NEWS ▶▶▶ Frequent manure removal cuts emissions
“Remove pig manure regularly and complete- ly – and preferably remove the urine separate- ly.” That is the recommendation made by re- searchers of Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. Commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the re- searchers investigated which measures could be taken by pork producers to reduce emis- sions integrally at source. Removing manure to a closed storage space can reduce pig house emissions considerably, they found. In particu- lar, a combination of measures could lead to a considerable reduction of several types of emissions at source. Included are emissions of ammonia, odour as well as dust particles. One example is the frequent and complete removal of manure using manure pits, manure gutters or manure shoves in combination with clean floors as well as a specific dust reduction measure. Another example would be to readmit the thin fraction to the manure pit after it has been ex- posed to air, in combination with clean floors
JBS and Tyson stop using ractopamine
and dust reduction. This fraction will no longer generate any ammonia or odour emissions and will therefore also reduce those types of emissions from fresh manure. Thirdly, manure cooling also helps to reduce emissions. Cooling the manure surface to about 15ºC is already being applied in prac- tice. The researchers made a plea for a further reduction of that temperature – for all types of manure. To create a sustainable system us- ing manure cooling, the heat thus removed could be used in the piglet houses or adjacent living quarters.
Denmark: New PRRS strain
A new PRRS strain emerged in the Danish pig sector this summer. In total about 35 Danish swine farms were hit. The damage is especially substantial on swine farms where vaccinating for PRRS was not common. Several so-called PRRS-naive farms were populated with sows that had never previously been exposed to the virus – and hence did not have any resistance. The result is dead piglets or piglets surviving in a bad condition. The culprit is a recombinant PRRS strain which emerged because virus trac- es from two vaccines were present simultane- ously inside one pig. That caused a new PRRS strain to develop. The situation occurred when one farm changed its vaccine. One of the vaccines used is Suvaxyn PRRS MLV, which is produced by Zoetis, a vaccine that was only introduced on the Danish market relative- ly recently. For now it has been taken off the market by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food. The other vaccine was manufactured by Hipra and both were identified by sequenc- ing. No steps have been taken to ban the latter
vaccine. Zoetis responded that is was unhappy about the decision by the Danish authorities. In total pigs belonging to about 35 producers were infected when the virus was distributed through a boar stud. The virus was distributed through semen, according to Per Nyby Peder- sen, director of Hatting, which produces boar se- men for artificial insemination (AI). The infected semen was only delivered to farms in Denmark. It is unclear how the virus reached the boar stud. Pedersen said it is most likely that this happened through the air. In total, Hatting has about 600 customers throughout Denmark. Of those farms, about 3-5% has been affected by the new virus. On some farms, up to 50% of the piglets have died. In the meantime, the Hatting boar stud has been completely repopulated. At this stage, Pedersen cannot say what the total damage will be – and whether or not pig producers will be able to claim damages from his company. On some farms, the virus still continues to be a problem.
Two major US pork producers have stopped using the feed additive ractopamine, which is banned in the EU, China and many other coun- tries. JBS USA and Tyson Food have joined Smithfield Foods to better position themselves to meet increased demand for pork in China. Two more US pork producers have recently an- nounced recently that they are removing rac- topamine from production. Ractopamine is a growth-promoting feed additive, which is banned in over 160 countries, including EU countries, China, Japan, South Korea and Rus- sia. These firms will now be in a better position to export pork to China, where pork demand has grown significantly due to the devastating impact of African Swine Fever (ASF) on pig production. JBS USA, whihc is owned by JBS- SA of Brazil, is one of these firms. The company had already removed ractopamine from feed in August 2018 and is now prohibiting its con- tract farms from using it. JBS USA told Reuters news agency that they are confident “this deci- sion will provide long-term benefits to our pro- ducer partners and our industry by ensuring that US pork products are able to compete fair- ly in the international marketplace.” Another of these firms, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, will ban the use of ractopamine by its contract farmers by early February 2020. Its brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park and State Fair. Previ- ously, Tyson and JBS both had a production line for domestic sales in which ractopamine was allowed in pig diets, and another without it for export to countries that have banned the substance. In 2018, Smithfield Foods stopped feeding rac- topamine to its own pigs and contract pigs.
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▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 35, No. 10, 2019 35
PHOTO: BERT JANSEN
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