The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: faith0504 on January 25, 2011, 01:12:39 pm

Title: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: faith0504 on January 25, 2011, 01:12:39 pm
Pig poo a pollution problem? Potty train a porker


  Taiwan has been experimenting with a simple solution to the perennial problems of pollution, smell and excessive water use on pig farms: train the pigs to use a toilet. Skip related content
After some encouraging results the government now wants all the island's pig farms to adopt the practice as it looks to burnish its green credentials, offering cash to farmers and pushing the benefits such as less watery manure that can be sold at higher prices.

"To use the pig waste as manure is a very good approach within the spirit of green energy, much better than just letting it go to waste and pollute river water," Stephen Shen, Taiwan's environment minister, told Reuters Television.

"And I think that can help us a lot in decreasing CO2 emissions and fighting global warming."

The "toilet" consists of a series of iron bars installed about 20 cm above the floor in the corner of the pen. Pigs step between the bars to go about their business, with the waste collected in a single, easy to clean spot.

If all the around six million pigs in Taiwan -- one for every four people -- used such toilets, the government estimates the around 180 million litres of water used per day in cleaning would fall by half.

The environment ministry has helpfully published three suggestion on how to toilet-train pigs: put some faeces in the cage as pigs will follow the smell; clean the rest of the pen so "the pigs are not misled to defecate outside the toilet" and let the pigs "become familiar with the new environment."

Chang Chung-Tou, general manager of Long Kow Foods Enterprise, a pig farm with toilets in the western Taiwan county of Yunlin, says not only does he get more for his manure, but his potty-trained porkers live longer.

"Because we don't need to flush the whole cage with water, the pigs are also less likely to catch colds. That helped us to raise the survival rate of our pigs from 70 to 90 percent," Chang told Reuters Television in an interview at the farm.

He said he has been able to increase income from the less-diluted, and therefore better quality, manure he sells to other farmers as fertiliser to more than T$250,000 (5,400 pounds) a year from T$50,000.

If that is not incentive enough for others, the government will also help.

"As long as farmers are willing to try, we would give them financial aid," said environment minister Shen.

(Reporting by Reuters TV, writing by Jonathan Standing, Editing by Elaine Lies)
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: Fleecewife on January 25, 2011, 02:30:29 pm
Sounds good - although they still have to dispose of the manure somehow.  Pigs prefer to defaecate in one area and not make the rest of their living accommodation dirty, so they will be happy too.
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: HappyHippy on January 25, 2011, 03:07:06 pm
I've always found when I have my pigs indoors (which is really only farrowing and bad winter weather) that they usually choose the same area to use anyway. I just use a grape to scoop the poop, leaving the shavings to fall through the prongs and back onto the floor and add the solid stuff to my ever growing poo pile/compost heap  ;)
But these ones in the article are obviously commercially reared ones which have a whole different system, so it's good that the Taiwanese government are looking at alternative ways for dealing with their s***  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: scattybiker1972 on January 25, 2011, 06:35:22 pm
sorry..how do you use a grape to poop scoop?   :)
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: robert waddell on January 25, 2011, 07:01:41 pm
Scottish terminology for fork                unless it is slabber then it would be a shovel that is required
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: HappyHippy on January 25, 2011, 07:23:45 pm
Sorry, yeah grape is the same as fork - think long pronged upside down rake if that helps ? Slide it under the poo, give it a shooggle (or shake ;)) all the dry shavings fall away and the remaining pile gets chucked in the wheelbarrow - simples  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: scattybiker1972 on January 27, 2011, 11:25:51 pm
aaahh.now i know what they are,mucking out forks.just had visions of buches of grapes to poo pick..fun
Title: Re: just found this news article "potty train a porker"
Post by: Sandy on January 28, 2011, 10:21:12 am
 ;D ;D I wondered about the grape too, learn something new everyday, love it!!!!! Poo is a big part of our lives on here and I love our old poo shovel for our dogs, get the action correct and it can hold the mornings worth on one scoop!!!!!