Treatment for pig waste

We have our own waste fairly well tied up but I'm now wondering about a treatment bed leading out to our wildlife pond for waste from the pig pen. Is there a simple formula linking distance to travel vs volume to treat? Im thinking willow as one section, woodchips for another then reeds for a third but each bed would have to be quite small. Any thoughts peeps?

Hi Amanda,

The things that I'd need to know in order to estimate a design size are the average daily liquid volumes; and input of BOD, Suspended Solids, Nitrates, Phosphates and Total Nitrogen, as a minimum. Do you have easy access to that information?

Do you have any rain runoff from yards or buildings?

How many pigs do you have? How are they housed and bedded? How often are the buildings or yards washed down and how much water is used?

I like the idea of the willows and woodchips in your drainage channel. That looks as if it would be a good addition.

Feidhlim Harty wrote:Hi Amanda,

The things that I'd need to know in order to estimate a design size are the average daily liquid volumes; and input of BOD, Suspended Solids, Nitrates, Phosphates and Total Nitrogen, as a minimum. Do you have easy access to that information?

Do you have any rain runoff from yards or buildings?

How many pigs do you have? How are they housed and bedded? How often are the buildings or yards washed down and how much water is used?

I like the idea of the willows and woodchips in your drainage channel. That looks as if it would be a good addition.

Ooooh. 3 big pigs on average, using average yearly rainfall captured off roof for washing and flushing through (25m3) , straw bedding on concrete to go for compost but as for other figures -  no idea I'm afraid. The pigs will be free ranged for an average of 10 hours a day but we are still at the building phase. We have been wondering how to deal with washing waste and night soilage and when I saw you were going to be around I thought I'd ask. This is something I clearly need to get loads more information about and soon!

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Amanda, with 3 pigs I wonder if the best approach is to put in a good bed of sawdust and woodchips on the concrete floor and house them on that - or use that as a base beneath the straw - and have no ongoing effluent load. Then when it comes to cleaning down the house, would a summer hose down work, when you can use the wash water as an irrigation source for the trees or shrubs down-gradient of the house.

Does that sound manageable or workable for your purposes?

How often do you clean down the buildings? (in other words; how often is water generated - and how much in any one use?)

Feidhlim Harty wrote:Hi Amanda, with 3 pigs I wonder if the best approach is to put in a good bed of sawdust and woodchips on the concrete floor and house them on that - or use that as a base beneath the straw - and have no ongoing effluent load. Then when it comes to cleaning down the house, would a summer hose down work, when you can use the wash water as an irrigation source for the trees or shrubs down-gradient of the house.

Does that sound manageable or workable for your purposes?

How often do you clean down the buildings? (in other words; how often is water generated - and how much in any one use?)

I think we will have to try a little of both. As I said, we are still at the building phase so I will put  in a drainage to the side we would use for a bed, and use the roof run off from that side to see how it goes.
Again, thank you for your advice! Good luck with the book.

Thanks Amanda, If you find you have questions as you move along with the process just let me know. Pig manure can be very rich, so if you do have water coming from the wash-down process, be sure to disperse it well as an irrigation source so that you don't kill plants or cause pollution to groundwater or the stream.

:-)

Féidhlim