Green, Pollution-Free Ecological Duck Farming: Technical Models and Advantages Explained
Duck farming in China dates back more than 7,000 years and has a long history. As duck farming continues to scale up and industrialize, China's duck industry currently faces three major challenges: first, "quality and safety"; second, "improving efficiency"; and third, "environmental management." These three challenges have caused Chinese duck eggs and duck meat to be repeatedly subject to "import bans," making it difficult for them to enter the international market and severely restricting the development of the domestic duck farming industry. Faced with these problems, we are compelled to change our fixed mindset, change our rearing model, and take a green, pollution-free path. "Ecological duck farming" is one such relatively popular farming method.
I. Basic Models of Ecological Duck Farming
The current basic rearing model for ecological duck farming involves setting up a 30-40 cm underground or above-ground litter pit inside the shed, filling it with litter materials such as sawdust and rice husks (or straw), and using microbial preparations to ferment the litter, creating a small environment in which beneficial bacteria multiply and suppressing and decomposing harmful bacteria; duck manure and urine are deposited directly onto the litter, achieving zero discharge of manure waste; the manure and urine accelerate the fermentation of the litter microorganisms, generating heat and ensuring that the ducks can overwinter normally; the ducks' natural foraging behavior is restored, and they eat the microbial protein produced by fermentation, which serves as a supplementary feed for the ducks; the litter can be used continuously for about 3 years; the entire rearing process achieves zero discharge, no odor, and no pollution.
II. Advantages of Ecological Duck Farming Techniques
First, it solves the difficult problem of duck manure disposal. The manure can be fermented and degraded by microorganisms in the litter and converted into microbial protein to provide nutrition for the ducks. There is no odor and no mosquitoes or flies in the shed, and the environment is fresh, which solves the problem of new rural development. In addition, the duck shed litter is cleaned once every three years, and the older the duck manure, the higher its nutritional value as feed.
Second, duck diseases are reduced, improving duck meat quality. Microbial preparations contain enzymes that can reduce or inhibit harmful growth substances, such as nitrate reductase and azoreductase, thereby suppressing the formation of harmful bacteria and reducing duck diseases. With fewer duck diseases, the use of antibiotic drugs is reduced, improving duck meat quality.
Third, labor productivity is greatly improved. The duck shed does not need daily manure cleaning and uses automatic drinking water, saving labor and costs and reducing labor by more than 50%.
Fourth, it improves feed conversion rate and nutrient absorption rate, increases the ducks' growth speed, and brings them to market 4 days earlier. The use of microbial preparations produces different metabolites that provide nutrients easily digested and absorbed by the ducks. This changes the duck shed environment, allows the feed to be fully converted and absorbed, achieves a very good feed-to-meat ratio, lowers duck farming costs, and improves the economic benefits of duck farming. Even in summer, the microecological duck shed built on a fermentation bed remains quiet, cool, and free of odors, thereby eliminating several sources of infection such as coccidiosis, which reduces duck farming costs through yet another route.
Fifth, it improves the economic benefits of duck farming. The initial investment cost of ecological duck farming is somewhat higher than that of traditional duck farming, but in the long run, adopting the ecological duck farming method can save on costs such as drugs, feed, water, and electricity per duck.
Sixth, it provides a way out for solving the problem of straw piling and burning. Every 20 sq m of litter bed can absorb 1 mu of corn straw.
III. Results of Ecological Duck Farming
1. Fast temperature rise. With half an hour of auxiliary heating, 2 stoves can reach 34°C.
2. Feed savings. The feed-to-meat ratio is about 1.85:1; one duck uses 12.4 jin of feed and reaches a body weight of 6.27 jin.
3. Reduced mortality and culling rate. About 4 out of 1,000 die.
4. Fast marketing. Marketed 4 days earlier.
5. Savings on medicine costs. Each duck can save 0.3 yuan in medicine costs.
IV. Ecological Duck Farming Has No Special Differences in Rearing Management Compared with Traditional Duck Farming Models
As with traditional duck farming, the first step is to administer vaccines properly to control the occurrence of disease; the ducks entering the ecological duck shed must be relatively uniform in size and healthy; maintain an appropriate density: 6-8 ducks per sq m; it is best not to add antibiotics to the duck feed; the shed curtains are usually kept open to facilitate ventilation and carry away moisture from the fermentation shed; in stuffy and hot weather, especially in midsummer, turn on fans for forced ventilation to achieve heat prevention and cooling; check the growth of the duck flock daily, pick out the too-small ducks, and raise them separately.
V. Two Technical Keys to Ecological Duck Farming
First, the fermentation bed litter must be fully fermented. The dominant beneficial microbial flora in the fermentation bed litter can improve and stabilize the fermentation state of the duck bed and decompose duck excrement. The fermentation bed surface remains at
a temperature of about 20°C throughout the year. Second, during the rearing process, microbial preparations should be added to the feed as much as possible, and antibiotics should be avoided as much as possible. Only by achieving these two key points can the success of the fermentation bed be ensured, allowing it to be used for 2-3 years at a time, or depending on management conditions, even for many years.