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Title: Heat production of nursery and growing piglets

Author
item Brown-Brandl, Tami
item Nienaber, John
item Eigenberg, Roger
item XIN, HONGWEI - Iowa State University
item Hayes, Morgan

Submitted to: Proceedings of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International (ASABE)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2013
Publication Date: 9/2/2013
Citation: Brown Brandl, T.M., Nienaber, J.A., Eigenberg, R.A., Xin, H., Hayes, M.D. 2013. Heat production of nursery and growing piglets. In: Proceedings of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting, July 21-24, 2013, Kansas City, MO. ASABE Paper No. 131618879.

Interpretive Summary: Heat and moisture production are critical information for sizing ventilation equipment like heaters and fans. Those values were adopted as published books of standards for swine production buildings by several professional organizations. However, the original standards were based on measurements that were made 40 to 60 years ago. Modern swine, which are more lean, and modern feeding programs have caused changes in both heat and moisture production of swine. This paper presents the results of a study on nursery and young growing piglets during a normal period of growth at a wide variety of environmental temperatures within a laboratory. The data suggested that heat production is higher than previously published data and that heat production during the day is higher than heat production at night. This data will be incorporated into both the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and American Society of Heating Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers books of standards that are currently used by engineers when designing new swine facilities.

Technical Abstract: Heat and moisture production (HMP) values are used to size ventilation fans in animal housing. The HMP values that are currently published in the ASABE standards were from data published in 1975. This study is one of a series of studies being conducted to update the HMP values for the ASABE and ASHRAE (American Society of Heating Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) Standards. This study focused on the HMP measurements on nursery and growing pigs in the weight range of 8 to 44 kg. Ninety-six nursery pigs were randomly assigned to one of 24 pens (4 pigs /pen) and subjected to one of four temperatures between 25 and 35°C. Forty-eight growing pigs were penned in groups of 2 and subjected to one of four temperatures between 18 and 33°C. Heat production rate (HP) was determined using indirect calorimetry methods, after the animals were acclimated for a minimum of 1 week to a particular temperature. Each measurement was made on a pen of animals (either 2 or 4 pigs/pen) over a 21-hr period. It was determined that HP decreased and moisture production (MP) increased as environmental temperature increased. In the nursery age piglets, the level of feed consumption had a greater impact on HP than temperature. Dynamic measurements showed a diurnal HP pattern; HP was higher during the light period than during the dark period, with an immediate increase as the lights were turned on.