Pork Journal May/June 2016

porkjournal www.primarymedia.com.au

Volume 38 Issue 3

May/June 2016

Bettapork adapts to new realities

Pan Pacific Pork Expo highlights Trade on show at Pan Pacific Pork Expo

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porkjournal www.primarymedia.com.au

Volume 38 Issue 3

May/June 2016

EDITOR:

EDITORIAL & DESIGN

JOURNALIST/PHOTOGRAPHER PRODUCTION EDITOR

Peter Bedwell Alex Bedwell

Rosemary Embery

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Alex Bedwell

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SALES Peter Bedwell Phone: (02) 9797 2406 Mob: 0419 235 288 Email: primarymedia@bigpond.com Rates are available at www.primarymedia.com.au

SUBSCRIPTIONS AUSTRALIA One Year - $55.00* NEW ZEALAND One Year - NZ$80 Laurie and Paul Brosnan from Bettapork

FEATURES Page 8: Bettapork adapts to new realities

By Peter Bedwell

OTHER COUNTRIES One Year: Airmail - $A90 Please send payment in Australian dollars.

Send payment and full details to: 250 Hawthorne Pde, Haberfield NSW 2045 *Australian subscription rate includes GST

NEWS/PRODUCT NEWS Page 4: Pan Pacific Pork Expo – full house Page16: Three reasons for staying dry with methionine Page 17: The next generation of rodenticide is here Page18: Can you afford poor power factor?

Page 19: Celebrating Bacon Week Page 22: Pan Pacific Pork Expo Trade Show

ENQUIRIES OFFICE ADDRESS: 250 Hawthorne Pde, Haberfield NSW 2045 Phone: (02) 9797 2406 Mob: 0419 235 288 Production: 0409 944 472 Email: primarymedia@bigpond.com Pork Journal consists of a bi-monthly management magazine and an annual industry review, The Pig Industry Yearbook.

Published by C D Supplies Pty Ltd trading as Primary Media (ACN 091 560 557) All material copyright (editorial and advertisements) and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publishers. Whilst every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the contents of PORK JOURNAL, the publishers do not accept any responsibility or liability for the material herein.

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NEWS

Pan Pacific Pork Expo 2016 – full house

By PETER BEDWELL The Pan Pacific Pork Expo (PPPE) 2016, held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on May 25/26 was predicted to be a record breaker with all exhibition space booked and more than 600 delegate registrations.

Over the two days more than 700 attended the event, a record in the modern era, and the place was buzzing from the time the doors opened at 8 a.m on the 25th.

Certainly a sustained period of better returns to growers, and a more trade competitive $A, with the prospect of more export sales in the future, helped to create an enthusiastic and optimistic atmosphere.

All credit has to go to APL for the organisation of a top event but special mention should be made of APL’s Ashley Norval who was given the task of getting the show on the road.

After the welcome to delegates by PPPE 2016 Chairman John Coward, the first speaker in Plenary Session 1 took to the stage.

The theme of this session was ‘Technology Inspired Transformation’.

Craig Rispin who runs The Future Trends Group (www.futuretrendsgroup. com) in a performance (because that’s what it was) took his audience on a helter skelter ride through the greatest changes in all aspects of our lives from social to business and even medical that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution in the mid 19th Century.

We all know about UBER and AirB&B and the effect they have had on established businesses like the hospitality and taxi industries but, “both are features of a cascade effect of new technology in the form of first the internet, then the smart phone,” Craig explained. “ In terms of capital value UBER is worth more than Ford & General Motors combined.

“Tesla’s 3 Series electric car has taken deposits on more than 400,000 units worldwide for an item they haven’t actually started to mass produce,” Craig revealed.

“It is in effect an example of a phenomenon that will change the investment and banking sector – crowd funding,” he said.

“Agriculture is already going through major technological changes and will

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continue to do so as cities grow in size and population. They will also grow their own food supplies,” he predicted.

Even Pork Journal, in a discussion with a fellow delegate about how technology could change our operation, received a idea that is undergoing further examination to improve our ability to communicate with a changing audience.

Pork Journal has attended many conferences and listened to many inspirational speakers but I think that Craig’s presentation was one of the very best – a view shared by all those that attended his presentation.

Dr Darryl D’Souza, who is about to join Sunpork, launched APL’s new Tech Toolbox app, an initiative to help growers and industry access critical information on tablets or Ipads.

