BrEasy

With a typical pit fan most hog barn operators make the assumption that the air is pulled from the pit. In fact, with a typical pit fan, air is drawn from the closest point. Thus, heavy gases remain right above the manure. This chokes off the pit until manure levels rise substantially.

(NOTE: over 90% of manure microbial activity occurs in the top one-inch layer.)

BrEasy is installed between the pit fan and pit wall opening. When you install the BrEasy with your existing pit fan, gases are pulled from right above the manure level, so the coldest, heaviest, most toxic gases are removed. Warm, ventilated good air remains in the barn. Because BrEasy generates less overall air turbulence, you have more control of the air environment at the pig level. BrEasy is easily managed with a visual pit indicator and cable turn system. No major modifications to the pit fan are necessary.

A university study found that BrEasy reduces in-barn ammonia by 32% and the odor by 43%. The study was conducted in four barns in west central Iowa in 2017. The four barns in the study were each different types of barns: double-sided, double long and an individual 1,000-head barn. The barns were at various stages of the hog production cycle. On each of the four sites, there was a control barn and a test barn.

The study was conducted starting in January through April 2017. Samples of the air content and quality were taken in each of the barns every two weeks. The Iowa State University study resulted in findings that clearly demonstrate a reduction in in-barn ammonia and overall odor levels. With BrEasy targeted ventilation installed, gases don’t have a chance to accumulate in the pit and pig space resulting in a healthier environment for pigs and people. Further, with less ammonia present corrosion of the building infrastructure is decreased, which then contributes to the facility’s longevity.

The results here show significant improvement in the reduction of ammonia in the air of every barn in which BrEasy was installed for this study.

The study concluded that odor was reduced in each of the barns installed with the BrEasy. Further, the lead researcher asserted that it is “reasonable to assume that decreased odors in the barn will decrease odors outside of the building.”

The lead researcher states in the conclusion of the study: “overall our results indicated that [the BrEasy] improved air quality in the barn significantly reducing both odor and ammonia, with reductions of 25 and 30 percent on average.”*

*Anderson, Daniel, PhD, EIT. “Evaluation of ‘Ventilation Sock’ (now named the BrEasy) for PigEasy.” Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department. Iowa State University. June 2017

PigEasy approached New Fashion Pork (NFP), a large hog production company based in Jackson, Minnesota, to seek their participation in a test study to determine whether the installation of the BrEasy would reduce the amount of heat used during the winter. The test study was conducted in a southern Minnesota site from January to May 2018.

The nursery was chosen because the quick fill time allowed the BrEasy test study to occur over multiple turns within a season, on one site and in one of their buildings – with the same opportunity for measurement of improvement in heater run times with the same management and the same fans.
On the New Fashion Pork site, BrEasy was installed in a four-room nursery. Each room had a 1200-head pig capacity. BrEasy was installed in Rooms 2 and 4. Heater run times of inner Rooms 2 and 3 were compared to remove the variability of the external walls. Note: Room 3 was the test’s control room.

For pig mortality comparison, Rooms 2 and 4 were compared with Rooms 1 and 3.

The results of all of the three turns demonstrate consistent outcomes: a reduction of heater run times and lower mortalities.

The previous two charts put into dollars and cents savings the results of the run time reduction and lower mortalities.