and tools to keep our tool box full.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

H@ms Marketing Services to Rebate 80 Percent of 2011 Marketing Fees

Perry Mohr - h@ms Marketing Services — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for February 1, 2012 (Episode 4076)

H@ms Marketing Services has announced it will be rebating 80 percent of the marketing fees paid by its member pork producers during 2011.

H@ms Marketing Services is a producer owned cooperative that provides pork producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan a range of services including marketing into the cash market, risk management services for hogs and feed, price insurance and in-transit insurance.

General Manager Perry Mohr says producers who marketed through the co-op last year will get back 40 cents per hog marketed.

Clip-Perry Mohr-h@ms Marketing Services:
The total amount involved is 575 thousand dollars.

Now our marketing fee is set at 50 cents per hog so, as a result of the 40 being rebated, we're actually rebating 80 percent of the marketing fee to the producers.

Factors that give us the ability to do this are numerous.

We provide services for hog producers but we also provide services for other particular entities in the industry.

We retail those services to these entities and we get paid a fee for it.

So, when we combine all of our different profit centres at the end of the year and add up our profits and then from that subtract the total cost to do business, we were left with a tidy little profit of 575 thousand dollars which we have historically rebated back to producers.

If you go back over the last ten years we have probably rebated in excess of three million dollars to the hog producers that have done business through the co-op.

Mohr notes, last year producers paid 10 cents per hog to market through the co-op.

He suggests you won't find any other business, especially in the hog industry, that's operating on such a low margin.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

* Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Stepped Up Focus on Sanitation and Disinfection Advised to Protect Against Enteric Diseases

Dr. Steven McOrist - University of Nottingham — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 31, 2012 (Episode 4075)

A clinical professor with the University of Nottingham is encouraging swine producers to step up their focus on sanitation and disinfection to protect their herds from becoming infected by enteric diseases.

Enteric diseases, those that cause diarrhea, account for an estimated 30 percent of pig diseases around the world and, because they directly impact feed conversion, there is a strong indication that these infections have a greater economic impact than other diseases.

Dr. Steven McOrist, a clinical professor with the University of Nottingham, says the pathogens that cause diarrhea are spread through contaminated manure.

Clip-Dr. Steven McOrist-University of Nottingham:
They typically will survive in manure.

E. coli, Salmonella, Swine Dysentery, Lawsonia, all the different viruses and bacteria that cause diarrhea typically will survive in the manure, in a pile of poo, for something like let's say two or three weeks.

In terms of manure control within a barn obviously it's important in terms of sanitation.

Sanitation and disinfection are not particularly sexy topics but they're very important for farms to work hard at, to give good attention and care to.

Make sure that pens are cleaned properly.

Disinfection is a two-stage process.

We've got to have a cleaning washing stage and then follow that up with an actual disinfection phase where we use some product that will hopefully kill those viruses and bacteria that have been sitting there on the floor in feces and make sure that they're killed.

Dr. McOrist acknowledges successful eradication of these pathogens requires a lot of planning and effort, particularly for swine dysentery, but he estimates within six months after implementation incurred costs would be recovered through increased productivity and profitability.

He notes there's been progress in the development of vaccines for circovirus and ileitis and although there's research underway to find a vaccine for swine dysentery we still don't have any good vaccines.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

-Dr .McOrist addrssed the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar earlier this month.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Air Filtration Key to Halting Spread of PRRS

Dr. Scott Dee - Pipestone Veterinary Clinic — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 30, 2012 (Episode 4074)

The Director of Research with the Pipestone, Minnesota Veterinary Clinic suggests air filtration is the last missing link needed to achieve sustainable freedom from Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome.

PRRS affects the reproductive performance of sows and causes respiratory disease in nursery and finisher pigs.

"Achieving Sustainable PRRSV Freedom in Swine Dense Regions: The Role of Air Filtration" was discussed earlier this month as part of the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar.

Dr. Scott Dee, the Director of Research with the Pipestone Veterinary Clinic in Pipestone, Minnesota, says in the swine dense regions of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, where you could have 20 barns within a 4.7 kilometer radius, airborne transmission is key.

Clip-Dr. Scott Dee-Pipestone Veterinary Clinic:
We've done some work a number of years ago that showed at least out to 9.1 kilometers the virus could be recovered in the air from an infected population of pigs and there weren't any other barns within a 16 kilometer radius where other viruses could come from so it was a very isolated area and we knew that this particular virus we collected in the air had originated from our source population.