In the Plenary session 2, ‘Consumer Attitudes towards Agriculture’, the topic was ‘The value of information to the consumer,’ and the speaker was Dr Jude Capper from the Livestock Sustainability Consultancy.

Dr Capper is a self-employed sustainability consultant, now based in Oxford in the UK. A long history serving in academic posts at Montana State University, Washington State University and Cornell College, Dr Capper, attired like a typical US farm sector identity, delivered a quick fire view of current consumer attitudes.

A regular speaker in seminars around the world Dr Capper has refined a lot of research into simple messages for livestock sector producers.

“I just want to be told what I should feed my family,” was a message quoted

by Dr Capper when interviewing a lawyer and 35 year old mother of two.

“Around 65% of consumers think that it is important to understand how food is produced.

“The more important food production understanding is to the consumer, the more likely they are to ask questions and demand answers,” Dr Capper stated.

On the bright side “lack of food production transparency is a common complaint but is improving.

“At least 37% of consumers believe that the agricultural industry is transparent about food production vs 22% in 2012,” she said.

On the subject of consumers being pressured to eat less meat and w

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4 1. PPPE Chairman Jon Coward.

2. John Reeves Zoetis. 3. Ashley Norval from APL, organiser of PPPE. 4. Coles Responsible Sourcing and Agriculture Manager, Rob Cumine.

NEWS v

dairy products based on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Dr Capper’s research revealed that “if everybody in Australia went meat and dairy free for a year’s worth of Mondays the national carbon footprint would decrease by less than 1.65%.”

Topic 2 in this session was ‘Understanding community attitudes’ which was delivered by Dr Heather Bray from the University of Adelaide.

On the subject of trust, Dr Bray revealed that surveys on a variety of food industry related actors, including media, politicians and farmers, “farmers came out well on top at 93.1% with media at 51.7% and politicians at 44.2%,” she said.

On the overall status of Australians and food our incidences of vegetarianism, “we have less adherence than the EU and define the practice differently: we have a very high average meat intake.

“There are concerns about the affects of a relatively isolated geographical isolation on both food safety and security,” Dr Bray revealed.

“Acceptance of GM in food is mid way between attitudes in the US and the EU (negative).

“There are poor levels of food literacy amongst both children and adults and we are a highly multicultural nation which effects food choices and we have rising rates of obestity.

“On issues like food ethics and animal welfare, consumers are both confused and often illogical. A consumer surveyed by Dr Bray stated that she was happy to spend more on free range eggs but did not buy free range produced chicken.

“On issues of trust around information, consumers will seek advice from known sources including websites,” she said.

In concluding her paper, Dr Bray revealed that, “Australian consumers value affordable food, safe and nutricious food, locally produced food (to support local producers) and humane and respectful animal production”.

The final speaker in this session was Coles Responsible Sourcing and Agricultural Manager, Rob Cumine, who looks after the retailers’ ethical, sustainability and agricultural programs.

He has recently been appointed to APL’s APIQ panel as a supply chain representative.

Rob has worked in agriculture, food manufacturing and retailing in the UK and is a partner in a Wagyu beef grass fed farming and wholesaling operation.

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Rob revealed that Coles outlets sell the meat from 24,000 pigs a week.

“Around 40% of the working population earns around $822 a week and spend 16.2% on food which equates to about $150 a week.

“We at Coles conduct research on how consumers spend that $150 by going out and shopping for a week’s food supply ourselves.

“If it had been left to me, the family would probably have been going hungry

by Wednesday, however the exercise did reveal how innovative consumers are when getting the best value out of their available food spend,” Rob revealed.

On the topic of pork, Rob stated that “we love to entertain with pork.

We buy pork when the family is getting together at festivals like Christmas and Easter and typically buy pork ‘to feed the masses’,” he said.

On the downside Rob warned that consumers in general were less confident in cooking pork than other meats – they do want meal ideas and knowledge in how to prepare and cook it,” he concluded.

PPPE Chairman John Coward summed up, thanked the excellent speakers and called Wayne Bradshaw from Jefo and Ben Collins to the microphone to announce the winner of the Ron Collins Memorial Travel Award.

This award of $10,000 has been designed to assist a person involved in any part of the industry supply chain to travel overseas and further investigate a nominated innovative topic that would be of benefit to Australia’s pork industry.

