The fourth release of the 2010 Agricultural Census information addresses the advance information provided by production method research on livestock buildings, manure handling and storage, as well as grazing. Statistics related to these themes illustrate the current status of agricultural production, the wellbeing of animals and environmental protection.

 

Loose housing systems and stanchion-tied stable have equal room for cattle

At the moment, loose housing systems already have a number of cattle places equal to that of stanchion-tied stables. More than 50% of animal places in loose housing are with slurry-based manure management. The share of solid manure is less than one-third, and the share of deep litter systems is less than one-fifth of loose housing places. In stanchion-tied stables, the share of solid manure continues to be slightly higher than that of slurry.

Slurry clearly the most common manure handling method on pig farms

Nearly 85% of pig places are in pig houses with partially slatted floor and with slurry-based manure management. The share of deep-litter pig houses is only more than 5%. On poultry, sheep and goat farms and on horse farms, solid manure is clearly a more common manure handling method than slurry.

Traditional battery cages for laying hens are replaced by furnished cages and multi-tiered aviary systems

A major transition will take place in the hen house types as the use of traditional battery cages is to be discontinued within the EU by 2012. In 2010, the share of new hen house types (i.e. furnished cages and multi-tiered aviary systems) of laying hen places was already about one-third, i.e. approximately equal to the share of traditional battery cage places. Floor farms comprised almost one-fourth of laying hen places.

Manure storages usually open or only partially covered

Only more than one-fifth of slurry and solid manure storages on dairy cattle farms are covered. On other cattle farms, an equal share of slurry tanks are covered as on dairy farms, but for solid manure the percentage of covered storages is 40%. On pig farms almost 50% of slurry tanks and 40% of solid manure storages are covered. It is more common to have covered urine tanks: about 65% of them on cattle farms and almost 80% of them on pig farms are covered.

Manure storage capacity for almost the entire manure quantity of the year

The Finnish law says that manure storage capacity must be sufficient for the manure produced during the entire year. However, grazing, removing manure from the farm and using a deep litter system decrease the amount of manure that needs to be stored. On cattle farms, the storage space of slurry and solid manure is sufficient for about 10.2–11.0 months. The manure storage capacity of pig farms is sufficient for an average of 11.2–11.4 months.

Removing manure from the farm is the most common on poultry farms. The share of manure transported from such farms is on average 65%.

Grazing most common on dairy cattle farms and farms with sheep and goats

The share of grazing farms is largest among dairy cattle farms (87% of farms) and among sheep and goat farms (84% of farms). On sheep and goat farms, the share of grazing area in the utilized agricultural area is an average of 60%, but only 14% on dairy cattle farms.

The grazing season becomes shorter when moving from the south to the north. The average grazing season is the longest in Åland. The grazing season is shorter on dairy cattle farms than on other livestock farms.

Agricultural Census 2010 – Preliminary data on livestock living conditions and manure storage

Background information

The data were derived from the Agricultural Census 2010 survey conducted by Tike. The results of the survey will be published in five parts. The livestock results published now have been obtained from the Survey of Agricultural Production Methods completed in conjunction with the Agricultural Census. The study covered some 14,000 agricultural and horticultural enterprises, i.e. every fifth farm in Finland. Results that describe all farms in Finland have been estimated on the basis of the information provided by the farms which participated in the data collection.

More information:
Tike, Statistical Services
Pasi Mattila, Project Researcher, tel. +358 20 77 21 300
Jaana Kyyrä, Project Manager, tel. +358 20 77 21 292
E-mail address format: firstname.lastname@mmmtike.fi