Purdue News
Purdue News
At Purdue's annual Swine Day on Thursday, Aug. 28, Heber will be discussing research that he and others at Purdue University have conducted. Heber, associate professor of agricultural engineering, will describe a tool he uses to help hog farmers select sites for their facilities.
The plan will help to keep hog buildings a safe distance away from neighbors by looking at factors such as manure handling, ventilation systems, feed and the age and numbers of pigs.
"Topography, wind characteristics and land use are three factors that determine how far the odor reaches into the surrounding area as a nuisance," Heber said.
Registration for Swine Day begins at 8 a.m. at the Purdue Animal Sciences Research Center on U.S. 52 in Montmorenci. There is no cost for registration, but participants may purchase a booklet for $3 that contains research reports and other information. Lunch will be available for $6 from Purdue's Block and Brdile Club, a student animal sciences organization.
Heber also has experimented with a manure pit additive that decreases the amount of ammonia and odor released into the air. He's also working with a product from Germany, a floating granular cover for outdoor manure storage, that cuts down on odors. Information from both of these projects will be shared with the Swine Day audience at 9:10 a.m. and 10:27 a.m. in the Classroom Building.
Heber said he hopes to leave farmers with a lot of new information.
"They will gain an appreciation for what does and doesn't work. There are no easy answers to the air quality problem," he said.
Swine Day visitors also will be introduced to other important swine farming topics, according to Dale Forsyth, associate professor of animal sciences at Purdue.
A program entitled "Rearing Environment, Lean Gain and Antibiotics' Effect on Growth" is among the morning presentations, to be held at 10:04 a.m. and 11:21 a.m. in the Shop Building. Forsyth said this presentation will help swine farmers determine the best and most profitable environments for their pigs.
"Research for this presentation was done with young pigs to investigate complex interactions. When you put them all together in a combination, some environments are better for some pigs," he said. "They're looking at the interaction in the rearing environment and learning the gain potential."
Other morning activities include:
A keynote speech by Dennis DiPietre, an economist at the University of Missouri, is the highlight of the afternoon activities.
"He'll talk about things beyond the new technologies we think of right now," Forsyth said. "Where will we be going next? He has interesting ideas of what will develop in the future."
Sources: Albert Heber, (765) 494-1214
Dale Forsyth, (765) 494-4841
Writer: Azura Domschke, (765) 494-8402; e-mail, news_students@aes.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