The winner of the 2016 award is Rebecca Athorn who now works with Rivalea. Rebecca found her current post through the Pork CRC Placement Program.

The final event in this session on the 25th was the official opening of PPPE 2016 by the Hon. Keith Pitt MP, the Federal member for Hinkler.

Delegates returned to the exhibition hall for the Industry Cocktail party sponsored by AMIST Super.

On May 26, PPPE commenced with the opening of the Trade Exhibition at 8.30 a.m.

Concurrent conference sessions were ‘Refocusing on herd productivity’, ‘Transforming science into practice’, and ‘Developing premium markets’.

In the ‘Refocusing on herd productivity’, a session sponsored by Primegro Technologies, Dr Mark Wilson, from Zinpro US spoke about recent advances in seasonal infertility and CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 w

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1. The Hon. Keith Pitt MP, Federal Member for Hinkler. 2. APL CEO Andrew Spencer. 3. APL Marketing Manager Peter Haydon. 4. Dr Jude Capper from the Livestock Sustainability Consultancy.

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The Bettapork pig farms near Biloela in Queensland. The giant twin tanks here are part of the energy supply system.

Bettapork adapts to new realities

By PETER BEDWELL

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s Laurie Brosnan points out to Pork Journal during our recent visit to Bettapork, “returns to growers, though a little better than usual at the present, haven’t really improved much over the last 15 years.

“So we decided that the only way to stay in business was to improve efficiency and use the best available technology to cut the cost of production while improving our product in terms of both quantity and quality,” said Laurie.

“Instead of complaining about the efficient Danes who are one of the three major exporters of frozen pork to Australia, we went over there to see how they did it and learnt from their experience and the products that help to generate that competitiveness,” he said.

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The Bettapork pig farming enterprise, located near Biloela in Queensland, was established by Laurie Brosnan’s grandfather back in the late fifties and is now run by Laurie and Paul.

The 3000 acre property, with a capacity to house 2000 sows, is also a cropping and cattle rearing business.

Perhaps the most noticeable aspects of the farm are the giant twin tanks that are part of the Bettapork’s latest enterprise – growing its own energy supply.

The sophisticated German built methane powered gensets cater for almost all the energy requirements of the farm.

Not only does it utilise pig waste but also organic material from numerous other sources.

It is a quite complex and sophisticated installation and apart from generating power, provides a dry fertiliser as well as recycled water for irrigation on Bettapork’s crops.

The biogas digesters and power generation plant were supplied by the German based 2G company founded in 1995.

This company’s rapid growth was boosted by legislation in Germany requiring substitute power to be provided under animal welfare regulations.

Then in 2000 the Renewable Energy Act guaranteed producers of electricity from renewable sources, including biogas, fixed feed-in tariffs.

The share of renewable energies in electricity generation in Germany is scheduled to increase to 45% by 2025.

Today 2G has grown to be a major player in the renewable energy market and manufactures products in Spain and the USA as well as Germany.

Its product range covers application from 20kW domestic supply to 4000 kW industrial applications.

Laurie, after visiting Europe in 2012, decided to embark on this complex and expensive investment after concluding that, to achieve the efficiencies needed to succeed in pig rearing in the coming years, he would need to convert breeder herd sheds and farrowing sheds to automated ventilation.

The evaporative cool pads and fans required to achieve optimum performance in these new sheds do, Laurie believes, improve productivity but they are energy hungry.

To sustain viable production in an uncertain energy supply climate, he insured the future by building his own energy supply – the cost was not inconsiderable and the process was not without its challenges “What works in Germany where they have developed methane capture over a 25 year period, does not necessarily work in a remote Australian location,” he said.

Though most of the highly complex equipment arrived ‘in the box’, basic items like piping was not supplied so a lot of local fabrication was required which was both time consuming and

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expensive.

“Teething troubles and added cost apart, the overall bio gas works impressively well with the large MAN gas power unit humming away generating 200 KW an hour,” Laurie said.

Overall the farm is an interesting combination of both new and ageing technology, which is progressively being upgraded.

Recently new Spanlift climate controlled sheds have been completed and are in full production in both the gestation and farrowing facilities.

New finisher sheds are in construction right now, largely managed by the Bettapork team.

“The farm has three specific areas – breeding, weaning and finisher sheds.

“We are achieving an average of 12.8 live births and wean at 26 days by which time the piglets are at 7.5 kg.

