The Rural Voice, 1993-04, Page 63Avoid spreading
manure in winter
Spreading manure in winter can
lead to serious problems, risking hu-
man health as well as environmental
health through contamination of our
watercourses. Waste containment is
the answer. By providing sufficient
manure storage, farmers can
accomplish two goals: they can
conserve valuable nutrients for
feeding the crop next year and, at the
same time, protect ditches and natural
waterways from a nutrient overload
that can affect aquatic life and even
cause scours in livestock and "blue
baby" syndrome in newborn infants.
I recall two examples of winter
manure spreading which had serious
consequences. In the first case, liquid
manure was spread on snow, under
which the ground was not frozen. It
didn't take long for the liquid to
come out in the tile drain. An
abatement officer was called to
investigate, and the farmer who had
spread the manure was at risk of
being charged under the Water
Resources Act for contaminating the
watercourse.
In the second case, solid manure
was spread on snow, which subse-
quently melted and ran into the adja-
cent watercourse. The situation called
for severe measures: the Ministry of
the Environment dammed off the
stream and pumped the contaminated
water back out and onto the ground.
Last winter, the Conservation
Authority conducted a test study in
which tracer organisms were released
into a watercourse. The bacteria sur-
vived 114 days, right into February,
through the coldest part of the winter.
We discovered that the bacteria had
attached to stream bed sediments.
Just because streams are iced over, it
doesn't mean that all life stops.
For maximum benefit, manure
should be spread on fields at times
when the nutrients can be absorbed
for use by the developing crop.
Losing nutrients to waterways upsets
the balance in ditches and streams,
encouraging the growth of algae and
jeopardizing the survival of fish and
desirable aquatic life.
In addition to providing conscien-
Advice
tious stewardship of our resources,
it's important to remember the impact
on human health, as well. We have
to think about our neighbours
downstream.0 Doug Hocking
Extension Services Advisor
Ausable-Bayfield Conservation
Authority
Swine Research
Update at Centralia
BARN DESIGN
Research to produce better hogs
with more lean meat continues, both
by government and by non-govern-
ment organizations. Centralia Col-
lege provides interested pork pro-
ducers annually with an update of the
most promising efforts. The recent
update at Huron Park heard how
Quality Swine Co-operative (Q.S.) is
testing new ideas on barn design.
Doug Wheeler, of Q.S. said that a
pre -designed mixture of pigs from
various sources of 300 pigs is tested
at each trial of what he calls the "Bio -
Tech Shelter". It has a concrete
feeding pad with an embedded 8 -inch
PVC pipe in which a 1 1/2 -inch slit is
cut to drain excess water. The
feeding pad remained relatively free
from sloppy manure.
The use of the ventilation curtain
brought unexpected information.
Pigs were more comfortable when the
curtain was left open in day -time and
the temperature floated with outside
temperature. Research will continue
with five more groups of pigs.
VENTILATION
For some years now Ontario
Hydro has offered farmers free
advice on how to minimize electricity
costs. An Agricultural Energy Advis-
or with Hydro, Ron MacDonald,
advised farmers to look at their
ventilation system with an eye on
retrofitting existing barns, or
outfitting new barns with a more
energy efficient system or to install
automatic control natural ventilation.
Upon completion of a hydro pre -
approved system the farmer will
receive an "Incentive Cheque" from
Ontario Hydro. Rules are available
from hydro offices.
DANGER OF LIVE IMPORTS
OMAF's Dr. Tim Blackwell ex-
plained how Pseudorabies, formerly
known as Aujesky's Disease, poses a
threat to the Canadian hog industry.
The symptoms of Pseudorabies are:
Pig under three weeks old may die
after showing nervous signs for one
or two days. In older pigs symptoms
are fevers, loss of appetite and
pneumonia. Sows may fail to
conceive, abort, give still births and
produce mummified fetuses.
Canada is free from it and Europe
and the U.S. are hard at work to
eradicate the disease. Only one state,
Maine, has been free of it for two
years, after rigorous testing. These
two free years are agreed criteria.
To prevent the disease from enter-
ing Canada no live slaughter hogs are
allowed into Canada. This is because
contaminated trucks could, through
airborne spread of the virus, contam-
inate farms the trucks pass. Breeder
hogs all face strict quarantine.
"... it is important that swine pro-
ducers realize that trucks or equip-
ment which have recently been to
American slaughter houses or have
had some other contact with
American swine, can be a potential
source of Pseudorabies virus,"
Blackwell stated.
He is concerned that Canada is
considering imports of slaughter hogs
from the U.S. Safeguards are needed.
"At present these safeguards appear
inadequate."
Blackwell further advises: "If
there has been contact with hogs or
hog facilities in the U.S., assume
contact with Pseudorabies virus.
Clean all equipment before re-
entering your barn."
VASECTOMIZED BOARS
Dr. Gordon Doig, an epidemiolo-
gist from the University of Western
Ontario, showed that vasectomized
boars are not necessarily useless. In
trials such a boar was left to mingle
with gilts and to mate with them
when they reached puberty. At the
second heat the gilts were bred to an
intact boar. On a farm with 100 test
gilts and 100 controls, litter size, as
compared with the controls, was 10.7
versus 8.7.
But on two other farms with the
same experiment, there was no
statistically significant increase in
litter size.0
Adrian Vos
APRIL 1993 59
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