The Clean Water Act of the 1980s helped Braun Electric Inc. – Total Farm Systems of St. Nazianz, Wis., find a niche so specialized that no other contractor wants to share the space. The company jets outflow lines from reception pits in dairy barns, and almost every service call is an emergency.
After purchasing the family-owned business in 2003, Richard “Rick” Braun doubled its size and revenue by becoming a turnkey service provider. From selling dairy barn equipment and ventilation and sprinkler systems, Braun diversified into manure, feeding and nutrient management systems.
He added a concrete crew to do flat work and pour small walls. Excavation equipment followed to install manure and backflush lines, including three 65-foot long-reach excavators to dig or clean slurry storage tanks and lagoons.
Waterjetting is a natural and successful extension of that business. Braun and his crews use custom-built jetting equipment to restore manure lines to trouble-free service and deploy industrial vacuum units to pick up the debris the jetters loosen from the lines.
All in all, a willingness to adapt to changing trends and technology drives the company, founded in 1964. Today, Braun Electric travels throughout Wisconsin caring for every aspect of the farm business.
Manure management
Spreading manure was a daily chore for farmers until the Clean Water Act ended that policy. It stated that dairies could land-apply manure only in summer. During the other nine months, farmers contain it in outdoor slurry tanks or lagoons. The occasional problem is getting the 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of daily manure from the reception pit in the barn to the storage facility.
Floor-level reception pits have an 8- to 24-inch PVC outflow pipe buried 8 to 12 feet deep and 2 feet above the bottom of the tank. The 30- to 1,000-foot-long line slopes downward to the storage vessel. Sand, lime and manure with too much straw eventually accumulate in the pipe.
Manure in the reception pit either gravity flows or is pumped to its collection point. “The pit acts just like a toilet,” says Braun. “When the outflow pipe is blocked, manure backs up, and our phone rings.”
The company received its first summons in the early 1980s. By then, Richard Braun, Sr., had switched from residential electrical work to wiring barn expansions, installing silo unloaders, feed conveyors and milking equipment, and upgrading the wiring needed by the large motors running these items.
Adding a service
To help the farmer, the company called a waterjetting contractor in Green Bay, Wis. “Dad watched them jet the line and knew we had to add this service to our fleet,” says Braun. The contractor sold them a jetter with a 500-gallon tank and Myers pump on a 1973 Ford chassis.
The company also custom pumps and hauls manure, so every time technicians emptied a storage vessel, they asked the customer if they should return and run the jetter hose through the outflow pipe to make sure it was clean. Preventive maintenance was in its infancy, but most farmers saw the logic.
“It didn’t take us long to figure out why the contractor sold that truck,” says Braun. “We never had enough water, and barn hydrants can’t put out the necessary volume. Jobs usually require at least 1,500 gallons of water at 60 gpm/1,500 psi.”
Purchasing a jetter with a 1,500-gallon tank on a single-axle 1986 Ford F-8000 turned out to be a temporary fix. As demand for the service escalated, mostly through word-of-mouth, father and son custom-built a jetter with a 3,000-gallon tank on a 1996 Western Star chassis. Both vehicles have 60-gpm/2,500-psi Myers pumps.
Seasonal work
Preventive maintenance on outflow lines occurs mostly in autumn. “We don’t have service contracts because we never know whose storage vessels the custom pumpers will empty first or whether it will rain,” says Braun. “As soon as we hit a dry stretch, all the farmers want us out there right now.”
The company services 1,500 farms with 25 to 5,000 cows each. Technicians wear rubber gloves, hardhats, safety glasses and protective gear when jetting lines. The trucks carry disinfectants for cleaning up. Although the men normally don’t enter the reception pits, Braun does have confined space-qualified employees in case the need arises. To provide a 24/7 response, 70 percent of Braun’s employees are trained to operate a jetter.
Trucks carry 1,000 feet of 1-inch sewer hose, Warthog nozzles from StoneAge Waterblast Tools Inc., and chisel nozzles, a floor cleaner with eight rear jets, and basic nozzles for moving sand or ice from Northern Sewer and Equipment. The hoses have leader pipes so that technicians know when the nozzle is about to come out of the line, and to prevent the hose from turning in the line.
Normal maintenance begins with running a basic nozzle through the line to see what kind of material comes out. That determines the next cleaning phase. The men use bigger nozzles and tips so that they don’t need as much pressure as they need flow. On the last pass, they use the floor-cleaning nozzle to guarantee that the line is free of debris.
“We usually bring the hose back under pressure to pull all the sand and lime uphill to the reception pit,” says Braun. “Clean water has to come out before we consider the job a success.” Debris is removed using a J-Star 3,000-gallon or N-Tech 4,000-gallon trailer-mounted industrial vacuum tanker. Both carry 450-cfm Battioni pumps connected to the farm tractor’s power takeoff.
Breaking the freeze
The next busiest time for Braun is spring. Dairy barns are unheated, and ice can build up as manure freezes. When it thaws enough for farmers to push the chunks into the reception pit, frozen blocks occasionally melt in the outflow pipe. As the manure turns to slush, it expands. However, the force of more manure entering the pipe squeezes water out of the slush, leaving solid ice balls that prevent fiber from passing.
Backups occur at any time of day, since large dairies operate around the clock. On arrival, Braun technicians push a 4-inch pipe on an angle into the reception pit and probe around until it falls into the outflow line. Then they feed the jetter hose down the pipe.
“Once we’re inside the outflow line, we have no idea what we’re doing because cameras can’t see through the thick, black manure,” says Braun. “We do everything by feel and keep working back and forth against an obstruction until the level in the pit starts dropping.” Hydraulic pressure helps push out the remaining blockages.
Once the tank is empty, the men run the jetter to the storage vessel, then retrieve it under pressure to pull back sand or lime. Since it is easier to open a clogged outflow line from an empty pit, Braun purchased a Camel combination truck from Super Products LLC. It has a 16-cubic-yard debris tank, 1,500-gallon water tank, 80-gpm/2,500-psi Myers pump, and 5,000-cfm Roots blower on a 1999 Sterling chassis.
Down on the farm
Any manure system will clog, but contractors who waterjet for municipalities avoid the work because they cannot schedule service calls long in advance. They also dislike the byproduct of dairy barns, leaving the field wide open for Braun Electric. “We have no competition,” says Braun. “I don’t understand it. Waste is waste whether it comes from humans or bovines. It all washes off.”
During busy times, Braun increases his workforce from 45 to 60 employees. All come from customers’ farms. “None of the guys are afraid to get their hands dirty, and they know their way around barns, cows and farm equipment,” says Braun. “This isn’t a job for city kids.”
Most employees have been with Braun 8 to 20 years, and some for as long as 30 years. A plumber with service contracts at two companies in the nearby city of Manitowoc provides the company’s only non-agricultural jetting work. “He subcontracts us to jet the drain lines at a canning company and malt plant,” says Braun.
The company continues to grow whenever Braun sees a need. For example, he bought a trailer-mounted manure separator for farmers to rent while their stationary unit is repaired, and a truck-mounted manure pump with a 57-foot boom to agitate and pump slurry storage tanks.
Working with Soil Net LLC in Madison, Wis., Braun introduced an organic polymer that dewaters manure so cleanly that the liquid can return to the farm’s water supply. He is designing dewatering systems with rotary screen separators, enabling liquid to be sprayed onto growing crops and the slurry injected into the soil for odor control.
In every aspect, Braun Electric lives up to its motto, “All you have to do … is ask.” Even if a service isn’t listed, Braun and his team will do it, keeping farmers and cows on schedule, and supermarkets full of the dairy products for which the state is famous.