Then from 10 weeks, males and females are separated and fed separate diets that suit their growing patterns.

“We do castrate male piglets and tales are docked.

“This results in lower levels of aggression and less danger of injury to stock and is of great importance for our buyers. There is no risk of boar taint which delivers a premium to us from our buyers,” Laurie said.

During the visit Pork Journal examined the new centre drive fans recently installed in eight of the fourteen Bettapork grow out sheds.

All in all Bettapork has installed 45 fans with more to come.

“We estimate that apart from being quieter and more reliable, they are much more energy efficient.

“They deliver good performance at relatively low fan speeds, usually operating at 450 rpm and they can be regulated down to just 100 rpm in this setup.

The Brosnans not only employ advanced technology they often find novel ways to adapt it to their particular requirements.

Obviously an automated control system is essential for fully climatecontrolled sheds and Laurie liked the SKOV shed control system, which he uses along with SKOV’s well-proven chimney ventilation fans.

However instead of installing the 28 SKOV fans in the low ceilings they have been placed in the sidewalls.

“It works well and gives the air flow that suits our sheds and we get the stable production that suits our operations,” Laurie said.

Another energy saving initiative is

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6 1. New centre drive 100/900rpm controllable speed fan. 2. 2G bio gas powered generator. 3. Bio gas digestor has the capacity for all the farm waste and other organic material from other sources. 4. SKOV controllers in farrowing house.

5. Electronic feeding system supplied by Stockyard Industries. 6. A major investment was the CCTV farm security system.

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The engineer’s choice

FEATURE the installation of LED lighting in sheds. Apart from delivering more than adequate illumination at low energy use levels, they are designed to withstand the rigours of high pressure shed cleaning equipment.

Laurie spoke at the Bendigo Pig Fair in March 2015 and in particular about the Danish Jyden pens in the farrowing house.

Before moving their sheds to group sow housing and sow/ piglet accommodation that met the expectations of retailers and the community, Laurie went to Denmark to ask government funded researchers in that country for advice on the conversion.

Backed by thorough investigation he opted for the Jyden units and has not been disappointed.

The Jyden pens are designed to give the sow adequate room but has a cleverly designed barrier through which the piglets can move to access a safe space with a water heated plate to keep piglets warm when they are away from their mother.

“It’s a better and safer solution than heat lamps,” Laurie stated.

The bar can be removed four days after the sow giving birth.

The Bettapork facility went sow stall free in 2013 and now with the redesigned farrowing house complete, Laurie is very satisfied with the development and the performance in raw statistics bears out the fact that very efficient sow stall free production is possible.

Skiold Electronic sow feeders have been installed in the gestation sheds that use an ear tag identity system to deliver the appropriate diet.

Once again Laurie went through a pretty exhaustive selection process before selecting the well-proven Skiold units.

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“The fact is that a lot of the modern pig production technology, most of it coming out of Europe, has gone through a pretty rapid development often driven by government mandated environmental and animal welfare considerations that may have been more to do with politics than efficient production,” he said.

An improved welfare initiative that involves little investment in extra equipment is the Bettapork way of loading pigs for transport to the processor.

“Using ramps can involve pigs panicking which may endanger both them and potentially their handlers.

“So we simply walk groups of pigs to a large purpose built crate which they enter without any drama then we just use a forklift to raise the crate up to the truck decks for loading.

“Not only does this work well it involves less labour input than using ramps and saves on utilisation of space around the shed that can be used for other purposes.

Another aspect taken very seriously at Bettapork is security. Cameras are located around the property and constant surveillance is fed to a screen in the administration building. Staff are on the farm 24/7 to watch over not only the livestock but also the security of the whole operation.

“The whole set up is a substantial investment but we regarded it as a completely necessary step,” Laurie said.

The farm has had its own feed mill for many years and with major silo capacity, adds further to the independent

FEATURE nature of the Bettapork business.

“However, we do benefit from our experienced key consultants. Sara Willis looks after nutrition, John Riley is our production specialist and our vet is the ever enthusiastic Hugo Dunlop,” Laurie said.

Other critical numbers are that Bettapork finish its pigs at 20 weeks when they average 85 plus kgs dressed with back fat of 12.5mm and the current output is 800 pigs a week.

“Genetics are HyFarm and CEFN. Closed in House Nucleus produces F1 for Bettapork and Stuart Neuendorf supplies terminal sire.

