News article, 30. June 2023
A climate-friendly day in the pig units
Daily life in the pig units plays a key role in how significant climate impact is on one kg of pig meat – and it doesn’t need to involve any additional costs.
Climate and sustainability are on the agenda. Unfortunately, as these challenges are ongoing, we need to address how daily life in the pig unit affects climate impact and how it can be reduced.
National calculation versus calculation at product level
Calculating the carbon footprint is far from an exact science, and a number of calculation methods exist. The national calculation method analyses only what happens within a country’s borders. For example, filling up with fuel impacts the national calculation, but the national calculation will not be affected if the same action takes place in another country. In both cases, the climate impact is the same, of course, as the climate recognises no national borders.
The most logical, therefore, is to look at the carbon footprint of a product – 1 kg pig meat – rather than a reduction in the national account. As regards pig production, feed and manure account for the most significant greenhouse gas emissions, and this can be reduced by the prudent handling of manure and ensuring climate-friendly feed.
Facts:
- Good production results help to reduce climate impact. Low feed consumption, many piglets per year sow and low sow mortality remain good management parameters.
Frequent discharge
17% of the climate impact from 1 kg pig meat can be attributed to manure. In this respect, the main culprit is methane which is produced in housing and storage units. Getting the manure out of the unit and into the biogas plant as quickly as possible is therefore important not least because methane production is greater in warm manure in the housing unit than in cold manure in the storage tank. The simplest and most effective method, but also the most time-consuming, is frequent discharge. Research has shown that it is possible to reduce methane emissions per pig per day by 45% if the manure is discharged on a weekly rather than a fortnightly basis. Adding acid to the manure before it is pumped into the tank is also an effective method, which works both in the housing unit and in the slurry tank. There are almost no emissions from housing units where a scraper has been installed and where the manure/slurry is removed on a daily basis - when compared to the discharge of slurry by pipe.
It became a legal requirement to carry out weekly manure discharges in all finisher housing units from 1 May 2023.
Use the right feed but not too much
Feed is the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for 65-70% of the total climate impact from 1 kg pig meat.
The lower the feed consumption, the lower the climate impact, which is why it is important that all pigs in housing units are in good health and with a high survival rate.
From an earnings perspective, finely balanced feed consumption makes sense. Moreover, the feed should contain little or preferably no palm oil.
Any soy meal used must be certified. This guarantees that the soy meal has been produced sustainably, responsibly and with no deforestation involved.
Finally, the digestible crude protein of feed should be as low as possible with no financial loss incurred.
Facts:
- Greenhouse gas is the collective term for methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.
- Methane in pig housing units is produced in stagnant old manure where bacteria, in oxygen-free conditions, form methane.
- Feed and its cultivation is the indirect cause of nitrous oxide emissions.