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NCLE Research Capabilities
NCLE Research Facilities and Equipment
NCLE Research Locations
The National Centre utilizes sophisticated research facilities and equipment to address complex issue on a systems basis such as soil, air and water quality/health, animal health and welfare, food and feed safety - with the goal of developing strategies for environmentally and economically sustainable intensive livestock production. Both short and long-term research will look at animal housing, feeding systems, cropping systems, manure handling and processing and manure use as fertilizer in this context.
What is unique about the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment?
- NCLE has the capability to test the opportunities and limits of increased nutrient recycling through novel cropping and feed-processing strategies
- NCLE has the capability to operate as a "closed loop system", producing crops to feed the livestock and using the animal manure to provide nutrients for the crops. As a result, for the first time in Canada, researchers will be able to study ecological interactions and the effects of management practices in a total production system
- NCLE maintains a long term archive of soil, plant, water and manure samples reflective of integrated systems management
NCLE Research Facilities and Equipment
NCLE has access to extensive facilities, equipment and land base to support fundamental and applied research that addresses environmental, economic, and social issues related to intensive livestock production.
The University of Manitoba was awarded a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant and a Manitoba Innovation grant totaling $8.8 million for the research infrastructure of the Centre. Public sources contributed another $2.5 million for the infrastructure.
NEW!
NCLE Agricultural By-Products Processing Research and Demonstration Facility
Media Release Excerpt: The Governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing $999,500 in a new research facility to support the province's livestock producers in addressing production efficiency and environmental challenges.
Funding from the Canada-Manitoba Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA). This new facility is an initiative of Manitoba Pork and the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment. Construction slated to begin spring 2011.
learn more about the By-Products Processing Facility
Swine Research Facility
The NCLE swine research facility is comprised of two 130-sow farrow-to-finish production units, representing both conventional and alternative production systems, and an off-site AIAO (all-in-all-out) research unit. The conventional and alternative units are well suited to comparative studies, both within and between barns, on animal productivity, behavior, health and welfare research, nutrition management studies, water or energy use activities at the group or individual animal scale. The off-site unit, with separate manure storage, is ideal for conducting whole herd research from weanling to market and from barn to field.
learn more about NCLE's Swine Research Facility
Feedlot Research Facility
Small scale feedlot pens for dairy and beef cattle research including four pens, animal handling facilities and electronic individual feed intake monitoring.
Manure Processing, Handling and Storage Research Equipment and Facilities
Equipment and facilities for solid and liquid manure generated on-site: covered earthen storages for liquid manure, covered storage for solid manure, concrete manure handling pad, solid manure spreader, liquid manure tank with digital flow metres, GPS tracking and electronic load cells for calibration, injection toolbar for subsurface placement of liquid manure. For studies looking at treating and/or processing manure, there are stainless steel sealed storage units and anaerobic digesters located in a passively heated greenhouse.
learn more about Manure Storage and Handling Capabilities
Feed Processing Research Facility
Capacity for custom on-site blending of feedstuffs - precision feed formulation and mixing, small batch preparation for research diets, mash or pelleted commercial rations. Equipment includes mixing capacity based on 1 tonne vertical mixer, hammer and roller mills with space for pilot scale feed processing technologies e.g. de-hulling/pearling machine - to investigate pilot scale feed processing technologies.
Poultry Research Facility
The University of Manitoba Poultry Research Facility consists of a layer research unit and a broiler/turkey research unit. The layer unit houses both conventional and enriched cages as well as individual cages for detailed studies.
learn more about the U of M Poultry Research Facility
Ruminant Research Facility
Components of this University of Manitoba facility include the Dairy Research Unit with housing for dry and lactating cows, heifers and calves, and the Cattle Metabolism Unit for metabolism studies requiring detailed monitoring such as digestibility trials.