“We supply two major pork wholesalers, Biggenden Meat Works which takes our Bettapork line and Darren Wilson Pigs and Co. An increasing proportion of our pigs are being taken into our branded line,” Laurie said.

This story is not just about technology – it’s about an attitude and well thought out strategies to survive in what has become a global market.

“When my grandfather built the farm 60 years ago, basic grains and energy were close to the least expensive on the planet and our industry was protected from imports but now we face new realities,” Laurie said.

“Bettapork has always been an innovative organisation. We were one of the first pork producers in Australia to use tunnel ventilation and automated climate control so it was logical to seek new technologies to make us competitive and raise a product acceptable to consumers in the 21st Century.

“We can’t do much about cheap imports apart from producing a better product while cutting production costs,” he added.

Laurie’s research in Europe to see how leading pig producing nations like Denmark run their farms convinced Laurie that investing in their technologies was the way to go.

“Europe, and Denmark in particular, adapted to meet regulators, animal welfare consumer and retailer expectations long ago. Now we at Bettapork have done the same,” he said.

His view of big retail in Australia is quite positive. He acknowledges that Coles’ marketing based on sow stall free production has in fact grown the market for fresh pork and in general helped to create a better attitude by consumers to Australia’s pig farming industry. w In fact he was recently pleasantly

Left: Novel use of SKOV chimney fans. The 28 fans have been placed in the side walls which gives a better air flow for the sheds.

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FEATURE 1

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surprised to be offered a grant by the Coles Nature Fund last year.

The retailer established the Coles Nature Fund (CNF) to help small Australian food and grocery producers, farmers and manufacturers to innovate and grow their business.

“The CNF will allocate $50 million over five years in grants and interest free loans to fund the development of new market leading products, technologies, systems and processes.

“The CNF is one way Coles can offer support and encouragement to small Australian businesses looking for assistance to take the next step in creating more productive and innovative ways of working,” a statement from Coles said.

“We were very pleased and proud to be offered this grant from Coles and it has helped when looking for the best solutions to improving our farm to go for an optimum product rather than compromise with a lower priced alternative,” Laurie said.

“We have also had good support from our local NAB bank which became closely involved with our business, understand what we do, and why we do it.

“We were even featured on a calendar produced by the bank recently,” Laurie said.

To go into detail of the cost, item by item would be like a boring report on Sydney real estate – suffice to say ‘considerable’.

But then again, back to strategy, with returns currently at better levels and interest rates low, Bettapork is going flat out to engage the best technology as it has in the past.

So, if and when the cycle turns, a more competitive farm is better able to withstand the stormy times of recent years.

Further, with a lower $A, if Australia does indeed benefit from the much heralded trade deals negotiated by government in the last couple of years, then the ability to increase production to meet demand will be there.

“Laurie and Paul were generous with their time when Pork Journal visited but anxious to get back to their ambitious shed building program.

It is no small irony that the farm is, and will in the future, be energy self sufficient, yet it is located less than an hour’s drive from some of the world’s biggest coal mines.

Ten years ago coal was king and the pork industry was struggling to survive – any bets as to how that situation will look

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1. The new Spanlift breeder-faarowing sheds.

2. Spacious grow-out shed. 3. SKOV climate control system.

ten years down the track?

While pork will always be regarded as the protein of choice for millions, particularly in our own region, we are not sure how fossil fuels will be going in the future.

Pork Journal left Bettapork with a greater feeling of optimism about the pig industry in Australia than it has experienced in a long time.

Technology has completely changed the world in the last 20 years and at Bettapork a combination of three generations of pig production experience combined with the latest technology and its sensible application will ensure the survival of pork production in Australia.

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PRODUCT NEWS

Three reasons for staying dry with methionine Two thirds of global methionine consumers prefer dry methionine sources, according to Amy Liu, National Sales Manager, Evonik Australia Pty Ltd, and suggests that three main reasons support this industry trend: 1. Better dosing accuracy 2. Superior miscibility 3. Less maintenance and cross contamination.

“With feed production, the batch mixing process is the key process to control quality and cost and 95% of ingredients in this process are added as dry bulk which is best suited to adapt particle size distribution to the needs of animal species,” Ms Liu said.

“Consequently, it is dry bulk that the dosing and mixing process is optimised to handle.

