Our Farm Part 3

Natural Waste Water Treatment Facility

Sustainable agriculture is anchored on the minimizing the impact to the natural environment.  A pig farm's waste water effluent if not properly handled and treated can result in significant impact to its surrounding environment.  Piggery waster water have very high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) due to the presence of huge amount of organic and inorganic compounds in it.  The biggest contributors to the high COD/BOD of the waste water from pig farms are ammonium and the phosphate compounds.  In a lot of pig farms, the waste water goes straight into a body of water, normally a creek or a river.  This results in severe pollution of the body of water as the available oxygen gets used up by the waste water leaving very little for use by the existing ecosystem.

In some cases, the waste water are diverted to rice fields.  Whilst the plants can use the organic nitrogen compounds in the waste water stream, the excessive amounts of phosphates has detrimental effects on plants and on the soil phosphorous status.

At Sunshine Spring Nature Farm, we consume a huge amount of water as we continuously supply water to the wallowing ponds of the pigpens to ensure organic wastes do not accumulate.  This continuous flow of waste water needs be treated before discharge to the creek at the edge of the property.

Natural waste water treatment facility of the farm using green algae, duckweed, azolla and kangkong.

The way we manage our waste water is by natural means.  We use plants and algae to treat our waste water before it is discharged to the creek. Our natural waste water treatment facility is comprised of four treatment levels.  The top level is the settling pond.  In the settling pond, the waste water is acted upon by bacteria and algae.  The green algae are harvested on a regular basis and fed to the fishes (tilapia) in the nearby fish pond.  Water from the settling ponds flows to the second level - the duckweed pond. The duckweed pond is the ammonia sink of the treatment facility.  Here, ammonia and nitrogen compounds are used by the duckweed for rapid growth.  From the duckweed pond, waste water flows to the azolla pond.  The azolla pond is the phosphorous sink of the facility.  Phosphates are the single biggest determinant of the growth of azolla.  The higher the phosphate level, the faster the growth of azolla.  Unlike duckweed, azolla does not need the ammonium ion in the waste water as it can manufacture its own organic nitrogen.  The last level is the poshing pond or the kangkong pond.  Th kangkong or water spinach, absorbs whatever residual organic compounds that are left in the water flowing to this pond.

Our natural waste water treatment produces significant amount of biomass that we use to supplement the feed requirement of the pigs, fishes, chickens, ducks and goats.  On a daily basis, we harvest more than 100 kilos of duckweed and azolla and about 25 kilos of kangkong.

Our Farm Part 2

After we realized we cannot solely depend on our farm generated organic produce to feed our growing population of hogs, we did a market survey of commercial feeds.  Among the locally available feeds, only one brand seems to be aligned with our philosophy of sustainable agriculture and natural farming.  This brand is Feedpro.

Mid afternoon snack

PIGS

Curiously enough, we also found out that Feedpro is advocating almost the same hog raising technique as the one we adopted from Australia and Korea.  They called their system Profitable Innovative Growing System (PIGS).  What I liked about their system is it is totally adapted to local conditions.  Instead of using sawdust, which we are already running out of, PIGS uses a common farm by-product we have not thought of – rice hull.  We were initially reluctant to use rice hull because it normally attracts blood sucking flies we locally refer to as alimuon.  However, we were assured by the technical resource person from Feedpro that alimuon will not thrive in a constantly disturbed bedding of rice hulls.  We had our doubts but we gave it a try.  True enough, we did not have problems with alimuon.

Lemon grass are planted around the pig pens to ward off insects 

The second pig pen.  The roof is higher to allow morning and afternoon sun to shine inside the pig pen.

Sawali was used as ceiling material to insulate the pigs from the heat coming from the galvanized iron roof.

The pigpens as seen from the trellis walkway  

The PIGS method is exactly the kind of sustainable and natural farming system that we are after when we first ventured into the livestock business.  It is a technology that ensures that your hog business produces safe and healthy meat in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner.  In a nutshell, it gives the following benefits to the natural farmer:
·         Solves bad odour and health risks in piggeries
·         Easier to manage, cleaner, and cost-effective
·         Reduces antibiotic dependency in swine
·         Environment and community-friendly
·         Health protection for both humans and animals
·         Promotes humane animal treatment

