Manure Pit Foaming in Deep Pit Pig Finishing

Manure Pit Foaming in Deep Pit Pig Finishing Barns Presented at: NPB’s In-service training, Atlanta, Georgia Oct 2, 2013 Larry Jacobson and Chuck Clanton Dept. of Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Foam Coming Through Slats 4 feet of foam

Foam above the slats! Slides courtesy Dave Preisler, MPB

Foam Coming out of Pumpout

History of Manure Pit Foaming • Reports of manure pit foaming started 4 to 5 years ago • During 2009 rash of barn explosions and/or flash fires in Midwest • Pit foaming related to these explosions/fire

Barn Explosion (fall, 2009) in same barn

Flash Fire (MN barn)

Iowa Barn Explosion – mid-Sept 2011

Worker fatality and 1500 pigs lost

Common Foaming Situations • Can occur in one pit or barn but not in others on the same farm • Becomes a problem over time (1 -2 years) although once established can be very fast growing

Foaming Facts & Theories • Reduces manure storage volume • Pigs get dirty • Foam captures methane. . . Methane is flammable • General Explanation– Microbial imbalance in manure pit probably related to diet, water source, climate, and other factors!!

Danger of Foam Disruption

Short Term Solution: MPB & MAES Funding at U of MN • Reducing pit foaming with addition of sodium monensin (Rumensin™) or poloxalene (Bloat Guard™) – Chuck Clanton – lead PI • Microbial analysis of foaming swine manure to improve deep-pitted swine barn safety – Bo Hu – lead PI

Foaming issue • Borrowed from beef production • Rumensin – Alters biochemistry pathway in rumen • Increased fatty acids • Decreased methane • Bloat Guard – Reduces frothy bloat in grazing cattle

Experimental procedure • Typical grow-finish buildings – 1000 -1200 pig capacity – Single or double wide barn layout – 8 -ft deep pits – Same or close sites / same producer

Experimental procedure • Typical grow-finish buildings • Rumenin-90 – 0 lb / 100, 000 gallons (control) – 2. 5 – 5. 0 – 10. 0

Experimental procedure • Typical grow-finish buildings • Rumenin-90 • Bloat Guard – Rumensin-90 (control) – 60 lb / 100, 000 gallons – 100 lb

Bottom line • Rumensin-90 – 5 lb / 100, 000 gallons • Lower rate may – Take additional material – Longer period – About 10 -14 days to see response • Bloat Guard – Not recommended

Long Term Solutions • Microbial community analysis • Lab foaming simulation and foaming capability analysis • Study of different manure components on foaming

Microbial Analysis • Microscopic picture of manure. Red arrows point to fibers or filamentous bacteria. • Based on work with waste water treatment, filamentous/actinomycete species might be the cause of manure foaming in swine facilities

Microbial Community Analysis • Illumina-pyrosequencing analysis showed that no differences were found on the population of actinobacteria from 44 manure samples • Analysis did show a difference between the foaming manure and nonfoaming manure samples on the population of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria.

Foaming Index Development • Stable foams need three components: a gas, a surfactant and a foam stabilizer (hydrophobic particles such as fine fibers and filamentous bacteria) • A volumetric cylinder used to develop a simulation test to evaluated the foaming capacity of a given manure sample, i. e. Foaming Index (FI)

Different Components on Foaming • Adding corn oil to the foaming manure immediately dropped the FI reading of the manure to almost zero. • Other supplements, such as DDGS & yeast extract, to the foaming manure, however, did not affect the FI FI of manure at the time of adding supplements, A: digested manure, B: raw foaming manure.

Corn Oil impact on Foaming • Dramatic increase in FI when manure samples with corn oil addition were stored for 4 weeks compared to other additives like yeast, DDGS, and VFAs

Digested Oil (LCFA) • Corn oil is broken down into glycerol and LCFA (oleic acid) by pigs after ingested. • Non-foaming manure was quickly converted to foaming manure (FI) when Oleic acid was present.

LCFA vs DDGS response • FI reading of nonfoaming manure jumped to more than 80 ml immediately after addition of free LCFA • Remained non-foaming initially with addition of DDGS, then converted to foaming manure after 2 weeks of storage

Long chain free fatty acid analysis of manure samples, mg/L

Conclusions • No commonality found in incidence of foaming and/or explosions/flash fires events such as building type or age, feeder or waterer style, manure characteristics, pit additives, feed waste, genetics, diet, or management. • Short term solution - addition of monensin (Rumensin® 90) directly into the pit at a rate of 5 lb per 100, 000 gallons of manure.

Conclusions • Potential causes of foaming include: – Increase in fatty acids in the manure of pigs fed diets with DDGS and/or other by-products –surfactant – higher levels of dietary fiber which would serve as a foam stabilizer – higher dietary fiber excreted is a significant factor for biogas formation

For a full list of references cited in this presentation, please visit: www. animalagclimatechange. org This project was supported by Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2011 -67003 -30206 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

USDA-AFRI-Funded Project • University of Nebraska and five partners – Washington State University – Texas A&M System – University of Georgia – Cornell University – University of Minnesota • 5 year project (2011 -2016) • Extension-focused ‘capacity-building’ project From Stowell, 2011 ASABE poster

Climate Change Team http: //www. extension. org/pages/60702/animal-agriculture-and-climate-change#. Uksc. LT_3 O 5 I From Stowell, 2011 ASABE poster

Farmers are Asking • How has the climate been changing and what climate can we expect in the future? • What are the climate impacts on animal agriculture? • How should farmers respond? • What is the role of animal agriculture in changing the climate? • What will be the impact of carbon regulations and carbon markets on animal agriculture?

Online Course • • 7 Lessons 15 hours No travel time Certificate of Completion

Questions? University of Minnesota Manure Management and Air Quality www. manure. umn. edu/applied/foam