Little Changes, Big Improvements
In the past decade, the amount of manure and air emissions from hog facilities is down 18% per animal, according to EPA. Many of those gains are due to feed efficiency, which results from improved formulations, genetics and management.
One Mitchell, S.D., operation is a testament that it doesn’t take big investments to make a big difference. To the Greenways, conservation and sustainability are a journey.
“I don’t think we are ever going to get to the end,” says Brad Greenway, owner of Greenway Pork.
Greenway says little changes are making a big environmental and financial difference. For example:
- Climate-controlled barns are a plus. “If you can keep everything right in the barn, the comfort of the pig can go a long way in terms of conservation and natural resource efficiencies,” Greenway says.
By minding the details, they have improved pig productivity.
- A change to their watering system allows Greenway Pork to use the resource more efficiently. That increase in water efficiency is to the tune of 150,000 gal. between two hog barns.
“Every gallon of water that’s wasted into the pit costs us more money when we haul the manure out into our fields,” Greenway says.
- Investing in their own feed mill allows the operation to adjust rations as needed on a day-to-day basis. A triple roller can grind down corn to the right particle size for feed consistency. The operation can add more DDGs or more corn in rations as prices fluctuate.
A conservation mindset is a united effort for the Greenway family as well as their work family.
“What can we do better today than we did yesterday,” Greenway asks. “If we continually do a better job with every acre we have and every animal we take care of, we’ll do the very best job we can.”
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