That's as far as we looked so it may be able to go farther.

Some of the conditions that are required for it to go via the airborne route, obviously you need an infected population to produce an aerosol, you need a susceptible population to receive the aerosol and then you need slow moving winds from the source to the at risk population.

You need gentle movement with the wind is what really helps keep this virus plume intact so it can move from site to site.

Dr. Dee says under laboratory conditions filtered barns have gone four years without becoming infected, while under commercial conditions in very dense regions, boar studs that have been filtered for about six years have remained PRRS free while filtered sow facilities have remained free of infection for going on to three years.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

New Biosecurity Tools Expected to Provide Defense Against Re-emergence of Swine Dysentery

Florian Possberg - Canadian Swine Health Board — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 27, 2012 (Episode 4073)

The Chair of the Canadian Swine Health Board is confident new tools developed in response to porcine circovirus will help pork producers contend with the re-emergence of swine dysentery.

Swine dysentery, a bacterial disease that caused pork producers to go bankrupt a generation ago, affects primarily feeder pigs causing severe diarrhea.

"The Re-emergence of Swine Dysentery in North America" was discussed last week as part of the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar.

Canadian Swine Health Board Chair Florian Possberg says new tools and procedures developed in response to porcine circovirus, including the recent introduction of a national biosecurity standard, are helping producers to step up their biosecurity to keep disease out.

Clip-Florian Possberg-Canadian Swine Health Board:
Having compromised health status is probably one of the real defining things between viable operations and challenged operations.

We understand better today I think that we have to act as a community to control disease and its spread and how we deal with it.

Now we have more tools.

The Canadian Swine Health Board wants to be the catalyst to get a very significant surveillance system up and running where the veterinarians can provide information on what they see as well as producers and we can use that information to protect our neighbors and better control the diseases on our farms.

Possberg credits the foresight of federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in making resources available for the creation of the Canadian Swine Health Board.

He says those resources are being used to put in place the systems and mechanisms necessary to proactively protect our herds rather than respond to crisis and prevent diseases like swine dysentery from becoming a mega-problem as was the case with circovirus where the industry lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Solid-Liquid Manure Separation Allows Improved Management of Livestock Manure Nutrients

John Carney - Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 26, 2012 (Episode 4072)

The Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative says solid-liquid manure separation offers the opportunity to better match the application of livestock manure nutrients to the needs of crops.

The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in collaboration with the MLMMI, the University of Manitoba and Puratone are evaluating the effectiveness of commercially available manure separation technology under Manitoba conditions.

"Results of Manure Processing Technologies Evaluation" will be discussed as part of the 2012 Manitoba Swine Seminar slated for next week in Winnipeg.

Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative Executive Director John Carney notes overall the province is in a deficit of phosphorus but there is a few municipalities where there is a high level of livestock being raised and livestock produce a lot of phosphorus so those municipalities are looking for feasible ways to use that excess phosphorus.

Clip-John Carney-Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative:
Solid-liquid manure separation starts with the slurry and the concept is that there's many nutrients in that so what we're trying to do is basically separate the phosphorus component from the nitrogen component and what we've learned is that the solids are phosphorus rich and the liquids are nitrogen rich.

By separating the solids from the liquid we can basically create two streams of manure output, solids and liquids, one of which has a high nitrogen content and another that has a high phosphorus content.

By creating those two streams you're able to tailor the application of those by-products to the crops' need when you're feeding the crops on the field.

The solid-liquid manure separation technology evaluation was initiated in the summer of 2011, preliminary results will be presented at the Manitoba Swine Seminar Thursday morning and the final report is scheduled to be released in March.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

-The Manitoba Swine Seminar is slated for Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2 at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Trade Advocacy Efforts Prove Successful in Strengthening Canada U.S. Relations

Karl Kynoch - Manitoba Pork Council — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 25, 2012 (Episode 4071)

The Chair of Manitoba Pork Council reports efforts to strengthen relations among Canadian and U.S. pork producers have been highly successful.

As part of its annual Trade Advocacy initiative a delegation representing Manitoba Pork Council was in Minneapolis last week and is in Des Moines this week to take part in the Minnesota Pork Congress and the Iowa Pork Congress and to discuss issues of mutual interest to the two industries.

Manitoba Pork Council Chair Karl Kynoch says the trip allows producers from Manitoba to interact with their American counterparts to discuss key issues such high feed costs, government regulation and animal welfare.

