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Barn ventilation challenges studied

A University of Wisconsin expert says adequate barn ventilation is important to cow comfort and production.

Dr. Nigel Cook tells Brownfield natural ventilation does not work in every situation.  “We’ve really tried to understand the limitations in natural ventilation, and that’s really emerged as a problem with larger farms where barns are built close together creating wind shadows, and so we’ve really looked at the different alternatives for mechanical ventilation in those instances.”

Cook says wind shadows or the obstacles that prevent the free flow of air to and through a barn can be caused by trees, other buildings, or geography.

He suggests a three-pronged attack on managing air movement in the barn. “Getting fast-moving air in the resting space is number one, and yes, a lot of the times I think at times our fans have been too far apart and not angled enough to get that air at the cow level, but equally important is to get the hot air out of the barn particularly in the summer when our cows are heat stressed.”

He says producers should focus on air changes per hour and getting hot exhaust out of the barn.  He also says the different barn fans perform differently, and might need to be installed at different angles and more frequent spacing.

 

Cook discussed barn ventilation at the recent Four State Dairy and Nutrition Conference in Dubuque, Iowa.