“Well proven and efficient technology is widely available to the industry for dosing and weighing major, minor and micro ingredients.

“As dry bulk batches are assembled on scales while the previous batch is being mixed, the process is best balanced between throughput and accuracy.

“Dry ingredients have the full mix cycle time to reach proper homogeneity, as opposed to liquid additives that are sprayed onto the mash within the mix cycle, significantly shortening the average mix time for liquid additives (Figure 1).

“As mix time is decisive for mix quality, average results of mix homogeneity of dry bulk methionine are superior compared to liquid MHA. “An even supply of essential nutrients surely has positive effects on animal performance.

“Whenever liquids are added into

Figure 2: Lumping due to liquid addition

the batch mixer they tend to form lumps with dry ingredients – which increases particle size and impairs miscibility (Figure 2).

“Even worse, build-up of powderliquid cakes on mixer walls and mix tools are promoted (Figure 3), with spraying systems not well adjusted or maintained or spray time not well segmented.

“This leads to carry-over of nutrients and eventually medication into following batches, whenever lumps or crusts break off.

“To prevent this, additional maintenance is required, namely with acidic liquid ingredients like MHA causing corrosion of mixer covers and troughs. (Figure 4) “Feed millers prefer staying dry with methionine for convincing reasons: for peace of mind with regard to production accuracy and cost meaning an improved bottom line.”

Above: Figures 3 & 4: Build up of caking inside mixer

Left. Figure 1: Impact of liquid addition on mix cycle time.

Above. Figure 4: Corrosion on mixer cover due to caking

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PRODUCT NEWS

The next generation of rodenticide is here Selontra Soft Bait Rodenticide is the next generation of rodenticides developed by BASF. “It is powered by the active ingredient cholecalciferol, a nonanticoagulant that significantly reduces the risk of residues, secondary poisoning and site contamination,” said Peter Nicholson, Business Manager for CCD Animal Health.

“Selontra has been developed into a soft block formulation. This technology overcomes the drawbacks historically associated with other non-anticoagulant baits resulting in an effective palatable formulation.

“Each soft block is individually encased in a non-absorbent, flavourpermeable, Polyolefin Shrink Film (POF).

This ensures palatability is maintained and allows Selontra to be adequately secured in bait stations, minimising the risk of bait hoarding and bait contamination around the site.

“Selontra is highly effective against rats and mice, including those rodents resistant to anticoagulants.

“Due to the unique mode of action and palatable formulation, Selontra also controls rodents quicker than anticoagulant baits, with fatality occurring within two to four days after a lethal dose is ingested.

“The active ingredient in Selontra, cholecalciferol, also has a stop-feeding effect, ensuring rodents do not over consume baits and do not feed on nonbait sources around the site.

“We are very pleased with the positive feedback we’ve had regarding

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A wide cross section of producers across the country have switched to using Selontra and the results had been outstanding,” said Mr Nicholson.

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NEWS

Can you afford poor power factor?

By NICOLAS LARUE, Schneider Electric

Better digestion for better feed efficiency

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efficiency and reduce energy costs, addressing the issue of poor power factor is essential. To do this, we must understand what power factor is, what causes it and the value of correcting it.

Put simply, power factor is a measure of efficiency. It is the ratio of working power to apparent power.

It measures how effectively electrical power is being used. For an electrical system to function at its optimum, its power factor must be at unity (measuring at 1.0). A high power factor signals efficient utilisation of electrical power, while a low power factor (less than 0.9) indicates poor utilisation of electrical power.

A power factor of anything less than one means you may be paying more than you need for electricity supplied.

You are charged more if you have a tariff with a kVA demand charge.

To adequately overcome low power factor and achieve unity, an understanding of how AC power flow works is imperative. AC power flow comprises of three key components: • Active Power (P) - the power needed for useful work such as turning a lathe, providing light or pumping water. It is

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In an ideal world, the efficient use of resources would be top of mind for entire corporations and industries.

Unfortunately this usually isn’t the case and enterprises, particularly those with multiple distributed facilities, are already stretched to the limit just keeping buildings in operation.

Ensuring power quality is at its optimum is one aspect of facility management that is often neglected and can have serious financial ramifications.

The cost of poor power quality can amount to 4% of annual turnover, negatively affecting a business’s bottom line, especially for those operating in manufacturing, commercial buildings and mining. As industry becomes increasingly dependent on electronic devices, achieving and maintaining optimum power quality is critical.

