Thermal Management in Pig Farming - Potential of Renewable Energy Use

  1. Lookup NU author(s)
  2. Dr Barbara Sturm
  3. Sharon Joyce
  4. Professor Tony Roskilly
Author(s)Sturm B, Matchett L, Joyce S, Roskilly AP
Editor(s)
Publication type Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Conference NameCIGR-Ageng2012, International Conference of Agricultural Engineering
Conference LocationValencia, Spain
Year of Conference2012
Date8-12 July 2012
Volume
Pages
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800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The direct energy usage in agriculture is relatively small, comprising only 1% of the UK’s energy use. However, much of the energy use in pig rearing is not represented in energy statistics as it is inherent in the food consumed by the pigs, which requires fertiliser in the case of wheat or transport from South America or Asia in the case of soya bean oil. Traditionally this has been ignored as food prices have been very low, linked to the historically low price of crude oil. This situation is changing fast. The majority of pig farms in the UK are running at a loss, and as pig feed typically represents over 60% of the cost of rearing a pig (BPEX 2010) the need for increasing the efficiency of conversion of feed to meat is clear