High-Rise Piggeries: The Future of Pork Production in China
Yu Ping knew there had to be a better way to meet the needs of modern pig farming through a better hog building design. After many years of constructing pig farms, he decided to take a stab at designing something new. The result? High-rise piggeries.
Yu Ping's pig farm in Rongchang, China. Image provided by Yu Ping.
For Yu, in his role as chairman, founder and designer of Yu’s Design and executive director and president of Sichuan Tianzow Breeding Technology Co., he’s been focused on how to raise more pigs on the same amount of land.
With 9% of the world’s cultivated land, China feeds nearly 20% of the world’s population, Yu explained during Alltech’s ONE Conference. China has 415.9 million pigs. Not only is it the world’s biggest pork producer, but it also has a population of 1.4 billion people with a per-capita pork consumption of 20.3 kg.
Figuring out how to raise more pigs on the same amount of land is a challenge that Yu doesn’t take lightly.
A look inside a high-rise piggery in China. Image provided by Yu Ping.
He believes “hog hotels” or multi-story farms hold the answer. He says his designs are based on independent research and development. His products have independent intellectual property rights and have obtained 100 national and international new utility patents.
Yu Ping's letter of patents. Image provided by Yu Ping.
One of the questions he gets asked often is about odor treatment and manure.
“With the multistory buildings, it's easy to separate the solid and the liquid [waste] in real time, not like the traditional one that mixes them together after several months,” he said. “We can separate the liquid and solid immediately after they have it.”
He says the solid waste is easier to handle than the liquid waste.
Harmless treatment of solid feces after separation - fermentation to organic fertilizer. Image provided by Yu Ping.
“For the liquid, it's headache for the whole industry, actually. It depends on how much land you've got, how much you are going to treat it,” Yu said. “If we have less land, like in China, we should treat it further and further and further.”
He hopes to develop a version 6 in the next two or three years, which will include more automations and artificial intelligence technology.
One of the attendees of the conference said, “This is a good inspiration on how to level up the swine production more efficiently based on different fundamental recourses/conditions.”
Treatment of liquid feces after separation. Image provided by Yu Ping.
Yu said he wants to keep improving upon his designs in an effort to help China’s pig industry be more competitive worldwide.
For more information, visit one.alltech.com/.
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