Full-Wall Ventilation for Dairy Free Stall Barns

2009

The two environmental options for raising calves are cold housing and warm housing. In this discussion only cold naturally ventilated calf housing will be discussed. A cold housing system is typically naturally ventilated which operates a few degrees above the ambient outside temperature and is the recommended system for raising calves. Cold-housing systems should provide a dry comfortable resting space and an environment with excellent air quality, free from excessive drafts in winter. Disease organisms are less likely to thrive in the cold, dry environment. Disadvantages of cold housing are possible frostbite of calf’s ears, additional feed costs to maintain body heat and growth, and poor working conditions for the caretaker in inclement weather.

During the summer of 2001 six tunnel ventilated tie stall barns in northeastern Missouri and southeastern Iowa were evaluated. Three of the barns were equipped with cellulose evaporative pads and three were not. Temperature and relative humidity were recorded continuously for 11 weeks from July 1 to September 15, 2001. Cattle housed in tie stall barns equipped with evaporative cooling had lower average respiration rates (65.7 vs 70.3 breaths/min) than those housed in barns without evaporative cooling. However, rates observed in the morning and at night were not different, only the afternoon rates differed significantly. Average rectal temperatures were also lower for the cows housed in evaporative cooled barns. Similar to respiration rates, the greatest differences existed during the afternoon. Skin temperatures followed respiration rates and rectal temperatures and were significantly lower for the cattle housed in the barns equipped with evaporative cooling with the greatest differences observed during the afternoon. Barns equipped with evaporative cooling pads were up to 8.25ºF cooler during the afternoon hours than those without. However, relative humidity increased up to 30% and THI decreased up to 3.25 units over ambient conditions. As compared to the barns with only tunnel ventilation, barns with evaporative cooling had a greater percentage of July and August hours at a THI level below 70 and eliminated the hours in the 85-90 THI level during the hours of 1:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Evaporative cooling reduced the heat stress during the afternoon hours without increasing the stress during the evening and night hours as compared to the tunnel ventilated barns. This study showed significant advantages for the evaporative cooled and tunnel ventilated barns in terms of respiration rates, rectal temperatures and barn environment.

1999

Ninety-three multiparous Holstein cows averaging 130 days in milk (DIM) were utilized to evaluate three cooling treatments installed in separate pens of a four-row freestall barn in northeast Kansas during the summer of 1999. Treatments were: 1) a double row of 36-inch fans spaced at 24-ft intervals over the freestalls; 2) a single row of 36-inch fans spaced at 24-ft intervals over the freestalls and over the cow feed line; and 3) a double row of 36-inch fans spaced at 24-ft intervals over the freestalls and a single row over the feed line. Each pen was equipped with identical sprinkler systems over the cow feed line. The 85-day study evaluated milk production, body condition score, respiration rate, and feed intake of cows cooled with the systems. Cows cooled with fans over the freestalls and feed line produced more (P< .05) milk (98.8 vs 93.9 lb/cow/day) than those cooled with fans only over the freestalls. Milk production was similar for cows cooled with fans over the freestalls and feed line, and doubling the number of fans over the freestalls had no apparent advantage. Cows in all treatments consumed similar amounts of feed, and those cooled only by fans over the freestalls tended to gain more body condition than cows in the other two treatments.

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2014

The aim of this research was to estimate relations between temperature and humidity outside and inside of a permanently open sides barn for cows. This study was carried out in the period from Fe­brua­ry 1st, 2009 to January 31st, 2010 at a commercial dairy farm located in the South-Moravian region of the Czech Republic. During the study period temperature and humidity inside and outside the barn were systematically assessed. The research batch had 98 ± 3 cows. The barn had permanently open sides and during summer the main doors were mostly open. The cows in the research barn were of Czech Fleckvieh breed. The air temperature (°C) and humidity (%) were measured every fifteen minutes during the whole study period using 4 data loggers (HOBO technology; RH/Temp/), out of which were three (L1, L2 and L3), located inside the barn (Figure 1) and one (L0) outside the barn. The values of temperature-humidity index (THI) were calculated using the equation proposed by HAHN (1999). Mean daily o...