Clip-Karl Kynoch-Manitoba Pork Council:
If you go back about eight years ago we had a trade case launched against the Canadians with live swine coming down here and we decided at that time that we needed to build a relationship with our U.S. counterparts so we've been coming down here for seven years right now.

What we want to do is, if there's any concerns in the U.S. with what's going on in Canada or live swine coming down south, we like to be here to answer those questions.

In the past it's worked very well to be able to address those.

We've managed to build a very good relationship with our U.S. counterparts over the past three years.

Even though we've reduced the number of hogs coming south we still do have a significant number of live swine coming out of Manitoba into the U.S.

This trip coming down here one of the things that we're talking about is the Country of Origin Labelling.

That's caused a little bit of issues on the two sides of the border in the past but we've gotten to the point where there's been a decision made on Country of Origin Labelling and we're talking with producers down here and trying to encourage them not to look at appealing that and move forward with a resolve.

The relationship, when we're able to do this kind of stuff, I think is very strong.

Any time we get the opportunity to talk about the issues and maybe sort it out is very positive going forward but we've been very well received again in the U.S. both in Minnesota and in Iowa.

Kynoch says this type of effort allows producers to address issues immediately as they come up, and he is pleased with the feedback he's been getting from his U.S. counterparts.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

CSHB Biosecurity Training Offers Defense Against Swine Dysentery

Dr. Doug Mac Dougald - Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 24, 2012 (Episode 4070)

The Chair of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board says new programs developed by the Canadian Swine Health Board are providing pork producers the tools they need to keep their operations free of swine dysentery.

"The Re-emergence of Swine Dysentery in North America" was among the topics discussed last week as part of the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar.

Dr. Doug Mac Dougald, a veterinarian with Southwest Ontario Veterinary Services and Chair of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board, explains swine dysentery is a feeder pig diarrhea problem caused by the bacterial species brachyspira hyodysenteriae.

Clip-Dr. Doug Mac Dougald-Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board:
This disease was a primary problem in the 1970s and 1980s in our North American industry, largely disappeared from mid-90s through until 2003 to 2005.

Since the mid-2000s it has re-emerged in the U.S. and in limited numbers in Canada.

Since about 2003 the number of clinical cases confirmed has escalated with thousands of confirmed cases in the primary pig raising areas of the U.S., the southeast and in the mid-west.

In Canada in the last couple of years there's been increased cases of swine dysentery, primarily in western Canada.

The last confirmed case through the Animal Health Laboratory in Ontario was mid-2008 and nothing since then.

Dr. Mac Dougald notes swine dysentery can be introduced through any means of fecal transmission but the good news is that brachyspira is not an airborne pathogen.

He says the Canadian Swine Health Board Initiated National Biosecurity Training Program and site assessments, offer producers an opportunity to examine current biosecurity procedures and address any gaps and with that we can virtually stop any transmission of swine dysentery.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council

Stepped-Up Biosecurity Recommended to Guard Against Swine Dysentery

Dr. John Harding - Western College of Veterinary Medicine — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Farmscape for January 23, 2012 (Episode 4069)

An Associate Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine is advising pork producers to step up their focus on biosecurity to guard against the introduction of swine dysentery.

Swine dysentery is a bacterial infection that causes bloody diarrhea primarily in grower and finisher pigs.

"Swine Dysentery and other Emerging Brachyspiras" was among the topics discussed last week as part of the Banff Pork Seminar.

Dr. John Harding, an Associate Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, says the incidence of swine dysentery has been extremely low to non-existent since about the early 1990s but it re-emerged in 2002-2003 in the U.S. and the first case appeared in western Canada, after about a 15 year absence, in 2009.

Clip-Dr. John Harding-Western College of Veterinary Medicine:
This is a set of diseases that are transmitted by feces so farms to become infected must be contaminated with feces from other infected pigs and how feces get onto the farm could be multiple routes.

I suppose on shoes would be one, on live pigs that are sub-clinically infected or carriers, on transport vehicles, maybe on dead-stock routes but, in some way, feces have come onto the facility and our biosecurity procedures are not adequate to prevent that from happening.

My advice would be two-fold.

One is, if you are an affected farm then something has gone terribly wrong and there's been a lapse in your biosecurity.

To any farm that is non-infected at this point in time I would just strongly advise you that you critically review all steps in your biosecurity program.

At this point in time most affected farms do not know exactly how it came on so that would lead me to say that most farms in operation today are at risk.

Dr. Harding says what's surprising is that, after all of these years where we've been working on improving biosecurity on our farms, that something is slipping through the cracks.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

* Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council