Swine Odor Control A Tough Ho (Continued from Pag* A 1) pits, outside storage structures, and insights into the university’s own encounter with odor litigation on their college farm in lowa. One thing producers should keep in mind, noted Bundy, was that “no additive can apply to any thing except in the pit,” he said. “Not all odors are generated from the slurry basin.” Odors can be generated Cram the slats in the houses, from the pigs, and from equipment In the case of studying pit addi tives, many companies paid for the research into their application and some companies “tell us how to report” the information, Bundy noted. Product rate use varied. hi all, about2s-30 different pro ducts for below-ground manure pits were analyzed for their effec tiveness in the studies. About 3-4 years ago, a program to measure odors was put in place y , V'*' ‘‘ ' < ■■,'l * ' o 0«y Ueftt. OfiiAlJ v* Ml* W urn '.v.viv ci.'i-.iih ■■ .Tii i hup .s !'i kai r DK 124 DK 127 DK 140 to help study additives. A system of being able to measure odors was first needed. “If you cannot mea sure odors,” Bundy said, “you can’t compare management sys tems to deal with them.” “Olfactometry” is the technical method used to analyze odors. Two different types of odor mea surements are used a scentome ter and a dilution olfactometer. Both methods make best use of the only real reliable way to “mea sure” an odor the human nose. The scentometer can measure recognizable odors in parts, from 1 5 parts per million (ppm) to 350. An odor is recognized by a human subject at 7:1, noted Bundy, where one part is odorous and seven ate nonodorous. hi odor litigation, Connecticut and parts of Texas use the scentometer, which measures the odor at die property line. Mis souri is considering use of the scentometer under the same ' \ V ’ " •‘i \ jiV I'' 1 ; *'*\r \»' ' 1 i # You know how to bounce back. So does this DEKALB alfalfa lineup. With fast recovery rates and healthy stands, these persistent varieties take a punch and still deliver high yield and superior forage quality. And they keep their guard up against potato leafhoppers. Sclerotinia and Aphanomyces race 2, It's alfalfa that doesn't know when to quit. Kind of tike you. Real people working real hard? New directors of the Pork Board were elected. Attar right is Brent Hershey, presi dent of LanChester Pork Producers. New directors are, from left, Scott Bailey. Ephra ta; Nelson Beam, Elverson; and Kurtis Good, Denver. Lancatw Farming, Saturday, December 19, 1998-A33 To Handle A '' M \\\ * * 'Vi' 1 etmocKALa conditions. For the most part, many odors aren’t dangerous, in the quan tities released into the air, from swine opera tions. They are merely nuisance odors that, with several steps, can be controlled. The two main odors under scrutiny are ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. “If we reduce those two, we got it made,” Bundy said. The accepted maxi mum safe level of ammonia is 25 ppm: the odor is detected at 5 ppm. For hydrogen sul fide, maximum safe level is lOppm; the odor is detected from 50-100 parts per billion (ppb). Bundy noted that, agi tating pit manure can readily raise the hydro gen sulfide gases to dangerous levels, at 1,000 ppm. The deadly gas can 101 l livestock and humans. \H' 1 & ■ Measuring odor threshold using the dilu tion olfactometer simp ly makes use of two separate volumes—one of odorous air, with the gas, and the other with fresh, nonodorous air. Germany uses this method to determine odor thresholds. Some cities, including Hous ton and Sioux City, are using this method to measure odor. In a European study, scientists discovered that 22' percent of Jfae odors were produced from swine buildings, 17 percent from slurry storage, and 52 percent from spreading manure. In studies undertaken by lowa State University, different methods of containing storage and application odor tests were undertaken. Included in the lowa study, biocovers (including com stalks and wheat straw, in addition to using bub-
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