Effect of Feeding Pigs DDGS and Purina® EcoCare® Feed on Pigs’ Water Consumption and Manure Volume Mariela Lachmann, Ph.D. - Swine Marketing Nutritionist, Purina Animal Nutrition LLC During recent years, increased availability of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and rising corn prices have supported incremental usage of DDGS in swine diets. Therefore, the focus of our grower/finisher research during the past couple of years has been to better understand the impact of feeding diets containing DDGS on pig performance, manure characteristics and gaseous emissions, and how Purina® EcoCare® Feed could modify those effects. Partial results of our most recent study conducted at Oklahoma State University suggest that swine producers who have adopted the use of DDGS as a cost-saving strategy may also be modifying the pigs’ water consumption, manure volume and manure nutrient content. 1 With the current use of DDGS in swine finishing diets, manure storage pits may start to fill up faster. In general, a 1,000-head barn manure storage pit holds approximately 420,000 gallons A common practice is to empty the pit completely in the fall, and half in the spring. This would add approximately 630,000 gallons of manure per 1,000-head finishing barn. An increase of 20% in manure volume could imply an extra 126,000 gallons of manure to pump out per year, plus the added cost of removing that manure from the pit.3 Conclusion Feeding EcoCare® diets with similar DDGS inclusion level tended to diminish the effects of feeding DDGS on pigs’ water consumption and manure volume. The advantages of feeding EcoCare® Feed to retain manure storage capacity cannot be overlooked. _______________________________ 1Carter S, , Kim HJ.. Effects of EcoCare® addition to diets containing distillers dried grains with solubles on nutrient excretion and gaseous emissions. Research conducted at Oklahoma State University in cooperation with Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC 2011. 2Kim, et al.. ASAS Midwest Meeting, Abs.# 155, 2011. 3McManus D. Personal communication. D.V.M. Young Animal Specialist - Swine. Purina Animal Nutrition LLC, 2011. Mariela Lachmann, Ph.D. - Swine Marketing Nutritionist, Purina Animal Nutrition LLC
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 18:44:41 +0000
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