Better Pork - August 2016

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August 2016 19
Pork News & Views
Anita Heeg, Feed Ingredients and
By Products Specialist
519-537-7607
Water Line Maintenance
Providing a clean water source every day
is essential to ensuring your herd’s health
and best economic performance. The water
lines that carry the water to your pigs are not
transparent; it is not possible to see what is
happening inside them. It is easy to forget
about this part of the building when cleaning
and disinfecting. Successful water sanitation
begins with a thorough water line cleaning
program. The variability and dynamics of
water systems create cleaning challenges, but
these can be overcome with water quality
information, a little effort, the right tools, and
some plumbing (Watkins, 2007).
Water sampling
To test for total coliform and E. coli in your
water, you will need to get at least two sample
bottles from your local health unit (Figure 1).
To test if there is contamination of the well,
take a sample near the well head before any
treatment system. Use the second bottle to
test at the end of the furthest line in the barn
to determine if there is any biological activity
within your water line.
To take a water sample, remove all attach-
ments from the faucet. Begin by disinfecting
the faucet with a lighter. Keep the flame on
the spout for 3-5 seconds to kill any bacteria
on the outside of the faucet. For plastic
faucets or an alternative to flame, swab the
faucet with isopropyl alcohol at 70%. Turn on
the faucet and allow the water to flow for ten
seconds before filling the bottle. While the
water is running, remove the sample bottle
lid. To avoid cross contamination:
• Do not touch the inside of the lid or the
mouth of the bottle
• Do not put the lid down
• Do not rinse out the bottle
• Do not touch the mouth of the bottle to
the faucet while filling
Fill the bottle to the prescribed mark and
close the lid firmly. Pack the bottles in an
insulated cooler until they can be shipped to
the local health unit. It is preferable to bring
in samples immediately to the lab or within
24 hours after collection for accurate results.
Similar protocols would be used for more
comprehensive water tests.
When analyzing the results the total coliform
and E. coli levels should be ideally zero.
However, total coliform levels can be up to 10
units for safe drinking consumption. There is
no acceptable level other than zero for E. coli.
Water Treatment System
Depending on your water quality, there are a
variety of water treatment systems available.
Some of these treatments include but are not
limited to:
• Filtration for particulates or even finer
particles including bacteria
• Water softening
• Iron/sulphur removal treatments
• UV treatment
• Chemical injection (chlorine, acid, ozone,
hydrogen peroxide etc.)
• Reverse Osmosis
Your choice of treatment depends on initial
water quality, capitol cost, maintenance costs,
and on-going product costs. If an injector is
used it is necessary to have separate units for
medication and chemical injections.
Plumbing
If you are noticing decreased pressure on
certain lines or drinkers you may have issues
with particulates, scale, biofilm, or all of the
above. Particulates can be addressed with
high flow filtration, preferably down to 5 mi-
crons. This may require staged filtration. Due
to Ontario’s hard water it is recommended to
use acid or “descaler” products as part of your
waterline maintenance program. In extreme
cases a water softener may be required. Bio-
film is a result of iron reducing bacteria. This
can be addressed with iron filters or products
that can break up and prevent biofilm form
forming such as acidifiers, chlorine or perox-
ide. Left unchecked, water lines can become
restricted and biofilm can harbour pathogens
resulting in lower animal performance.
TOTAl On-FArM WATer USe eSTIMATe
Inventory Daily Water Use (l) Total Water Use (l)
Gestating sows and boars 90 15 1,350
Lactating sows and litters 15 20 300
Nursery 250 3 750
Growout 670 7 4,690
Gilt pool 5 8 40
1,030 7,130
Wash – 10% 713
total: 7,843
NB: Above calculations per 100 sows farrow-to-finish (eg. 78L/sow). Actually usage will depend on the
amount of spill from drinkers, the extent of washing and system leakage. Water usage has been reported
as low as 65L/sows and as high as 120L/sow. Clearly, more-research is required in this importan anrea.
Table 1: Water use estimates in pork production (PSC).
Figure 1: Bottle used for water samples plus instructions for taking a sample and how to send it for testing