Dr. Paul Yeske

Ideally, producers aim to construct manure handling systems that provide a facility with a year's worth of waste storage. That way "producers can apply manure when they choose to, rather than when they have to," says Dr. Paul Yeske, Swine Vet Center, St. Peter, MN. One obvious way to maximize storage capacity is to curb total waste volume.

According to Yeske, reducing slurry volume can be as simple as switching drinker types. For example, he says "there's no question" that cups reduce waste compared to nipple waterers. "Many of our clients' farms have water meters, and generally speaking, we are seeing a 30 to 40 percent savings," he says.

Yeske says some producers have tried adjusting conventional nipple flow rates and pressure volumes to eliminate waste. If you keep the flow rate constant, and maintain proper pressure, "you can help reduce waste, but not as much as with cups," he says.

Pigs waste more with a conventional nipple waterer because they may bump the valve as much for amusement as for quenching their thirst. "They can treat it like a toy to play with," Yeske says.

Cups simply don't offer as much entertainment value. Pigs drink, rather than waste water.

Cups work well for nurseries, grow-finish units and wean-to-finish barns. "Little pigs seem to take off a little better with cup waterers," Yeske says. "They don't have to learn to work the nipple because there is some water in the bowl."

A side benefit is reduced medication waste. "If 30 to 40 percent of the water volume is going down into the pit (with nipple waterers), you'll have a higher medication cost," Yeske says. "It will cost you more to get the same amount of treatment into the pig."

Yeske says his clients also report that DRIK-0-MATs are easy to maintain, compared to some of the other cups. "One of the major selling points is that this is a simple system," he says. "Some of the others that have different features are more complicated. And with that comes maintenance and no one likes maintenance," he observes.

Cups also do not require height adjustment during the feeding period, unlike nipple waterers. With nipple waterers, "if you don't keep raising them, the pigs keep wasting more and more water," says Yeske.

Yeske says other options such as wet-dry feeders also provide waste advantages but they haven't been as effective for nursery pigs, and they are usually more costly than a combination of dry feeders and cups.