Decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, feeding costs and labour requirements by using precision feeding techniques in commercial pig farms

Why is this project important?

With over 21 million hogs slaughtered annually, hog production contributes $11.6 billion in exports to the Canadian economy. Since Canadian hog producers compete against several meat producers on the same national and international markets, they must lower their production costs to stay profitable and competitive. Additionally, Canadian producers must comply with high environmental and animal welfare standards.

Today, there is enormous pressure on every industry to reduce the environmental impact of production. In the pork sector, feed accounts for 70% of producer costs, and 60-70% of negative effects on the environment.

What will researchers do?

• Apply precision feeding techniques to commercial farms by updating the current real-time mathematical model for individual (IPF) and group (GPF) precision feeding. In the process, they will minimize climate change (CO2 equivalent emissions), and environmental (Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) losses) impacts from feed production and soil manure applications (including manure handling, transformation and applications), as well as feeding costs and farm labour requirements on commercial farms.

• Update and calibrate the amino acids and mineral nutritional concepts used in the actual real-time IPF and GPF mathematical models through mechanistic and data-driven model components with machine learning algorithms (artificial intelligence - AI). Mechanistic models serve to model the detailed inner workings of a system in a true-to-life manner. This will help to better establish feed intake and growth patterns, identify lean and fat pigs, characterize feed intake disturbances and decrease nitrogen and phosphorus excretion in pigs and NO2 emissions from manure.

• Use life-cycle analysis to identify the nutritional and management practices minimizing the environmental footprint, particularly greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), of the swine industry. They will achieve this by integrating the impact of feed ingredients production, feed formulation methods, feeding systems, manure storage and treatment, and manure soil application.

• Validate and refine the farm utilization of automatic commercial precision feeders developed for IPF and GPF systems. Researchers will also evaluate the technical, economic and environmental impact of multiphase and individual and group precision feeding systems in commercial conditions. The economic evaluation will include feed cost, labour requirements and productivity, manure fertilization potential (N/P ratio), and a simulation of GHC emissions by each feeding system.

What will be the benefit of this research?

Nowadays, conventional feeding programs used in Canada produce around 2.33 CO2 Eq. for each kg of carcasses produced. Considering that Canada produces 2.28 million tons of pork annually, simply implementing precision feeding in the current state would result in a decrease of 319,000 – 637,000 tons of CO2 eq. per year. If better feeding practices and manure treatment are considered, as proposed in this project, to meet Canada’s 25% CO2 eq. reduction goal, it would amount to a decrease of more than 1 million CO2 eq tons every year.

In addition to reducing the environmental impact of pork production, adding an early-disease component in the model could allow for major improvements in animal welfare and production costs linked to animal losses. In terms of feeding costs, precision feeding can save $8 - $12 CAD per pig. By improving the model’s ability to predict amino acids and minerals, the reduction in costs could be even greater than observed in previous studies.

In summary, the precision feeding approach is a major breakthrough in pig nutrition. It stands as one of the most promising avenues to promote safe, high-quality pork with the least environmental impact, all while decreasing feed and labour costs while boosting animal health and the sustainability of pig production systems.

What has been done so far?

Researchers recently completed their first trial where they collected images of animals to develop an algorithm for body weight. They have also begun cataloging pig manure in order to measure the CO2 emissions of precision versus conventional feeding. 

Project status:

Currently in progress. Results expected in 2028.

Collaborators:

• Candido Pomar, AAFC – Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre (SRDC)

• Laetitia Cloutier, CDPQ

• Marie-Pierre Létourneau-Montminy, Université Laval

• Dan Tulpan, University of Guelph

• Dan Columbus, Prairie Swine Centre (PSC)

• Rajinikanth Rajagopal – AAFC - SRDC

• Bernard Goyette – AAFC - SRDC

• Jennifer Ellis - University of Guelph