2001

2000

The words &quot;cow comfort&quot; have become a well-used term lately. It can refer to many things. In the Southeastern U.S. it must include eliminating the effects of environmental stresses on the dairy cow in the summer. These stresses include reduced dry matter intake, increased clinical mastitis and somatic cell count (SCC), reduced reproductive performance, feet problems caused by wet and

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Temperatures and humidities outside and inside freestall barns and cow respiration rates were monitored on three Kansas and two Nebraska commercial dairy farms during the summer of 1999. All farms had 4-row freestall buildings with different cooling systems. The first Kansas barn could be cooled naturally and mechanically using evaporative cooling pads located on the east and west walls. The second Kansas barn was ventilated naturally by manually lowering the sidewall curtains and without sprinkling or ventilation systems. The third Kansas barn was ventilated naturally and equipped with fans located over the freestalls and feed-line sprinklers. The first Nebraska barn was ventilated naturally and equipped with a sprinkler system over the feed line and fans over the freestalls. The second Nebraska barn was ventilated mechanically using evaporative cooling, fans installed over the freestalls, and a sprinkler system over the feed line. Evaporative cooling did not favorably modify the barn environment. It increased or decreased humidity and offset the effect of a lower barn temperatures, resulting in greater respiration rates of cows and overall less cow comfort than other systems that provided fans or sprinklers or both.

Journal of Dairy Science, 2023

The health, longevity, and performance of dairy cattle can be adversely affected by heat stress. This study evaluated the in-barn condition [i.e., temperature, relative humidity, and resulting temperature-humidity index (THI)] at 9 dairy barns with various climates and farm design-management combinations. Hourly and daily indoor and outdoor conditions were compared at each farm, including both mechanically and naturally ventilated barns. On-site conditions were compared with on-farm outdoor conditions, meteorological stations up to 125 km away, and NASA Power data. Canadian dairy cattle face periods of extreme cold and periods of high THI, dependent on the regional climate and season. The northernmost location (53°N) experienced about 75% fewer hours of THI >68 compared with the southernmost location (42°N). Milking parlors had higher THI than the rest of the barn during milking times. The THI conditions inside dairy barns were well correlated with THI conditions measured outside the barns. Naturally ventilated barns with metal roofs and without sprinklers fit a linear relationship (hourly and daily means) with a slope <1, indicating that inbarn THI exceeded outdoor THI more at lower THI and reached equality at higher THI. Mechanically ventilated barns fit nonlinear relationships, which showed the inbarn THI exceeded outdoor THI more at lower THI (e.g., 55-65) and approached equality at higher THI. In-barn THI exceedance was greater in the evening and overnight due to factors such as decreased wind speed and latent heat retention. Eight regression equations were developed (4 hourly, 4 daily) to predict in-barn conditions based on outdoor conditions, considering different barn designs and management systems. Correlations between in-barn and outdoor THI were best when using the on-site weather data from the study, but publicly available weather data from stations within 50 km provided reasonable estimates. Climate stations 75 to 125 km away and NASA Power ensemble data gave poorer fit statistics. For studies involving many dairy barns, the use of NASA Power data with equations for estimating average in-barn conditions in a population is likely appropriate especially when public stations have incomplete data. Results from this study show the importance of adapting recommendation on heat stress to the barn design and guide the selection of appropriate weather data depending on the aim of the study.

Dairy cow husbandry is economically of great importance, but represents a major source of agricultural emissions as well. The present work was conducted in the frame of a feasibility study for a forced ventilated 200 dairy cow barn. This, for cow husbandry uncommonly ventilation system and building shape, offers the advantage of generating constant environmental conditions inside the barn all-year by using heat released from animals. As optimal living conditions for high-performance dairy cows (10,000 kg milk year -1) a constant air temperature of 10°C and a relative air humidity of 80% was determined. Based on the approach of a simple balance model assuming ideal mixing conditions inside the barn, according to recommendations of CIGR and animal welfare guidelines, a ventilation concept with three different operating ranges was elaborated. The turned out airflow rates range between 22,000 and 100,000 m³ h -1 for 200 cows. In the range of an outside temperature between -6 and +5°C th...

Animal, 2012

Meticulous planning is required to minimize heat-stress conditions in barns. The objective of this study was to determine optimum barn characteristics for high-yielding dairy cows under Israeli (Mediterranean) summer ambient conditions, by using a new stress model that takes ambient temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity into account. During the summers of 2004 and 2005, three meteorological stations were alternately installed in 39 barns: two stations inside the barn at the prevailing downwind direction, and a third station outside the upwind end of the barn. Ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction were measured and recorded every 10 min for 3 to 5 consecutive days at each barn in turn. The data were collected at different geographical and climatic conditions. Therefore, the data collected by an outside station were used as covariates. A heat-stress model was used to determine the threshold temperature (THRT) at which a cow begins to increase its ...