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It costs more to run a farrowing house in summer than in winter. This is the surprising discovery made by ARM Buildings after accurate monitoring of electricity consumption for heating, lighting and ventilation in piggeries all over the UK.
“Despite the fact that heat pads for the creep areas need to be used all year round, the higher cost is mainly due to the extra ventilation needed in summer,” commented Tim Miller, the company’s environmental specialist.
On average, it costs about £1.34 per sow a week in winter but this goes up to £1.50 in the summer. The cost of ventilation nearly triples from 12p in winter to 34p per sow per week in the summer. The use of lighting, of course, increases during the winter, but this is less significant.
“We would have expected farrowing houses to cost more to run in the winter. Well-insulated modern buildings are very heat-efficient, but in summer excess heat has to be removed if sows are to retain their appetites and milk well,” said Tim.
Since 2008, data loggers have been fitted as standard to all ARM pig buildings, enabling farmers to link up with Farmex’s Barn Report Pro information retrieval system. ARM has also been installing electricity meters, so very detailed information is available.
“Pig farmers need to know what their costs are and where they are incurred. Monitoring can also give an early warning of any problems. On one farm we found costs increased to £3.50 per week. This was due to heat lamps being left on full for two weeks after farrowing, in addition to the normal heat pads,” said Tim.
September 14, 2016 - ARM