Guidelines In Constructing Your Natural Pig Pen

·         Avoid lowland where flood incidence is high during rainy season
·         Soil or earth flooring must be above the highest possible water level in case of flood
·         Piggery must have adequate wind and sunlight penetration
·         General bedding requirement is at least one and a half (1.5) square meters per pig
·         Place 2 to 3 foot deep newly milled rice hull or other organic materials above the earth/soil flooring to act as bedding for the pigs
·         Wallowing pond should be 1 meter wide spanning the length of the pen with water depth of 1 to 4 inches deep depending on the size of the pig
·         Feeding trough should be constructed opposite the wallowing pond and should be 11 inches from the wall of the pen
·         Use concrete hollow blocks for the lower fencing around the pen, for the wallowing pool, and feeding troughs
·         Use iron bars or matured bamboos as upper fencing to allow for wind to pass through and to prevent pigs from jumping out of the pen

Managing Your Natural Pig Pen

·         Change the water in the wallowing pond everyday
·         Provide unlimited clean drinking water
·         Follow the prescribed feeding guide
·         After harvest, the rice hull bedding can be used as compost or plant fertilizer


Modifications to PIGS System

When we adopted the PIGS system, we made the following minor modifications as these can be accommodated by our farm.
·         We have enough space so instead of just 1.5 square meters per hog, we use 3.0 square meters as basis for determining the size of the succeeding pens that we built.  This allowed the hogs to have a bigger area to roam further mimicking a free range environment.
·         We use a combination of hay (bottom material) and rice hull (top material)
·         We piped a continuous supply in fresh spring water coming from a nearby falls. This allowed us to do away with changing the water several times a day.
·         The used hay and rice hull are not used directly as compost.  We give these to our vermiculture in the farm for further composting thus reducing the actual bulk of the compost while improving its quality.  The vermicompost serves as our organic fertilizer.
·         Once the pigs reaches 2.5 months of age, they are transferred to the free range area.  There are three fenced free range areas in the farm.  These free range areas can collectively accommodate more than 150 pigs at any time.   There are sheds inside the fenced free range areas where the pigs can sleep at night or take cover from adverse weather conditions.  Within one of the free range areas is a live spring that feeds a small and shallow creek.  The spring is the source of the drinking water of the pigs.  During hot sunny days, the pigs cool themselves by wallowing in the creek.  The two other free range areas have two small creeks where the pigs can also wallow in during hot sunny days.


(Reference and acknowledgement is made to the Feedpro Website (http://www.feedpro.ph) for the details of the Profitable Innovative Growing System (PIGS) that was discussed in this blog.)

The Hog's Diet

The usual diet of hogs consists of a mixture of farm grown plants and vegetables like azolla, duckweed, water spinach and madre de agua.  This is supplemented by Feedpro, a carefully formulated commercial feed derived only from natural ingredients. 

Below are some of the nutritional benefits of the natural food we feed our hogs.

Azolla

Azolla is very rich in proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B12, Beta Carotene), growth promoter intermediaries and minerals including calcium, phosphorous, potassium, ferrous, copper, magnesium.  On a dry weight basis, Azolla has 25-35% protein content, 10-15% mineral content, and 7-10% comprising a combination of amino acids, bio-active substances and biopolymers (Kamalasanana et al., 2002). Azolla’s carbohydrate and oil content is very low.  Azolla’s composition therefore makes it one of the most economic and efficient feed substitutes for livestock, particularly as can be easily digested by livestock due to its high protein and low lignin content.

Azolla

Duckweed

Duckweed has more nutrition by weight compared to other vascular plants: protein (15-25% in natural conditions, 15-45% when cultured under ideal conditions), fat, nitrogen, and phosphorus. It also contains higher amounts of essential amino acids than most plants.  In fact, it most closely resembles animal proteins. It also contains large concentrations of trace minerals that make Duckweed good supplements for animal feed. In addition, they are easily cultivated on small strips of wasteland and easily harvested.  Duckweed is also an effective "crop". For the same amount of nutrients, Duckweed grows on 10% the area needed for soyabeans, and 20% that of corn. Because it has such low fibre, the whole plant can be used, unlike other crops where only a small part of the plant can be eaten.

Duckweed

Water Spinach

Water Spinach or Kangkong has long promoted the as a universal magic potion for various ailments – everything from diabetes to haemorrhoids to insomnia.  Although it is hard to differentiate fact from fiction, water spinach is certainly full of nutritional goodness.  A 100g serving contains water (90%), protein (3%), fibre (3%), fat (0.9%), carbohydrate (4.3%), minerals (2%), nicotinamide (0.6mg), riboflavin (120mg), vitamin C (137mg) and vitamin E (11mg).  It also contains carotene, amino acids including polyphenol (an antioxidant), and minerals such as potassium, iron and magnesium.  All this makes the humble vegetable a veritable superfood.

