PIG WORLD ENVIRONMENT
How pigs can create a buffer against
rising feed, fertilser and energy costs
Work has started on Midland Pig Producers’ first Green Circle pig unit. The aim is to create
a cushion against costs, create new strands of income, and premiumise pork production
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60 PIG WORLD July 2008
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What he is looking at is a model
that provides an escape route from
soaring wheat and soya prices,
free electricity for the farm feed
mill, free hot water for the local
community, and a green premium
for the pigmeat produced.
But the other side of the
equation is a massive investment
cost, running into many millions.
So the model can only be
tested if a company with vision,
conviction, and faith in its own
abilities is prepared to go out on
a limb, and that is what Midland
Pigs Producers Limited is doing.
As an arable farmer, Mar-
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escape route
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This is an important strand
of Martin Barker’s ‘green circle’
concept, which he has been researching for three years, culling
the best ideas from around the
world.
Work has already started on
Midland Pig Producers’ first pigand-biodigester unit. If it is successful others will follow.
But there are risks - the main
one being a foot-and-mouth outbreak just as the unit gets going,
so good biosecurity is essential, as
is insurance cover.
In his researches, Martin
Barker, who is managing director of Midland Pig Producers Ltd,
has found the sort of biodigester
commonly used in the United
States may be more appropriate
for British pig farms than the kind
used on the continent.
He has also discovered Japanese technology that really can
produce a clear, odourless liquid
fertiliser, which will be much valued by arable farmers.
The route from slurry (etc) to methane
(TOP ELEVATION)
p
F
eed costs need not be a
problem if you work with
arable neighbours. You provide their fertiliser and seed,
they give you wheat, barley
and beans in return.
su
By Digby Scott
me
tha
ne
OUT
16 DAYS
Above: In the States biodigesters like this are put underground and
grassed over. ‘They never have a spanner near them,’ says Martin Barker.
GR
C
E E N I RC L
E
MIDLAND PIG PRODUCERS
tin Barker is well aware of the
extraordinary hikes in fertiliser
prices over the past year. And as
a pig farmer he understands the
increasing value of slurry.
He values slurry on his own
arable acres, particularly if it is
applied in a timely way and if the
smell doesn’t send the local population rushing for the telephone.
So he put this question to
a number of substantial arable
farmers: “If I supply you with
seed, and fertiliser from my pigs,
will you sell the crops to me at a
discount?”
‘Certainly,’ they replied. ‘As
long as you get the fertiliser to us
when we need it and as long as it
DOESN’T SMELL.’
“It was obvious,” said Martin
Barker, “that signing up farmers
would be easy as long as we could
create an odourless liquid. It was
equally obvious that the way to do
it was with a biodigester.”
Initially he planned to use
the type of cylindrical biodigester
most commonly seen on German
farms and which so far is the favourite for British farms.
more efficient
But research suggested to him
that a ‘plug-flow’ design used in
the United States would be 30
percent cheaper and probably
more efficient.
“With the single large tank
model commonly used in Germany, once the tank is full, if new
product is added, it might conceivably be taken out again on the
same day, not fully processed.
“If we use a U-shaped canal, such an occurrence becomes
mathematically less likely, without
the need for an unfeasibly large
tank.” (See top elevation illustration, above.)
The biodigester that will
be installed at the pig unit near
Stafford that Martin Barker is developing will process 100 tonnes
of organic material a day.
vindaloo
Likening the US-style biodigester to a human stomach, he says,
“They are much more forgiving. If
you give it something it finds hard
to digest - say a vindaloo curry it will become poorly, but it will
not stop working - the bugs in the
tank will attack the problem, and
it will recover.”
In the States, biodigesters
like this are so reliable they are put
underground and grassed over.
“They never have to put a spanner
near them. They just work.”
Martin Barker stresses there
is nothing new about the technology he is introducing on his
Stafford pig unit. “I have just
cherry picked from around the
world.”
The liquid that results from
biodigestion is dark (like CocoCola) and odourless. The next
stage in the Stafford installation
will be to remove the solid fraction.
Midland Pig Producers will
do this with a press from Canada “the best model I’ve seen” - which
Turn to next page.
Firm prices for
outdoor pig
equipment
Peter Crichton
reports a good
attendance of
over 100 buyers
at his dispersal
sale of outdoor pig
equipment from a
750-sow herd held
on behalf of Philip
Southgate at East
Harling, Norfolk.
Leading prices
included Booth
farrowing
arks selling
at £180-£205,
fenders £40 to
£52, Harvey
Jumbo dry sow
arks to a top
of £1,220 with
the remainder
between £820 and
£1,100, 4-ring
Harvey dry sow
arks to £280, a
large selection
of wallows and
troughs to £60,
sow ad lib hoppers
to £100, GHL
pig scales £210,
electric fencing
units to £130,
stakes and fencing
materials also in
ready demand, AI
tent £720, sets of 8
hurdles selling at
up to £900 per set.
