Farm hands around the province are breathing a little easier this week after a Calgary company signed a marketing deal for a mineral technology which takes the “whew!” out of smelly horse, pig and chicken barns.

The exclusive marketing arrangement will allow C2C Zeolite Corporation to stock its Mucker’s Mate in more than 100 outlets operated by the United Farmers of Alberta, says company president Verne Hogg.

Zeolite, mined by the company in Cache Creek, B.C., is a naturally occurring mineral with a porous molecular structure which can be used in a variety of industrial applications.

One of its biggest benefits is its odour-absorbing capacity. In a country where farm animals spend a good deal of time indoors, it’s becoming a way for farmers — and their neighbours — to deal with the inevitable aromatic spinoffs.

“You would not need our product if you cleaned your stalls out two or three times a day. But who has time for that?” says Hogg, who stables his own horses near Okotoks.

Respiratory diseases and coughing resulting from airborne contaminants like ammonia and sulphur dioxide are serious concerns to the farming and equestrian communities, he says.

Liquid animal waste deposited on hay bedding or leaking under rubber mats can lead to ammonia-producing microbial activity.

But when the zeolite — which resembles a coarse salt — is sprinkled on the barn floor, it absorbs the urea and associated ammonia gases. “And the odours in your barn go to zip,” says Hogg.

Zeolite is also used as a soil conditioner, beef and hog feed binder, and in wet-system manure pits. C2C also sells the product in its Zippity Doo cat litter.

An Idaho company sells a similar zeolite powder called Stable Boy, but C2C has modified the product to reduce dust, says Hogg.

Hogg’s interest in the deodorizing abilities of zeolite may have been sown by particularly pungent memories of his childhood on the family farm outside Saskatoon.

“If you’ve ever sat on a horse-drawn manure spreader . . .” he winces.

“I can distinctly recall it flying down the back of my neck.”

He hopes the alliance with the 108,000-member UFA — which he expects will help sell 100 tonnes of Mucker’s Mate a month within a year — will be a breath of fresh air to Alberta’s agriculture sector, and will help make barns into a healthier place for raising animals.