Maintenance of the sawdust deep litter in a pig house

The TTS-Institute conducted a study of the working methods and work input r equired in looking after sawdust deep litter and the effect that deep litte r has on production costs. The major problem with a deep-litter pig house is in removing the moisture from the sawdust and from the air inside the pig house. To maintain the com posting process it is considered very important to mix the sawdust layer re gularly. Good maintenance of the sawdust deep litter increases the work inp ut and labour costs involved. The excrement of finishing pigs often introdu ces more liquid into the sawdust than can be evaporated from it; the remova l of this moisture from the pig house therefore requires efficient ventilat ion. The heat produced by the composting of the manure is not enough to mak e up for the heat consumed by evaporation of the moisture and that removed by ventilation. Therefore extra heating is needed in sawdust deep-litter pi g houses in the winter. A deep-litter base requires at best only little more work than does manure removal and cleaning in a liquid-manure-based pig house. Mixing the sawdust proceeds efficiently when appropriate machines are used. However, transfer ring the pigs and turning the gates often takes the same amount of time as the actual mixing work.