Of the power quality issues that are of significant concern within the Australian industrial context, such as harmonics, voltage sags and transients, poor power factor is of particular importance as it can dramatically affect a facility’s power bill, equipment performance and productivity.

For facilities wanting to drive energy

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expressed in Watt or kiloWatt (kW).

• Reactive Power (Q) - the power required to allow work to be done. It is expressed in var or kilovar (kVAR).

• Apparent Power (S) - the vector sum of both the active and the reactive components. It is expressed in Volt Amperes or in kiloVolt Amperes (kVA).

Under regular conditions, electrical loads make use of both active and inductive reactive power. Active power is what drives the actual function, while reactive power, which creates magnetic flux, is responsible for maintaining the electromagnetic field.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the total load connected to today’s industrial power systems is inductive which results in a power factor that is further away from unity.

So what causes low power factor?

In most facilities, low power factor is the result of oversized or lightly loaded induction motors. Other causes of low power factor include: fluorescent and high intensity discharge (HID) lighting, battery chargers, arc welders, induction furnaces, rectifiers and other electronic equipment.

To improve power factor, a facility can either increase the active power component or reduce the reactive component.

Increasing the active power component for the sole purpose of power factor correction is, for obvious reasons, not economically feasible.

Therefore, the only practical means of correcting a system’s power factor is to compensate for the reactive power component.

The predominant means of reducing this component are by providing reactive power locally close to the load.

This method will improve the power factor from the point where the reactive power source is connected.

Or by installing capacitors on the network. When connected to an inductive load, a capacitor bank acts as a reactive power generator that is able to locally supply the reactive current required by the load.

Investing in power factor correction is not only sensible but presents significant financial and technical benefits. First and foremost, power factor correction results in the reduction of apparent power (kVA) consumed by the loads. This substantially reduces the kVA demand charge on a facility’s utility invoice.

Other advantages include improved

NEWS system efficiency, release of system capacity and reduction of power losses.

Another significant gain is that capacitor banks dramatically reduce the kVA load on the transformer, enabling additional loads to be connected to the system without increasing the size of the transformers, switchboards and other distribution equipment. Often, this benefit alone is enough to justify power factor correction especially when customers are looking at expanding their site.

As facilities become increasingly relant on energy and electrical equipment, it is crucial managers take the time to identify cost and use savings across all aspects of the facility.

Power factor, which can have a significant impact on a facility’s overall energy efficiency, is one of these key elements.

Apart from being a waste of money in the form of increased power bills, poor power factor places an extraneous burden on the entire power system and for any facility operator that is serious about being efficient, power factor correction should be a high priority.

Celebrating Bacon Week Australian Bacon Week ran from June 19-25 celebrating 100% Australian bacon as well drawing attention to the competition local bacon faces from imported product.

Australian Pork Limited’s Peter Haydon said bacon was about enjoyment for many people and an integral ingredient of many favourite dishes.

“Bacon is so versatile we find it’s part of dishes from dawn until dusk and from starters to sweets,” he said.

“Bacon made from 100% Australian pork is a high quality product that many people believe tastes better and Bacon Week is about shining a light on this home-grown product.

While the title of Australia’s Best Artisan Bacon went to Zammit Ham and Bacon, the judges also revealed NSW’s top Full Rasher and Shortcut bacons.

Zammit triumphed again, winning Full Rasher category for NSW and TAFE NSW SWSi Gourmet Meats won best Short Cut.

Frank and Adam Zammit. Australia’s Best Artisan Bacon award went to Zammit Ham and Bacon.

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impacts of heat stress.

After discussion of management issues, Mark suggested that feed and nutrients like Betaine, Availa Zn, chromium, synthetic amino acids, fats and fatty acids may help to mitigate heat stress.

Other critical management strategies mentioned by Dr Wilson were to breed only sows with wean to estrus intervals or around seven days; employ quality heat checking, particularly on gilts and use the right number of gilts.

“Qualify all boars for fertility testing,” Dr Wilson concluded.

‘Variation and its hidden costs’ was Professor Rob Van Barneveld’s topic.

Rob is CEO of the SunPork Group of companies, PIC Australia and the Swickers operations and is involved with many other enterprises within and outside the pig industry.

