NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
March 26, 1998
Designing and building swine housing facilities can be difficult and complex. And with the expense of equipment and buildings, swine producers have to live with the consequences of a major investment for a long time.
The Swine Nursery Facilities Handbook, a newly released publication from Midwest Plan Service, is now available to provide up-to-date information and guidance about all aspects of building swine nurseries.
The Swine Nursery Facilities Handbook, MWPS- 41, is the second of a series being developed dealing with the various phases of swine production: farrowing, nursery, grow-finish, and breeding and gestation. The handbook provides planners and producers with guidelines and descriptions of systems and components for housing pigs from weaning to 12 weeks of age.
Chapters focus on housing and management options, building layout and equipment, manure handling systems, environmental control systems, utilities and safety. The book includes more than 50 drawings and photographs of building layouts and equipment, including typical configurations for manure handling systems and designs for environmental control systems. There also are more than a dozen tables providing detail about subjects such as recommended pen space and recommended mechanical ventilating and air exchange rates for nursery pigs.
Because the environmental needs of pigs change so drastically during their stay in a nursery facility, the authors advocate designing buildings to accommodate an all-in/all-out management strategy. The design information is calculated to accomplish the following goals: meet the pigs' environmental needs; minimize the time and labor requirements for removing manure and for feeding, watering and moving pigs; and minimize stress on the pigs while they are being moved. Other design goals are to minimize building maintenance requirements; provide for the operator's and the pig's safety, health, and comfort; and make the nursery facility compatible with the production schedule the operator prefers.
MWPS-41, Swine Nursery Facilities Handbook, was prepared under the direction of the livestock production systems committee of Midwest Plan Service, a cooperative regional research and extension organization representing the 12 land-grant universities of the North Central Region of the United States.
MWPS-41, Swine Nursery Facilities Handbook, costs $15.00. Contact Extension Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, PO Box 5626, NDSU, Fargo, ND 58105-5626. (701) 231-7236.
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Source: Ken Hellevang (701) 231-7243
Editor: Tom Jirik (701) 231-9629