FarrPro seeks to warm pigs with safe Haven

Mother pigs and their piglets prefer two very different temperatures. Piglets like it to be in the 90s, while sows are happier with a room temperature in the 70s. This makes it difficult to regulate temperatures for the two, and can even lead to piglet deaths when they’re crushed under their mom trying to stay…

FarrPro co-founders Amos Petersen and Chris Hanson meet with Gov. Kim Reynolds after their presentation at the Governor’s Reception on October 18, 2017.

Mother pigs and their piglets prefer two very different temperatures. Piglets like it to be in the 90s, while sows are happier with a room temperature in the 70s.

This makes it difficult to regulate temperatures for the two, and can even lead to piglet deaths when they’re crushed under their mom trying to stay warm. The Des Moines startup FarrPro is hoping to solve this problem and farm losses with its microclimate heater, Haven.

How Haven works

There are pluses and minuses for housing livestock inside, one of the chief problems being a lack of exposure to sunlight. Like humans, pigs get vitamin D from the sun, but being raised indoors means they regularly grow up with a vitamin deficiency. Farmers try to counter this (and the cold) by using sun and heat lamps indoors. But if they’re placed wrong, piglets can end up too cold or much too hot.

“This can help pigs grow faster and healthier, which reduces the need for antibiotics, which farmers are going through at an alarming rate,” said FarrPro co-founder and CEO Amos Peterson. “The Haven provides a better environment for health and growth.”

After working on solutions to prevent piglet deaths for another agtech company, Peterson decided to strike out on his own with Haven. Last year he brought the idea to the Iowa Agritech Accelerator as part of the 2017 cohort. In June FarrPro wrapped up a successful seed round to raise capital, and the company is currently testing Haven through a pilot program with Iowa State University in Ames.

Haven works by using a shield to radiate heat from a line source, giving piglets a more stable and focused source of warmth. Reflective curtains let sows stay near their babies while remaining at a more comfortable temperature.

Going to market with more than little piggies

Peterson decided to focus on pigs because the animals are a huge product for Iowa, and solutions are unlikely to come out of Silicon Valley, which is more focused on crops that grow in California. He thinks that FarrPro will eventually expand to cover farming needs outside the pig pen.

“FarrPro isn’t just a heating company; it’s a solutions company,” Peterson said. “We’re trying to bridge the gap between what we know from research and what we can do in practice for animal agriculture. There are problems like ventilation and the risks that attend ventilation of indoor air. And there are issues that don’t just affect the swine industry; eventually, we’ll move on to other animals and other verticals.”

FarrPro currently consists of four people, along with a part-time marketing person. Peterson said the company is currently looking for a hardware engineer to help develop and build products for the company.

From sows ears to silk purses

Within the next six months, Peterson hopes to wrap up its pilot programs and start developing some sales traction. Eventually, he hopes to start work on a controller interface to make Haven part of a smart platform.

Longer term, he hopes FarrPro can help provide customers with more information about their food.

“I think food transparency is a big issue, and more importance should be placed on tracking animals through the supply chain,” Peterson said. “People want to know where their food came from, was it sick, and who raised it. We can help differentiate the commodity of meat and let customers pick and choose. There’s going to be a real demand for that, as soon as people know how possible it is.”

––

Joe Lawler is a freelance reporter based in Des Moines.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Channels:

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.