A consultant with FGC Construction says the condition of the barn and whether it will function as needed are key considerations when deciding whether to convert an existing sow barn from stall housing to group housing.
A multidisciplinary team of engineers and researchers from the University of Manitoba. the Prairie Swine Centre, CDPQ, Manitoba Pork and FGC Construction are working in partnership with Swine Innovation Porc to document conversions from stall housing of gestating sows to group housing to be used as reference by producers considering such a change.
"Renovate or Rebuild: Assessing the state of your facilities" will be discussed as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2015 which kicks off tomorrow in Saskatoon.
Murray Elliot, with FGC Construction says, when deciding whether to renovate, you have to assess the structure as if you're building from new, from the foundation up.
Murray Elliot-FGC Construction:
You look at footings, foundation walls, pit walls, working floors, perimeter walls, roofing, trusses, truss plates, roof steel, ceilings.
It's the whole package because each of those components wear out at a different rate and it depends on the wear and tear on each part.
If you're looking at a foundation wall being in bad shape, probably you'll pretty quickly determine that the building is not salvageable.
You put some numbers to it and it largely turns into, what's the most cost effective way to get to where you need to be?
Prairie Swine Centre has a web site and there is a barn integrity check-list on there which is quite extensive, a very good place to start.
Elliot says there are always compromises when working within an existing footprint so when considering a renovation you have to decide whether these compromises are acceptable or not.
Source: Farmscape