- Production Guides
- Types of Farming
- Product Integrity
- Trade, Labour and Training
- Animal Welfare
National Environmental Guidelines for Indoor Piggeries (NEGIP)
The National Environmental Guidelines for Indoor Piggeries (NEGIP) replaces the previous National Environmental Guideline for Piggeries (NEGP) (2nd Edition Revised, 2010). The name was changed to avoid confusion between the reference documents for indoor and outdoor rotational piggeries.
Both the National Environmental Guidelines for Indoor Piggeries (NEGIP) and the National Environmental Guidelines for Rotational Outdoor Piggeries (NEGROP) deliver a national approach to environmental management of Australian piggeries.
The guidelines developed with industry, community and government provide a general framework for managing environmental issues, taking into account circumstances and conditions most commonly encountered on piggeries.
The guidelines provide up to date information on design and management practices and can be used to guide environmental assessments for developing piggeries and options for existing piggeries to achieve positive environmental outcomes.
The guidelines cover topics such as planning, site selection, separation and buffer distances, cleaner production, housing design and management, effluent management systems, Reuse areas, nutrient content of by-products, carcass management, monitoring, chemical storage and environmental management plans.
The National Environmental Guidelines for Rotational Outdoor Piggeries were revised in May 2016. For the minor revisions please see Outdoor Production.
Environmental Risk Assessment
The Environmental Risk Assessment (RA) is designed to identify any actual or potential impacts that a piggery or proposed piggery may pose to the environment. Undertaking a RA assists producers identify any potential risks and if required implement mitigation strategies to reduce potential impacts.
Electronic Environmental Management Plan (EMP) Templates
An EMP focuses on the general management of a whole farm, taking into account the environment and associated risks. It documents design features and management practices, identifies risks and mitigation strategies and documents monitoring plans to ensure impacts are minimised. An EMP can assist with day-to-day environmental management, demonstrate best practice to regulators and be a requirement for decision makers when developing or expanding a piggery.
APL have developed a user friendly electronic template to assist producers in developing their own EMP. It is compatible with the National Environmental Guidelines for Piggeries (2010 revised) and Rotational Outdoor Piggeries (2013). The EMP includes a site specific risk assessment, pollution incident response plan (NSW requirement) and duty of care information for off-site re-users.
Nutrient Balance Calculators
The nutrient balance calculators are easy-to-use tools that will assist piggery operators to sustainably reuse manure and effluent from conventional and deep litter piggeries, and manage paddock rotations for outdoor piggeries. They will help farmers to better understand the quantities of nutrients in manure and effluent streams, and how to utilise these effectively in cropping systems.
The calculators are consistent with the newly-released APL “Piggery Manure & Effluent Management & Reuse Guidelines” (Tucker 2015) which are, in turn, based on the “National Environmental Guidelines for Piggeries” (Tucker et al. 2010) and the “National Environmental Guidelines for Rotational Outdoor Piggeries” (Tucker and O’Keefe 2013).
Piggery Manure and Effluent Management and Reuse Guidelines (2015) and Glovebox Guide
These guidelines incorporate the latest research outcomes and technical information and focus on the potential of effluent to provide significant productivity and profitability opportunities for Australian producers. They cover all aspects of effluent and solids management including collection, handling, treatment, reuse, monitoring, nutrient valuation and duty of care statement for the selling of products from conventional, deep litter and rotational outdoor piggeries.
The ‘Piggery Manure and Effluent Reuse Glovebox Guide 2015’, complements these guidelines and provides worked examples and templates for producers to determine nutrient removal by crops/pastures and application rates for effluent, manure and spent bedding for conventional and deep litter systems. For rotational outdoor systems, worked examples and templates are provided to calculate nutrients added to paddocks as well as nutrient removal rates. This can assist in determining stocking densities and rotations.
Best Management Practice (BMP) Booklets-Odour, Energy Use, SEP’s, Rotational Outdoor Piggeries, Nutrients and New Pond Design 2015
A series of six BMP booklets are available to producers and cover: reducing energy costs in piggeries, minimising odour from piggeries, rotational outdoor piggeries and the environment, new design guidelines for anaerobic ponds, getting the best value from manure nutrients and SEPs: sedimentation and evaporation pond systems.
Information presented includes: The breakdown of energy use on Australian piggeries and ways to measure and reduce energy use on site. Identification of odour sources and mitigation strategies to reduce odour impacts. Identification of environmental issues associated with outdoor piggeries, site selection and land management practices to minimise impacts. New design guidelines for anaerobic ponds that will reduce earthworks, provide smaller footprint, be less expensive, reduce odour, be simpler to desludge and require smaller separation distances. The composition of manure products, how to determine sustainable reuse rates and valuation of manure nutrients. The design, construction and operation of sedimentation and evaporation pond systems.