New ventilation package offers control and monitoring

Farmex, the Reading-based environmental control and monitoring specialist, is introducing a brand new complete ventilation systems package for pig buildings at their stand No235, Hall 2 at the British Pig and Poultry Fair (Stoneleigh Park, 9th & 10th May).

Known as Complete Air, the systems package will offer flexibility. Each one will be individually designed to meet the farmer's particular needs rather than the 'one-size-fits-all' approach offered by many continental companies, which are likely to be designed to more standardised European housing. These tend to be different from that in the UK, say Farmex.

Farmex will continue to produce its control, alarm and monitoring systems but will also provide fans, motorised and pressure-operated inlets, ACNV (Automatically Controlled Natural Ventilation) flaps, curtains and motors.

Unusually, in addition to installation and commissioning, the package will include one year's free electronic monitoring which is seen as a vital and unique part of the system.

"Getting ventilation systems doing exactly what they should do is a challenge, due to lack of knowledge on the ground and unrealistic expectations," commented Farmex managing director, Hugh Crabtree. "Monitoring provides a route to ensuring the specified performance is achieved by keeping a tab on what is actually happening."

While the systems are likely to be priced at £25-£30 per pig, he points out that the cost of getting an environment wrong can easily add two weeks to the time taken by a finishing pig to reach slaughter weight — amounting to an extra cost of £5 per pig, or £6,250 on a house holding 500 pigs in a single year.