The Ecobarn Litter System For Growing/Finishing Pigs

The Ecobarn system is a housing system for growing/finishing pigs in littered pens, e.g. woodchips. it originates from British Colombia, Canada. In this study some aspects of the Ecobarn system were investigated on a small scale in The Netherlands. Technical results were satisfying. There were no major health problems. Litter use was 83.6 kg woodchips for the first batch and 8.2 kg woodchips, 58 kg compost and 13,2 kg chopped straw for the second batch. During the use of chopped straw the air in the barn contained 4.13 mg/m(3) inspirable dust. With the use of woodchips there was composting activity as was shown by the rise in temperature in the bedding. There were problems with the litter material not being rooted in the channel as was supposed. The main bottleneck for implementation in practice will be the economic feasibility, because of the costs of litter material and labour requirement.