Alternatives for animal drinking and barn cleaning to reduce water use in swine production operations

摘要

Animal drinking and cleaning are potential activities in swine barns where water saving can be achieved. In this study, selected water conservation strategies involving animal drinking and barn cleaning were assessed for their effectiveness in reducing the overall water use. For animal drinking, three types of drinkers were investigated: nipple (Control), nipple with side panel, and a trough with side panel and constant water level. The drinkers were distributed randomly among pens in a pig room andtheir impact on water use, water wastage, and pig performance were assessed throughout one complete grow-finish cycle. Results showed that relative to conventional nipple drinkers, the use of a drinking trough with side panel and constant water level saved significant amount of water through reduced water wastage without adversely affecting pig performance. For cleaning, on the other hand, experiments evaluating the effect of the use of water sprinkling (pre-soaking) and different high pressure washingnozzles on water and time consumption in pig rooms with fully slatted flooring and partially slatted flooring revealed that the use of the conventional rotating turbo nozzle led to lesser time and water consumption during high pressure washing. Also, high pressure washing in fully slatted flooring can be done without prior water sprinkling. Economic analysis of the different measures which was conducted after the completion of the experiments showed that compared to current conventional practices, the combination of using a drinking trough with side panel and constant water level for animal drinking and pre-soaking and high pressure washing with conventional nozzle for cleaning had the greatest potential for cost savings of up to C$4.77 per pig arisingfrom reduced overall water use and accumulated manure slurry.