What Is the Fermented Bed Pig Farming Method? A Detailed Guide to Building a Pig Farm

Pig farming is not what it used to be. All sorts of strange and unusual farming methods have appeared, such as the “reverse feeding” pig farming method, the fermented bed pig farming method, and the lazy man's pig farming method. So, what is the fermented bed pig farming method? How do you build a fermented bed pig farm?

1. What Is the Fermented Bed Pig Farming Method?

1. The fermented bed pig farming method originated abroad. China began applying this technology to the livestock industry in 2000. This farming method uses a completely new concept and combines modern microbial fermentation treatment technology to offer an environmentally friendly, safe and effective ecological pig farming method, achieving pig farming with no discharge, no pollution and no odor, and thoroughly solving the environmental pollution problems of large-scale pig farms.

2. The fermented bed pig farming method is one of the newest environmentally friendly farming models internationally today. The core of the technology lies in using a powerful compound microbial community of beneficial functional microbes to continuously and stably convert animal manure and urine waste into useful substances and energy over the long term, while at the same time achieving the complete degradation of pig and other animal manure and urine with no pollution and zero discharge.

3. Through the combined fermentation of bedding material and livestock manure, the fermented bed pig farming method rapidly converts raw manure, urine and other farming waste, eliminates foul odors, and suppresses pests and pathogens. At the same time, the beneficial microbial community can synthesize the bedding and manure into sugars, proteins, organic acids, vitamins and other nutrients that livestock can eat, enhancing the disease resistance of livestock and promoting healthy growth.

2. How Do You Build a Fermented Bed Pig Farm?

1. Build the pig house

The pig house should run east to west and face south, with the area determined according to actual conditions; the roof should be designed with good insulation to keep warmth in winter and block heat in summer; the roof should have windows that can be opened and closed freely, and sunlight should be able to shine on one third of the entire pig bed area; the north and south walls can have large windows or use roll-up curtains, so that from sunrise to sunset sunlight can reach every corner of the pig bed, allowing the microbes inside the pig house to grow and reproduce.

2. Design the pig pens

After the pig house is built, it must be divided into sections (pig pens). The area of a single pig pen is best kept between 20-40 sq m; too large or too small is not good; each pig pen should be separated directly by fencing, which helps ventilation inside the house; feed troughs and drinkers should be placed inside the pig pen, and automatic troughs and automatic drinkers can be used. The nozzles of the automatic drinkers must not face the fermented bed, to prevent the drinkers from spraying water and soaking the fermented bed bedding.

3. Build the fermented bed

The most important part of the fermented bed is the preparation of the bedding. After the bedding is ready, mix it in proportion; once mixed, stir and ferment the bedding in a centralized and unified way, and after successful fermentation, simply fill each pig pen with the bedding.

(1) Prepare the bedding: The bedding generally uses straw, leaves and weeds, rice husk powder, sawdust, manure, special bacterial powder for fermented beds, etc. A small amount of rice bran, distillers' grains, etc. can also be added; straw, leaves and weeds need to be cut into small pieces 5-8 cm long beforehand, and sawdust treated with preservatives must not be used.

(2) Bedding ratio: 50% sawdust, 40% rice husk powder (can be replaced with sawdust), 10% manure, some special bacterial powder for fermented beds, and 40-60% water. If 5-10% rice bran, distillers' grains, etc. are added, the effect is even better.

(3) Bedding fermentation: Spread the bedding on the ground and mix it evenly, then pour in the diluted bacterial culture, mix evenly, and pile it into a rectangular material heap about 0.6 m high and 2 m wide, punch holes in the top of the heap for ventilation, and cover the material heap with a rectangular plastic sheet to ferment.

(4) Amount of bedding: Fill each pig pen with bedding to a total thickness of 80 cm, using 170 kg of bedding per sq m; if sawdust is insufficient, first spread straw, leaves and weeds 50 cm deep, then spread the fermented bedding on top.

The above is an explanation of the fermented bed pig farming method and an introduction to how to build a fermented bed pig farm. Once the fermented bed pig farm is built, the pigs can be put in to be raised. The pigs in each pig pen must be relatively uniform in size and healthy, and the stocking density must be appropriate. If the density is too high, the microbes cannot absorb so much pig manure, causing the bottom of the pen to become damp; if the density is too low, the microbes do not get enough nutrition and fermentation does not go well. Generally speaking, 0.8-1.2 sq m per head for pigs of 7-30 kg, and 1.5-1.8 sq m per head for pigs of 30-100 kg, is sufficient.