Une manière plus pure de gérer le fumier de porc

Pure Lean Incorporated est une compagnie qui a développé et breveté un système de porcheries plus écologiques et un système de récupération (compostage) du fumier de porc.

L'émission de télévision W5 faisait état récemment de tous les aspects négatifs de l'industrie porcine, mais elle n'offrait aucune solution et ajoutait que cela n'était pas possible ; en fait, cela est très possible et nous sommes la preuve qu'une solution est disponible.

Ce système élimine l'impact environnemental du fumier porcin sur l'eau souterraine et l'environnement immédiat (aucune odeur), ainsi que l'élevage des animaux sans cruauté tout en transformant le fumier en un compost et un engrais libre de pathogènes.

Le système Pure Lean est écologiquement soutenable, il protège la santé humaine et l'eau potable, il instaure la confiance du public dans l'industrie des productions animales et il offre une solution rentable à cette industrie.

(photo: Pure Lean)

A Purer Way
to Manage Hog Waste

by Brent Townsend
Pure Lean Inc. 
December 2002

ure Lean Incorporated is a company which has developed and patented a system of environmentally friendly hog barns and a hog manure management (composting) system. Pure Lean consists of a group of companies and is based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The company was founded in 1998 by Robert Notenbomer after successfully building a prototype hog and composting system on his farm in Alberta, Canada . In February 2000, the first operational barn was completed in Bow Island, Alberta (5000 head facility), and the second was completed and operational in Oyen, Alberta (10000 head) in June of 2001.

Pure Lean farm in Oyen, Alberta
(photo: Pure Lean)

Pure Lean is poised to maximize the use of its patented system to eliminate critical and widespread environmental problems associated with hog farming and other organic (including human) waste.  Our goal is to provide the technology for the integrated production of pure antibiotic-free pork products and the composting of organic waste products in a natural, environmentally friendly, safe manner. Our objective is to become a fully integrated supplier of hog manure composting systems and environmentally friendly barn systems.

Traditional pork production methods use small pens and slatted floors that allow animal waste to drop from the pens into a holding tank below.  In some operations, large amounts of water (nearly 28 liters to each 4 liters of waste) are added to allow periodic flushing into a slurry lagoon.  These lagoons create a number of serious problems:

  odour: as all the waste decomposes in these slurry lagoons, it releases a number of gases such as sulphur dioxide - the source of the stink associated with hog barns.

  greenhouse gases: the practice of decomposing waste in water creates a number of greenhouse gases, making slurry lagoons a significant contributor to global warming.

  ground water contamination: holding the animal waste in slurry lagoons increases the risk of the waste finding its way into the ground water. Many lagoons are merely dugout holes in the ground, without proper linings or spill brumes.

  inhumane animal treatment: the pigs are crowded into restricted pens, resulting in a stressed environment and increasing chances for disease, resulting in higher use of antibiotics and higher mortalities.

Pure Lean provides an open system with no pens,
offering a much larger living space for each hog
(photo: Pure Lean)

The problems associated with traditional hog operations have created widespread opposition to the construction of new hog facilities and existing operations.  The state of North Carolina and most recently the province of Quebec have introduced moratoriums on hog expansion due to the severe environmental impacts.  The tragedy in Walkerton, Ontario (triggered when animal waste infected with E-coli bacteria washed into the town’s water supply), has further galvanized public opinion against hog operations.  As a result, countries throughout the world have been responding to these environmental concerns by enacting strict laws and regulations regarding any expansion in the hog industry.  There is no doubt that these restrictions will even be more severe in the future.

A recent production on W5 focused on all the negative aspects of the industry but offered no solutions and commented it can't be done, but it can be done and we are proof that a solution is available.      

Pure Lean's environmentally friendly, low stress, antibiotic-free system sets a new industry and market standard for premium pork products and hog operations. The patented system eliminates the environmental impact of hog waste on ground water and the surrounding environment (no smell), enables humane animal husbandry, while at the same time converting the waste to a highly marketable, pathogen-free compost and fertilizer. Our unique system of waste management produces a fertilizer (commercially sold as Hog Heaven) that outperforms conventional chemical fertilizers and fungicides without any harm to the environment. The Pure Lean composting system is also being developed for handling of human waste, and contaminated soils, as well as other agricultural and organic wastes.

Composter System
(photo: Pure Lean)

Pure Lean's hog production differs from other conventional practices in two ways.

1) The first difference is in the treatment of animals by utilizing a completely redesigned hog barn. After ten years of research and development, the barns now have a higher roof, providing for improved air quality, and they provide an open system with no pens, offering a much larger living space for each hog, allowing them to behave naturally. The space allocation eliminates the tail biting and fighting associated with traditional barns. Taking advantage of the hogs’ natural inclination to soil only one area of the floor, the floor is covered in wood shavings that provide the animals with bedding, allowing them to root while absorbing the liquid waste and enhancing the compost.  One end of the floor is heated, using hot water pipes running under the concrete floor, and the hogs then drop their waste in the cool end. Droppings are subsequently easily scrapped and mixed with the wood shavings and transported to a sealed and controlled composter on a daily basis.  The in-channel composting vessel is located in the barn but is separate from the living quarters of the animals.  The manure travels through the vessel until fully decomposed, a process that takes 27 days (4 weeks). The end product is 100% pathogen-free compost. After this, the compost goes through a cooling off period (curing) until it is ready to be bagged and sold to retail and commercial distributors.

2) The second difference is in the medication programs utilized. Medications are used to fight illness and disease which is created in a stressful environment, such as the old barn system; however, it is Pure Lean's goal to eliminate all medications in the finishing stages of production.  

The Pure Lean system provides solutions to the problems related to organic waste management while protecting the natural environment. This system is good for the environment as it eliminates the majority of problems related to traditional hog raising practices, namely the odour (no lagoons), and water contamination. It also uses 80% less water than traditional systems. This approach turns the liability of hog manure into a value added product of compost organic fertilizers, encourages humane animal husbandry, and provides a pure pork product (without necessity of medications), while reducing the production of green house gases.  The Pure Lean system addresses the concerns of health and environmentally conscious consumers. Our system is environmentally sustainable, protects human health, protects drinking water, builds public confidence in the livestock industry and offers a viable cost effective solution to the livestock industry -- making the world a better place to live.