Dry Litter

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Main > Regional Themes > Animal Waste Management > Dry Litter System
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Dry Litter System Provides Alternative Waste Management
Piggeries are literally “backyard” operations with capacities that range from a few animals to about twenty-five animals. Piggeries may be small, but they are numerous. The concentration of animals per square mile can be comparable to that of large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) of the U.S. mainland. Island piggeries are rarely far from water, and the potential to influence shallow aquifers, island streams, or coastal waters is substantial. Piggery effluent represents a significant source of nutrient runoff, fecal contamination, and zoonotic disease throughout the region. Affected areas include the Northern Marianas Islands, American Samoa, Micronesia, and Palau.
Overview
The piggery effluent problem in the Pacific has two points of contention. One issue is education; local farmers aren't familiar with the potential health hazards posed by the effluent or principles of contaminant transport. The other issue is an economic one. An alternative system for waste management, if we expect it to be utilized, must be affordable to the farmer. A manual on how to build your own Portable Dry Litter Pig Pen is available.

The Challenge: Unmanaged effluent from a piggery inevitably find their way to local surface water systems.		The Solutions: Dry-litter (above center) and portable pen (above right) systems offer affordable means of effluent management (above right).

Education equals Economic Successs
Land Grant Extension Researchers from the University of Hawaii and Northern Marianas College, in conjunction with USDA-CSREES cooperators and EPA, have been addressing both of these issues in a recent series of education workshops in the Northern Marianas. These workshops foster stewardship of water resources and introduce two affordable solutions for responsible waste management; a dry-litter system and a portable pen system. Three workshops have provided education to roughly 100 participants so far, with some participants choosing immediate adoption of these alternative management techniques. Future workshops will advocate the economic advantage of using the nutrient-rich "wastes" in on-farm composting and fertilization. Dry Litter Pen Manual.