Management practices to reduce variation mentioned by Rob included “creating an enhanced environment, split sex feeding and housing, phase feeding, segregated parity flows, high health systems, cross fostering, split weaning, an increased weaning age and reduced variation in weaning age,” he suggested.

After exploring numerous strategies Rob’s conclusion were “that variation is difficult to manage: nutritional solutions could be to supplement diets with arginine and glutamine”.

The final speaker in the session was Caleb Smith from the well known Kia-Ora Piggery located at Yarrawalla in Victoria.

‘Increasing born alive: where should we focus?’ was his topic.

Caleb listed many of the initiatives that had been explored on their farm, however he pointed out that the key issue for Australian farmers was the climate.

“I believe that the environment that we put the sows into is the most limiting factor in breeding productivity.

“We have one of the most extreme climates on the planet and we need to recognise this,” he said.

“We also face extreme climate variation. I think that Australia wide we need to improve the environment for our pigs.

“We have the capacity through new technologies to influence temperature, hygiene and air quality and this can be done on new or old facilities.

“Now is the absolute time to do it,” Caleb concluded.

In the busy trade exhibition there

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4 were plenty of new products as well as visitors from overseas.

‘Blueprint for Pigs’ was the hot topic on the Alltech/Lienert stand. Matt Starick, an early adopter of the scheme, was one of the many growers that turned up for PPPE. Jyden from Denmark had its innovative JLF10 SWAP farrowing pen on display for loose nursing sows, providing extra protection for piglets during the critical days right after farrowing. (See our grower story in this issue for more information on this product).

From China, Qingdao Deba Brother Machinery Co.Ltd, had Sales Director Bruce Wee and Chloe Li on the stand.

They had on display some items from the extensive range of pig farm equipment and they are keen to talk to potential agents in Australia/NZ. Spanlift, well known for its poultry sheds is now showing a keen interest in the revitalised Australian pig industry.

Joe Grace on the Spanlift stand showed Pork Journal an interesting and innovative shed lining system that is easy to install and clean.

Mike Andersen on the Mundigo stand had on display the innovative Roto Feeders for outdoor operation

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6 1. Caleb Smith, Kia-Ora Piggery in Victoria. 2. Jefo’s Jean Fontaine and Dr Roger Campbell, Pork CRC. 3. Grower Matt Starick. 4. Prof Rob van Barneveld, CEO of Sunpork.

5. Craig Rispin, The Future Trends Group.6. Dr Mark Wilson, Zinpro.

NEWS from weaner to finisher. “These feeders are specifically designed and manufactured to be robust which is necessary in outdoor operation. They also minimise feed wastage,� Mike told Pork Journal.

David Reu of APS Vaucluse always has interesting items and his ‘pig toys’ at PPPE 2016 were no exception.

Rod Martin from Polytex was getting a lot of interest in his novel and quick method to build sheds – an great solution for growers wanting to expand housing in a hurry!

Trish Holyoake, well know in the pig industry and with long experience working with critical APIC accreditation schemes, is now in private practice “and loving it�, she told Pork Journal.

PIC once again sponsored the ‘Happy Two Hours’ drinks and finger food on the final day of a truly happy event.

APL and all its staff involved go ‘above and beyond’ in running the PPPE.

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1. Aeger Kingma congratulates Dr Darryl D’Souza on his move to Sunpork. 2. Dr Trish Holyoake. 3. Dr Heather Bray, University of Adelaide. 4. Damien Kelly and Michael Pritchard from Alltech/Lienert Australia.

5. Jefo’s Wayne Bradshaw presents the Ron Collins award to Rebecca Athorn from Rivalea.

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Pan Pacific Pork Expo Trade Show 1

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1. Joe Grace from Spanlift with innovative roof/wall covering. 2. Andres Spragge from BEC Feed Solutions with Andrew Riley. 3. Fiona Selleck from CCD Animal Health with a client. 4. Mal Mottram from Feedworks with Gerald Fong. 5. Sara Willis chats with the Auspac team, Christine Clark, Dr Geoff Irish and Jonothon Doubleday. 6. Rod Martin from Polytex.

7. Mike and Linda Andersen with Richard Boshoff from Mundigo. 8. The Stockyard Industries’ stand was flat out for the entire event. 9. Darryl Meaney (centre) and Mark Olley (far right) from Biomin Australia Pty Ltd with visitors on the stand.

10. Kym Miller and Luke Steinborner from National Feed Solutions.

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