Two finishing rooms housed 530 pigs each and had fully-slatted floors. FBB was a 1,060-head, curtain-sided facility. The unit had a load-out and storage area, office and laundry area, and a shower room.Д¦. Two finishing rooms housed 1,200 pigs each and had fully-slatted floors. FBA was a 2,400-head, tunnel-ventilated facility. A central office had showers, a bathroom, laundry area and kitchen.ДҐ. Other rooms included a pressure washer room, mechanical room and storage room. NBB was a 10,200-head, power-ventilated facility with fully-slatted floors over deep manure pits. The unit also had a load-out and storage area, office and laundry area, and a shower room.Д¤. Three nursery rooms housed 1,000 pigs each and had fully-slatted floors over deep manure pits. NBA was a 3,000-head, power-ventilated facility. During late-June 2015, a new GDU was added to provide replacement gilts for the main gestation unit.ДЈ. The unit had a central office area with showers, bathrooms, laundry area and a kitchen. The unit had several miscellaneous rooms that served as a pressure washer room, storage rooms, work room, and refrigerator and washrooms. The floors were fully slatted over deep manure pits. The gestation room housed sows in individual stalls and was tunnel-ventilated in the summer and power-ventilated in the winter. Farrowing rooms were power-ventilated and had farrowing stalls. Lastly, a gilt developer unit was commissioned in 2015 and was dedicated to providing replacement gilts to the main sow unit.Дў. The unit had a central office with showers, bathrooms, laundry area and a kitchen. Other rooms were used for pressure washers, mechanical equipment, washrooms and storage. The floors were fully slatted, with shallow manure pits and scrapers. Gestation rooms housed sows in individual stalls and were power-ventilated or equipped with curtain sidewalls. The farrowing rooms contained 424 stalls and were power-ventilated. Researchers at each facility recorded and analyzed monthly consumption of electricity and heating fuel, along with recording monthly pig inventories and production.ДЎ. To collect baseline energy data, two commercial facilities from west-central Minnesota representing typical Upper Midwest swine production systems were selected for each phase of production: two breed-to-wean barns (BWA and BWB), two nursery barns (NBA and NBB), and two finishing barns (FBA and FBB). Therefore, this study is one of the first to specifically measure energy consumption of operating commercial pork production systems and the various loads within these operations, providing data that gives insight into lowering fossil fuel inputs. Opportunities exist for reducing fossil energy consumption but differ for each production phase. Information on how much energy is used, and on the relative amounts of energy used for each purpose is far from complete, and the differences among production units can be large (Barber et al., 1998). Previous studies on energy use in these systems were theoretical, relying on scientific literature and brief audits. The studyвЂ™s purpose was to determine actual baseline energy consumption for commercial pork production systems in the Upper Midwest. Pigs in the finishing phase typically require year-round cooling due to internal heat gains from body heat. In the nursery phase, pigs require both heating and cooling, provided by propane heaters and fans, respectively. Piglets require extensive heating, especially during the first week of life, which is supplied by propane heaters and heat lamps. Sows require extensive cooling during the summer, which is often supplied by exhaust fans, hanging fans and evaporative cool cells. The multiple phases of hog production - breed-to-wean, nursery and finishing - each require differing fossil fuel inputs. Producers are also concerned about energy use. Researchers: Eric Buchanan, Kirsten Sharpe, Lee Johnston, Ph.D., Michael Reese and Joel Tallaksen, Ph.D., University of MinnesotaвЂ™s West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris.Д®fficiency in todayвЂ™s hog operation is the name of the game, and that isnвЂ™t just for the production of the pigs in the barns.

Hog barns electrical labor units