Rushing in to devour freshly harvested water spinach

Madre de Agua

Madre de Agua is one of the best protein sources in preparing feeds for chickens, pigs, goats, cows and even fish.  Chemically, it contains 88.44% dry matter, 18.21% crude protein, 12.5% crude fiber, 2.66% crude fat, 21.80% ash, 11.56% moisture, 5% calcium and .41% phosphorus.  For the feeding of pregnant pigs, replacement of up to 30% soybean meal produced an economic benefit without affecting reproductive performance. 

Madre de Agua

Feedpro

With no antibiotic growth promotants in its formulation, Feedpro ensures a healthier pig with high levels of immunity and resistance to diseases. Its unique formulation of natural ingredients, vitamins, minerals, and highly digestible plant-based proteins without any mammalian or avian by-products or growth hormones produces clean, safe, and natural eco-pork.  It provides excellent growth performance, is environment friendly and provides superb health and safety for hogs and the consumers alike.

Feedpro Product Line

(For info about Feedpro, you may check out their website at http://www.feedpro.ph)

Our Farm

The healthy pigs we sell are naturally raised in our farm - the Sunshine Spring Nature Farm in Caranan, Pasacao, Camarines Sur.  The farm is a 3.5 hectare agricultural lot surrounded by coconut plantations, rice fields and a forest.

The land was originally a divided into two portions.  The hilly three quarters of the property was planted with coconut trees while the lower flat portion was allotted for growing rice.  When we bought the land, we took down most of the non productive coconut trees and replaced them with fruit trees like Guimaras mangoes, pili nuts, almonds, and lemon trees.  We also planted various vegetable, grapes and strawberries around the newly built farmhouse.   The rice paddies were converted into ponds growing azolla, duckweed and water spinach (kangkong).  These fast growing plants were initially used to feed the free range poultry (turkey, ducks, geese and chicken) in the farm.

The amount of azolla, duckweed and water spinach generated by 3500 square meters of pond was more than enough to feed the poultry.   We realized we can grow pigs in the farm and feed it with the same plant feeds we give to our free range poultry.

The problem of raising pigs is the malodorous smell emanating from the pig pens.  This is a serious concern as the pigpens will be constructed a short distance from the newly built farm house.  A solution was arrived at by employing technique used in Australia and Korea.

The pigs are housed in specially designed pig pens that minimize the stress to the pigs while absorbing the nasty odours.   In Australia, they used sorghum hulls, sawdust, peanut shells and hay as floor lining material that will absorb the nasty odours while providing the pigs with an environment that mimics the wild or free range.  The only available floor lining material then was sawdust and this was used.

The first design of the pig pens was simple.  A wallowing pool was built inside the pig pens. The foundation and outside flooring were made of concrete.   The inner flooring was bare earth that was dug to a depth of about one foot.  Sawdust was dumped to one foot deep bare earth.  The walls were made of coco lumber constructed in such a way that there are gaps to allow a free flow of air.  The roof was made of anahaw leaves.

 

Our first pig pen measuring 15m x 3m

Pigs are extremely sensitive to environmental extremes, including sunlight, wind chill and persistent hot or cold temperatures.  The wallowing pool and the sawdust bed allow them to withstand the swings in weather condition.  Pigs don’t sweat so they need the pool to cool them during hot humid days.  The sawdust is warm and soft, ideal for cold rainy nights.  Pigs are at their healthiest at temperatures in the upper-mid twenties (although piglets prefer a little more warmth).

To maintain the cleanliness of the pool, a continuous supply of water is piped in from the nearby reservoir of a small falls in the adjacent property.  The waste water from the pig pen goes into the pond where azolla, duckweed and water spinach are grown.  This ensures that the water gets cleansed and the organic material gets recycled back into plant material that can be used as feeds.

Relaxed and resting on a sawdust/ricehull bedding

The sawdust are regularly topped up and replaced.  The used sawdust is fed to the vermiculture in the farm for compost production.  The compost is then used to fertilize the vegetables that form part of the diet of the pigs.

To be continued...

Natural Hog Farming

Natural Hog Farming is a method of raising hogs by mimicking the natural environment in order to address their behavioural and physical needs thereby ensuring healthy and stress free hogs.

About Us

We are what we eat.  This is the main reason why we should consciously choose healthy food whenever we can.  We at Organix Meatshop are committed to provide you with naturally raised livestock that are healthy and affordable. 

The meat that we sell is grown as naturally as possible in our own farm ensuring you get products that are not only nutritious and free from harmful chemical and biological agents but also ethically produced.  

We are passionate about sustainable agriculture and natural farming as a way to provide you with food that nourishes the body and the soul.