Peter Allen
4-tonne
Rotafeeder
£2,500, Peter
Allen 3-tonne
Rotafeeder
£2,050, Tyler 8ft
wide hydralift pig
movement trailer
£5,100 and a 5ft
6in wide model
£2,200, stainless
steel water bowser
£650, Ford 4558
loader tractor
£1,000, John
Deere 1994 6400
4WD tractor
£10,600, Collinson
20 tonne bulk bins
to £4,200.
PIG WORLD ENVIRONMENT
How pigs can create a buffer against rising feed, fertilser and energy costs
From page 60.
creates a dry product akin to sawdust and sand.
This will go into half-tonne bags for use by
the arable farm partners who will be growing
wheat, barley and beans for the unit.
The liquid fraction then has water removed from it (using Japanese technology),
which leaves a clear liquid nitrogen fertiliser
which will be stored in tanks for spring applications by the arable farmers. With this product, they will be able to apply 175kg of nitrate
per hectare in two applications.
The water that is extracted will go back to
feed the pigs and will provide 50pc of their water requirement.
protection
The Midland Pig Producers system should
make the Stafford pig unit immune from volatile feed costs, and protect its arable farmer
partners from rocketing fertiliser costs.
Martin Barker is keen to supply the seed
for the arable crops because he has clear ideas
about modern varieties. “The seed companies
are now owned by pesticide companies and although NIAB leaflets tell you yields are getting
better every year I don’t believe it. These days
you get some good yields, but you have to put
more pesticide on to do it. My highest yields
were in the mid-80s to the mid-90s.”
The seed he will provide will produce the
wherewithal for a staple pig diet - 25pc barley, 25pc beans, 25pc first wheat, 25pc second
wheat.
The biodigester will be powered by pig
slurry and catering waste, and the electricity it
produces will be used to power an on-site feed
mill. “Just think of the advantages,” said Martin
Barker. “No feed lorry deliveries, no soya from
Brazil, and no nitrogen from Russia.”
He believes the green credentials of the
scheme - specifically the reduction in the unit’s
carbon footprint - will be capable of earning a
premium for the pigmeat the unit produces.
There is a further refinement... “I had a eureka moment over the Atlantic. Bugs work best
at 37 degrees. If slurry comes out of a pig at
blood temperature why let it get cold and then
warm it up again? What if you put a flushing
system under the slats to take slurry straight
from the pigs to the biogas plant?”
The answer, he says, is a flushing system of
the sort that is common in the States. “You can
walk into a building there and smell the feed
not the pigs.”
Calculations suggest the most efficient size
for the ‘green circle’ model will be a 2,500-sow
unit, with the pigs receiving feed from 5,000
acres in the immediate district. “I reckon I can
get 5,000 acres easily,” said Martin. “I haven’t
had anyone say ‘no’ yet.”
But the investment costs quickly add up.
Above: Martin Barker, of Midland
Pig Producers.
isher accommodation.
But if the company wants the
Stafford model to be replicable, it
needs to overcome the planning
problem.
Martin Barker has some
innovative ideas on this front,
which he is keeping to himself
until he has a working model to
show people.
“So that is why we have
started work on our 650-sow unit
at Stafford. It is a huge venture.
There will be £3m of feed going
into the unit before the first pig
comes out of the door. And by
the time we have put in roads and
built houses for the workers we
are looking at £15m-£20m.”
He is confident he can build a
pig unit that doesn’t smell, which
is vital if planning permission is
to be gained for an installation
near large populations of people.
Flushing the slurry from under
the pigs, directly to the biodigester plant, will remove most of
the smell.
air-cleaner
Above: One of the Green Circle
end products: clear liquid
nitrogen fertiliser.
A 2,500-sow unit will cost about
£8m and a 3-megawatt biogas
plant, about £4m.
Once the money has been
found, the biggest challenge of all
arises - getting planning permission.
Officialdom will likely be
quick to applaud the concept,
before pointing out the proposed
site is unsuitable, adding “and unfortunately there isn’t a suitable
site in the whole district”.
Ideally a green circle pigsand-biodigester site should be
next to a village so local residents
can benefit from the heat generated by the plant.
Midland Pig Producers’
Stafford unit is okay, because it is
an existing unit of 650 sows which
is being expanded to include fin-
The remainder can be eliminated
by installing an air-cleaner - not
an expensive scrubber, but a dust
washer, which will use a 6m chimney with charcoal in it.
As noted earlier, the big risk
to investing such a large sum
is that there will be a foot-andmouth outbreak before the unit is
fully into profit. This is why biosecurity will be strict and the pigs
will be insured against the losses
caused by movement restrictions.
The other big risk is animal
rights protestors. “A brilliant academic suggested I speak to Compassion in World Farming and get
them to help design the unit.
“To date we have had some
very positive discussions with
them. And yes, we will be using
slats - but they will be Mik slats,
which are not the cheapest, but
are, in my view, the most comfortable. The pigs will lie on the slats,
but will have permanent access to
straw. And of course we will be
using Freedom-type farrowing
crates.”
These are exciting times for
Midland Pig Producers, indeed
for the whole industry.
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62 PIG WORLD July 2008