Waste management
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Effluent and manure from piggeries has the potential to provide significant productivity and profitability opportunities for Australian producers. These materials are good fertilisers and soil conditioners on-site and also provide the potential to generate alternative income as a fertiliser for off-site use or generate alternative energy from biogas.
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Anaerobic ponds
The main objective of effluent treatment is to remove organic matter and nutrients from raw piggery effluent. Most primary effluent treatment ponds at piggeries are anaerobic.
Anaerobic ponds are a popular treatment option as they are simple to build and operate and provide for effluent and sludge storage. Well-designed, properly managed anaerobic ponds also provide good effluent treatment without odour nuisance or adverse impacts to water resources.
Managing odour
All piggeries produce some odour. This becomes an issue if it causes nuisance for neighbours. Understanding and managing odour sources is crucial in preventing odour nuisance. This booklet provides practical guidance on preventing odour nuisance from conventional, deep litter and outdoor piggeries.
WatBal
WatBal can help you design your effluent system. It calculates a daily water balance on piggery effluent treatment and storage systems.
PigBal
PigBal is a tool to assist piggery planning and management by modelling waste outputs. It estimates waste outputs so that you can evaluate and design:
- Piggery management systems
- Sustainable reuse areas
It can also be used to estimate Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The latest version (PigBal_v4.099) was reviewed and revised in May 2018. Updates were made to improve the accuracy of manure and GHG predictions.
You can download a copy of the model below.