Without countermeasures, climate change will negatively impact animals in pig and poultry production. Beside the health and wellbeing of the animals, heat stress also affects performance and, as a result, profitability. As the animals are predominantly kept in confined livestock buildings equipped with mechanical ventilation systems, researchers at Vetmeduni Vienna examined the inlet air temperature of several air cooling systems. The best solution, they found, is the use of the earth for heat storage via an earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE). An EAHE cools in the summer, and warms up the inlet air during wintertime.
Without countermeasures, climate change will negatively impact animals in pig and poultry production. Beside the health and wellbeing of the animals, heat stress also affects performance and, as a result, profitability. As the animals are predominantly kept in confined livestock buildings equipped with mechanical ventilation systems, researchers at Vetmeduni Vienna examined the inlet air temperature of several air cooling systems. The best solution, they found, is the use of the earth for heat storage via an earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE). An EAHE cools in the summer, and warms up the inlet air during wintertime.
The higher temperatures resulting from climate change will require certain measures to be taken in pig and poultry production. Without suitable cooling systems, animals kept in confined livestock buildings would face increased heat stress. That would have a negative effect on the wellbeing of the animals. And, as a result of lower feed conversion or egg production, it would also have an economic impact.
A comprehensive study conducted by Vetmeduni Vienna, BOKU and ZAMG has now shown that the usual cooling systems, such as earth-air heat exchangers or direct and indirect evaporative cooling, some of which have been established practice since the 1960s, are good choices for cooling livestock buildings. Apart from the investment costs, an earth-air heat exchanger is the most efficient system. In an EAHE, outside air flows through tubes with a length of about 40 m, buried at a depth of about 2 m. The systems works somewhat like a cellar, which is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
Read more at Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien
Image: Earth-air heat exchanger best to protect farm animals against heat stress. (Credit: Michael Bernkopf/Vetmeduni Vienna)
