Mike Kats can't do much about the first two, but with the help of a mechanical engineer, Scott Postma, he's designed and developed a machine which pumps ozone into foul-smelling air causing an oxidation reaction which takes the odor out. 

Kats' goal was to improve air quality for himself and his wife, Lorinda, but in the process he said that improved air quality for pigs has paid for itself many times over in the form of reduced disease and vaccinations costs, more surviving pits per litter and lower production costs. 

After five years of improving and modifying his oxidizer, Kats and his partners not have a patent pending and have begun marketing their ozone distribution system. 

Researchers from Iowa State University Extension Service have visited the Kats farm to see the device for themselves and now plan to document outcomes in controlled confinement research. 

Representatives from Oklahoma State and Michigan State universities have also toured the Kats farm, as well as a representative from the Department of Natural Resources and numerous manufacturers that were considered for production of the devices. 

The ozone-distribution system will also be featured in "Farm Show" magazine in November. 

Mike said the ball got started rolling about five years ago, when he was looking for a way to improve well water that had an unpleasant taste and contained too much iron. he installed a water ozonation system and saw dramatic results in the form of livestock drinking more, eating more and speeding up their rate of gain. 

Mike was aware that ozone can be used as an air-freshener, so he piped the excess ozone generated through a flexible PVC tube into a hog building. 

After a few days, he started to notice that pigs looked more energetic, healthier and ate more feed. The air smelled fresher, which translated into hogs with fewer respiratory problems. 

After seeing these improvements, he started to experiment with various methods of creating ozone and distributing it evenly in hog buildings, as well as creating a low-maintenance machine. 

After five years and thousands of dollars worth of trial components, he thinks he's found the right combination for an ozone generator that can endure the harsh environment of swine confinements. 

The ozone system is usually mounted outside a confinement system, with PVC pipes carry the ozone into the building. There are many variables that need to be considered when installing the ozone distribution system, including the 

The amount of ozone being produced must be adjusted according to these factors because too much ozone will definitely cause problems. 

Kats said it is easy to tell if the ozone concentration is too high because of tie distinctive smell, similar to the electrical smell produced by lightning. 

Kats said the amount of ozone he uses doesn't completely get rid odor. That's because bacteria must be present on manure to break it down into liquid form and' decompose; ozone would kill those bacteria if mixed with the manure. 

Their artificially-created ozone binds to foul-smelling air, oxidizes it and restores its natural scent. This is the same principal as lightning striking the atmosphere or the sun's radiation hitting the upper atmosphere, each of which creates natural ozone. 

Kats currently has five ozone generators at work on his farm, where he raises about 8,000 hogs with 450 sows. The Kats also crop farm and have a few cattle at their "Picket Fence Farm." 

With his own hogs, Mike said farrowing sows' consumption of feed was consistently 15-20 percent better than the room without ozone. He cut back on ventilation 10-20 percent which resulted in a 30 percent saving in their heating bill. 

He also noted 50 percent less pigs were laid on, there was at least a one-pound heavier weaning weight and E-Coli scours were decreased by 75 percent. 

In the nursery, Kats claims similar heat savings, a 100 percent decrease in signs of PRRS and rhinitis. a 90 percent decrease in pneumonia, scours and grease pig, and a 50 percent reduction in staph and strep infections. 

Similar results were reported by Kats in the finishing buildings. 

Kats and Postma have formed a corporation called Ozone Solutions to market their product. They currently have about 30 systems installed, nine of which are the final version. This has been Postma's full-time job since graduating from Dordt College in May. 

Some of their first customers were relatives and neighbors, but the duo has already placed units as far as Remsen, Hinton, Fairview and Maurice. A few dealers and feed salesmen have begin promoting and selling the system for them. 

The cost of the ozone distribution is between $5-$10 per pig space. Costs of running the machine is about 85 cents per day' or electricity. Longevity of a machine has not yet been thoroughly tested.