learn more about the U of M Ruminant Research Facility
Long Term Manure and Crop Management Field Laboratory
The long term trial at this site, established in 2007 and anticipated to span up to 15 years, is a Field Laboratory where researchers can investigate various parameters within the existing study design. Researchers can also access soil, manure and plant samples from this trial stored in our archive facility. 2008 Long Term Trial report
learn more about the Long Term Field Laboratory
Trace Gas Manitoba (TGAS MAN) Greenhouse Gas Field Emission Site
Electronic environmental monitoring equipment
TGAS MAN represents the only site in Western Canada supporting the technology for continuous year-round measurement of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural fields. This site also contains intensive weather monitoring equipment for year-round data on air temperature, soil temperature to 100cm, soil moisture, precipitation, humidity, solar flux and wind speed.
learn more about the TGAS MAN Site
Laboratories
NCLE laboratory studies and analyses for microorganisms, greenhouse gases, nutrients, manure processing and odour measurement take place at various University of Manitoba specialty labs such as the Large Animal Biosecurity Laboratory, Soil Ecology Laboratory (visit site), Soil Fertility Laboratory, Olfactometry Laboratory, Biological Waste Treatment Laboratory.
Long Term Sample and Data Archive
This archive houses long term storage of feed, manure, soil, water and crop samples, weather and management data, other research data for use on a per-project basis.
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NCLE Research Locations
NCLE, as a research group, has access to multiple physical research facility locations in Manitoba, for example, near Carman, Glenlea and La Broquerie, and at the University of Manitoba, thereby having the capacity to represent a broader spectrum of agricultural activities as well as more diverse soil, landscape and weather conditions in investigating integrated agriculture production systems. These locations are also well suited to extension and outreach activities to demonstrate and communicate research information to producers, students, industry, government and the general public; an important component to any successful research endeavor.
 Glenlea Research Station
The core farm and field research of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment takes place at the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea Research Station, a 486 hectare research and teaching facility located just south of Winnipeg. Here you will find the NCLE feed processing facility, cattle feedlot facilities, manure storage and processing facilities, conventional and alternative swine facilities, off-site antibiotic free swine facility, long term manure and crop management field laboratory and TGAS MAN field research site as well as the U of M ruminant research facilities. learn more about Glenlea Research Station
University of Manitoba
Exploring whole systems often entails bringing the field and farm to the laboratory scale. As a complement to in-field and on-farm NCLE research, a large component of NCLE research takes place in controlled laboratory environments. NCLE laboratory studies and analyses for microorganisms, greenhouse gases, nutrients, manure processing and odour measurement take place at various University of Manitoba specialty labs such as the Large Animal Biosecurity Laboratory (visit site), Soil Ecology Laboratory (visit site), Soil Fertility Laboratory, Olfactometry Laboratory, Biological Waste Treatment Laboratory.
La Broquerie Research Site
This research site, located near La Broquerie, represents "whole systems" research in integrated beef/forage production systems at one location. The unique multidisciplinary project at this site has brought together university researchers, three levels of government and numerous sectors of the industry to establish a research/demonstration site to explore the impact of hog manure on forage yield, forage quality, beef cattle performance, soil and water quality as well as greenhouse gas production and looks at the economics of the whole system.
The La Broquerie Research Project is located on 160 acres of land owned and operated by Hytek Limited, located near La Broquerie, Manitoba. This site features very coarse-textured soils and very high moisture levels in the spring and a fluctuating water table. It is important to note that results of research conducted at this site regarding nutrient and pathogen movement are applicable only to the coarse-textured (sandy) soils in which the trial was conducted and cannot be extrapolated to finer textured soils without scientific investigation.
learn more about the La Broquerie Project
Ian N. Morrison Research Station
The NCLE Lysimeter Facility is located at this University of Manitoba research station in Carman, Manitoba. Using field core lysimeters, researchers can directly measure nutrient and pathogen loss from the root zone following application of manure to ascertain the risk of nutrient leaching as influenced by type and rate of manure applied as well as by crop management.
learn more about the Ian N. Morrision Research Station
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