Indoor climatic status during winter conditions in dairy herds in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Knut Egil Bøe,Božo Važić,Miljan Erbez,Lars Erik Ruud

doi:10.14720/aas.2016.108.2.6

Knut Egil Bøe, Božo Važić + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14720/aas.2016.108.2.6

Copy DOI

Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional field study was to describe climatic status in dairy barns during winter conditions both in lowland and in mountainous regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While all the mountain herds had tie-stall systems (MT), eight of the lowland herds had group housing systems (LG) and the remaining 30 herds had tie-stall systems (LT). The mean indoor air temperature (Ti) was around 10 °C across types of barns and in all herds Ti was above 0 °C. The mean relative air humidity (RH) was actually highest in the LT-group, but within the recommended level for both LG, LT and MT barns. At the 15 % of the MT barns, 17 % of the LT barns and 38 % of the LG barns the air velocity was > 0.2 m/s. The level of NH3 was quite low in all groups of barns, although somewhat higher in LT-barns. In none of the barns the level of NH3 exceeded 3 ppm. Only in one barn (a MT-barn) the level of CO2 exceeded 3000 ppm. We conclude that the climatic status in most dairy barns in Bosnia and Herzegovina during winter seem to be acceptable.

Highlights

The dairy sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is based mostly on small scale farms, with most herds smaller than five dairy cows (Loza, 2014)
Among the Lowland tie-stall (LT) and Mountain tie-stall (MT) barns there were some barns with Relative air humidity (RH) > 90 %
It is to conclude that Lowland group housing (LG) barns, are more suitable for intensive and profitable dairy production in climatic conditions of BiH

Summary

Introduction

The dairy sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is based mostly on small scale farms, with most herds smaller than five dairy cows (Loza, 2014). In many of the old tie-stall barns, mangers are directed to the walls and openings in the ceiling to the hay storage above the animal room which may contribute to air exchange. The intensive dairy production in BiH is located in the northern lowland region (< 300 m.a.s.l.) and less intensive production is found in the central and southern mountainous regions (> 600 m.a.s.l.). In the northern lowland region the mean air temperature in January is approximately −1 °C and in the central and southern mountainous regions the mean air temperature ranges from −4 to −7 °C (UNFC, 2013). The cows are usually kept on pasture for 7 to 8 months during summer

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion