Available floor space allocation recommendations are based on considerably lighter market-weight pigs than currently in the United States (i.e., ~130 kg). Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of individual floor space allocation on overall growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigs raised to >135 kg. Over 49 d, three floor space per pig allocations were tested: 0.88, 0.75, and 0.61 m²/pig. When the average weight of pigs in the barn reached 135 kg, the heaviest pigs from each pen were marketed in four cuts, approximately one week apart. Overall, weekly feed disappearance per pig, the mean body weights of pigs, and gain:feed was not affected by floor space allocation (p > 0.10). Pigs remaining in pens with 0.61 m²/pig tended (p < 0.09) to be lighter after the first cut than pigs raised with 0.88 m²/pig. However, there was no difference in body weight between the floor space allocations when the final group was marketed (143.9 ± 0.6 kg; p = 0.13). Carcass lean percent tended (p = 0.08) to be greater (56.8 vs. 56.4%) from pigs provided 0.61 m²/pig of floor space.

For its small square footage, a vertical bed biofilter was developed for odor emission mitigation for livestock facilities with limited area available for biofilter installation. However, a concern about the design is that airflow and moisture may be poorly distributed across the biofilter due to the effects of gravity. Relevant data are sporadic in the literature. To fill the knowledge gap, two vertical bed biofilters were constructed at a university swine facility and monitored for two months. The monitoring was taken at 27 grid points on each biofilter per field visit. Results revealed that both the airflow and medium moisture content were unevenly distributed. The sun-facing side of the biofilters had significantly lower medium moisture content (p < 0.01) due to solar-induced water evaporation. The side directly facing the barn exhaust had the highest airflow. Airflows varied along the height of the biofilters, but no significant difference was noted. The uniformity of airflow and moisture content, characterized by coefficient of variance (CV) and distribution uniformity (DU) respectively, were examined over the monitoring campaign. Possible reasons for uneven distribution were explored and recommendations are made to address the uniformity issue. The findings from the study are expected to further the development and implementation of biofiltration technology for livestock odor control.

As livestock production continues to consolidate into fewer but larger operations, odor complaints from neighboring communities have become a major challenge to industry growth, making the establishment of appropriate odor setback distances essential. This paper reiterates the development procedure of odor footprint tools for setback determination based on AERMOD, a regulatory air dispersion model, using North Dakota as an example. Specifically, we developed North Dakota Odor Footprint Tool (NDOFT), an Excel-based calculator designed to estimate odor setback distances between animal production facilities and surrounding communities. The tool utilizes county-specific meteorological data to predict odor concentrations at various distances and directions relative to an established annoyance threshold of 75 OU m⁻³. Setback distances are determined based on the percentage of time during which modeled odor concentrations remain below this threshold, corresponding to annoyance-free frequencies ranging from 91% to 99%. Facility characteristics, including livestock types, source areas, and odor control measures, are incorporated to enable scenario-based assessments. The influence of complex terrain on setback determination was also evaluated, revealing that no simple correction factors adequately capture terrain effects for valleys and hilltops. Overall, the use of county-specific meteorological inputs substantially improves the accuracy of predicted setback distances compared with area-representative approaches, providing an updated and more robust framework for odor setback planning and environmental evaluation. This work is expected to guide future efforts in developing and refining odor setback tools.

A novel extruded product was characterized with a metabolism and lactation trial to establish the product’s energy content, and its effects on lactating sow performance. The product was composed of a 60:40 corn-soybean blend, which was then extruded. This product containing the co-extruded 60:40 corn-soybean blend was commercially developed and is used extensively in swine diets in southwest Minnesota. GE of dietary treatments were determined by isoperibol bomb calorimetry. Twelve barrows (59.9 ± 1.4 kg), were used to determine the digestible and metabolizable energy of the extruded product. DE of treatments was determined by subtracting fecal energy from GE provided to barrows by each respective treatment. ME was determined by subtracting urinary energy from calculated digestible energy. Sixty-three sows were used for the lactation trial. Three dietary treatments were utilized: CONTROL (an industry standard diet); PRODUCT (contained the product, vitamins and minerals); OIL (matched the lysine:ME ratio of PRODUCT by addition of soy oil). Sow weight, backfat thickness at the right and left last ribs, body condition score, number of piglets, and litter weights were recorded on the date of farrowing (d 0), (d 9), and at weaning. Blood and milk samples were obtained at weaning, and blood was analyzed for plasma urea nitrogen (PUN), milk was analyzed for total protein and fat content. On a dry-matter basis, the test diet provided 3,908 kcal/kg DE and 3,833 kcal/kg ME, which was significantly greater than the basal diet, which provided 3,633 kcal/kg DE and 3,567 kcal/kg ME (P < 0.0001). These data were used to establish the DE and ME of the product, which were 3,882 kcal/kg and 3,798 kcal/kg, respectively, on an as-fed basis. No effect of diet was observed for changes in sow backfat (RBF P = 0.24; LBF P = 0.07) or body condition score (P = 0.12) during lactation. Milk total protein (P = 0.69), fat (P = 0.66), PUN, average piglet gain (P = 0.55) and piglet mortality (P = 0.70) did not differ between treatments. While the novel extruded product was higher in energy content than traditional feedstuffs, it resulted in the same lactational sow performance. Thus, the co-extruded corn-soybean product is a reasonable inclusion in sow lactation diets.