Use of Slatted Floor As a Water-Saving Technique in Geese Raising

2007-09-07

Small-scale farmers conventionally raise geese along riversides or creeks. However, environmental concerns in recent years have prohibited feeding the geese along riversides to avoid pollution of the river upstream. Thus, farmers have instead used traditional housing system for geese raising, but the said system consumes large quantity of underground water.

Traditional facilities for geese feeding and management are constructed mainly as a feedlot system and shelter plus water pool, each occupying one-third of the total area (Fig. 1). A considerable amount of underground water is consumed and wasted in this kind of facility. And considering the need to conserve valuable natural resources such as water, a sustainable farming system utilizing a water-saving technique was developed by the Chang-hua Animal Propagation Station, Livestock Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture (COA), Taiwan ROC.

In 2006, there was a total of 6.72 million geese slaughtered in Taiwan, with the White Roman breed having a market share of more than 90 percent. Based on standard regulations for waste water discharge after treatment, water samples from farming activities must meet a standard of below BOD 80 mg/liter, COD 600 and SS 150 mg/liter. Following this standard, a new housing system for geese was designed, characterized by elevated floors and the absence of a water pool.

Under the new shelter system, the drinking water and feeding trough are attached to the side of the pen. Experimental results show that geese could reach market weight at the same age as those of the control group. Further, this system can save 15 liters of underground water per day per head during the growing period. The floor, made of stripped iron bar 2.4 cm in width and 1.8 cm between bar distance, is elevated by 30-50 cm from the ground and slatted to allow waste excrements to pass through easily (Fig. 2). The geese are transferred to the elevated housing system after brooding and provided with drinking water and feedstuff until 13 weeks of age at marketing (Figs. 3 and 4). Their live weight could reach up to 6.05 kg, an 11 percent increase from the body weight of those grown using traditional facilities.

The effectiveness of the elevated housing system is very evident. Keeping the geese in slatted floor could decrease the water consumption caused by playing around among geese and at the same time avoid water pollution from waste excrements.

• (For further information about this technology, contact: Chang-hua Animal Propagation Station, Livestock Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan; 80 Tonung Road, Peito Chang-hua 521, Taiwan ROC;

Fax +886 4 8886183; E-mail: hucl@mail.tlri.gov.tw)

Index of Images

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  Figure 1 Traditional facilities for geese raising.

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  Figure 2 Slatted floor made of stripped iron bar.

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  Figure 3 Improved housing system for geese raising using slated floor.

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  Figure 4 The water-saving housing system for geese production.