Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Danger from foaming manure pits

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

According to the University of Minnesota Extension Service, foaming in swine manure pits "has become a serious safety concern" in the last few years. Foaming fills pits, reducing manure capacity but also trapping explosive methane gases. Farmers are urged to turn off pilot lights and maintain full ventilation during pumping. Fans should run even when pigs are removed.

Despite the thousands of pig barns with manure pits in the American Midwest, there have been only six reported explosions since the foam began appearing in 2009. But, though it doesn't happen often, when it does it is a disaster.

According to the Minnesota Daily in February, researchers are looking at whether a "new breed of bacteria" in manure pits might be related to the use of Distillers Dried Grains from ethanol production in pig feeds. Organizations opposed to "factory farming" and ethanol use have already jumped to this conclusion in their own reports published on websites.

The Minnesota Daily report notes that researchers think the answer is likely not that simple. Chuck Clanton, a University of Minnesota bioproducts and biosystems engineering professor, points out that sometimes there are two identical barns, side by side with the same management, genetics and diet. "One foams and one does not." BP

Current Issue

October 2025

Better Pork Magazine

Farms.com Swine News

Alberta Crop Harvest Nears Completion with Gains

Friday, October 3, 2025

According to the latest AFSC and Alberta Government Crop Reporting Survey, Alberta’s harvest is advancing quickly thanks to warm and dry conditions across much of the province. By September 23, 2025, 77 percent of major crops were harvested, an increase of 18 percent from the previous... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top