It may seem strange to be thinking about the cold weather associated with calving, but we received several calls relating to air quality issues in calving barns over the summer. The key concept in cold weather ventilation is to move enough air through the building effectively, in order to remove the moisture that the cows and calves are emitting into the air. Some symptoms of ineffective winter ventilation are listed below.
Symptoms of poor winter ventilation:
- Fog – At any time during the day or night is the building foggy? Fog indicates that the moisture level in the air of the building is approaching saturation.
- Water condensation on surfaces – Does water drip occasionally down walls or from the ceiling? Water condensation occurs more rapidly on any surface that is cooler than the indoor air temperature.
- Ammonia Smell – Ammonia is a byproduct of the breakdown of urine that is excreted by the animal. Ammonia can volatilize, or evaporate, and does so at a greater rate in warm, moist conditions.
- Respiratory disease issues – High levels of moisture and ammonia lead to increased levels of respiratory pathogens in the air as well as direct irritation of the respiratory mucosa respectively.
- Rain Indoors – If moisture levels build up enough and you have a flat or uneven ceiling, the moisture can condense so quickly that it drips down immediately. If it rains on you and your cows/calves in January, you have a winter ventilation problem.
If you’ve noticed any of these symptoms in the past, your production system could benefit from re-evaluating how air is moving through your building. There are many options to fix this common problem. Over the course of the next few weeks we will identify why this issue matters to production and how to fix it. The hope being that if these symptoms describe your situation that something can be done this fall to help resolve future issues.
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