Conference Agenda

Dairy cows are highly sensitive to heat stress, making proper barn design essential for animal welfare. This study investigates the theoretical transi-tion of a livestock building through envelope optimisation, proposing the use of agricultural by-products (ABPs) as alternative materials to reduce embodied energy and improve insulation. A dairy barn in the Trento Region was selected as a case study. Field monitoring was conducted to measure indoor air temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration using portable sensors within the building. The collected data were analysed to characterise indoor environmental conditions and to infer cows’ daily be-haviour from spatial parameter patterns. A dynamic energy model of the barn was then developed by coupling TRNSYS and CONTAM to simulate temperature and airflow distributions. The model was calibrated with moni-tored data and modified by integrating ABPs (raw earth panels containing dried grape pomace) into the envelope. This enabled comparison between the existing configuration and the proposed solution. Results were evaluat-ed using an animal welfare index (Temperature Humidity Index (THI)), showing the potential of low-impact ABPs to improve thermal comfort and environmental quality. Although based on a preliminary case study, the findings demonstrate the feasibility of converting rural livestock buildings into Positive Energy Buildings.

In France, hundreds of poultry houses needs thermal rehabilitation: insulation, heat recovery air exchanger, heating or cooling equipment, ventilation. Optimal choice of investment depends on housing design and future animal management and climate. Modelling the energy balance of current housing on hourly time step can help designing the optimal combination to merge objectives of decrease in fossil fuel consumption, farm economy and market demand. Calibration of the model to ensure minimization of bias in predictions is important for farmers, companies and institutions. Our purpose was to develop a flowchart combining observed series of temperature, air moisture and ventilation with metadata related to animal production and performance (animal growth, feed index, feed to water ratio) in order to improve calibration for each house. The method includes a detailed analysis of uncertainty sources, the calculation of uncertainty budgets according to GUM rules. The results show that parameters specific of animal heat production, housing ventilation and housing insulation can be improved. We discuss the influence of these parameters on the design of ventilation, heating and insulation for contrasted scenarios of uncertainty and stocking density. We conclude that this approach could be disseminated with web-services provided time-series of climate and animal production are available.

Managing livestock manure is the main source of anthropogenic ammonia (NH₃) emissions. However, current emission inventories based on the Tier 1 method only account for livestock numbers and do not consider mitigation practices. Recently, the Lombardy Region approved the Air Quality Action Plan, which is aligned with Directive 2008/50/EC and introduces reduction targets: a 60% cut in NH₃ emissions from slurry storage and a 65% cut from field application. A GIS-based analysis identified the most critical areas in Italy, resulting in the selection of dairy and pig farms in an intensive livestock district and a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone in Lombardy.

Using BAT-TOOL emission factors, three mitigation scenarios were developed from the current farm situation: (1) covering slurry storage, (2) slurry injection during field application, and (3) a combination of both. The results show that compared to the current scenario, storage coverage reduces overall emissions by 15% at a relatively low cost but increases the nitrogen surplus due to reduced volatilization. Slurry injection achieves a 16% reduction in emissions, and the combined scenario yields a 31% decrease in emissions and improves nitrogen use efficiency by 18%. However, the higher amount of non-volatilized nitrogen increases the risk of nitrate leaching.

Starting from the assumption that social behaviors and, more specifically social interactions, take place at a short distance between individuals, a study was carried out on 12 barn-confined dairy cows using UWB technology to estimate the position of the animals at established intervals. The position data were logged on ad hoc designed devices fixed on the collars of the cows. All the data were processed in a GIS (Geographical Information System) environment in order to perform a spatiotemporal analysis. This methodology has made it possible to filter out the video recordings of four timelapse cameras and thus focusing directly on social interactions without the need to watch dozens of hours of video footage. Every supposed interaction in the GIS environment was compared with the “ground truth” given by the video recordings and classified in false (false positive) or true (true positive) interaction, along with the type of interaction itself. The system proved to be extremely accurate, enabling fast and effective analysis of social behaviors. The spatiotemporal data were also used for a kernel density analysis of space utilization by individual animals inside the barn leading at important considerations on the total usage of the study area and at its zoning.

This article reports the results of experiments with three newly designed manure cooling systems. The objective was to develop and test systems to lower the temperature of stored manure to 8-10 ºC under practical conditions on a dairy farm in the Netherlands. This to significantly reduce methane emissions from manure. The first prototype consisted of a system of cooling pipes, attached to a weighted metal frame and placed on the bottom of the manure pit. The second system consisted of cooling pipes floating in the manure. A third prototype was designed to cool the manure outside the manure pit and the barn in a container with the cooling pipes. The cooled manure then flowed into the manure pit. The results of the (case/control) experiments (each lasting approximately one year) showed an average methane emission reduction of 45%, 69%, 89% at average manure temperatures of 11.5ºC, 9.3ºC, and 10.3 ºC, respectively, compared with control temperatures of 13.8ºC, 13.1ºC, and 13.5ºC. Given these results, it is plausible that a target temperature of approximately 10ºC for stored manure could be sufficient to achieve a significant methane emission reduction. However, further development of manure cooling systems is necessary before they can be implemented in practice.

To reduce the environmental and climate impact of livestock production, measures to mitigate ammonia emissions are required. This study investigated how the design of solid floors in cattle traffic areas affects floor cleanliness and ammonia emissions. Laboratory tests evaluated the drainage capacity of six concrete surfaces (with and without groove patterns) and two rubber mats with different patterns, across five slopes within the range of 0–10%. One rubber mat with deep grooves designed for scraping was also tested at slope of 0–1%. Ammonia emissions were measured in five experimental setups, each including three of the previously mentioned floors and selected slopes. Floor areas (2.25 m²) were soiled with slurry and scraped, before 3 kg urine was applied to simulate a urination event. The drained mass was continuously recorded during the runoff phase. Ammonia concentrations were measured over 20 hours in ventilated chambers using a photoacoustic multi-gas analyzer. Preliminary results indicate that floor slopes have a greater influence on drainage capacity and ammonia emissions than surface pattern or grooves. Grooves filled with slurry reduced drainage performance.

The effectiveness of novel low-emission livestock farming concepts has often been evaluated on research sites. However, in situ research shows that in practice there can be substantial variation in the effectiveness of these low-emission concepts, and that their performance is often lower than under research conditions. To assess low-emission livestock farming concepts under practical conditions, reliable strategies and methods are needed to measure emissions in situ. This includes affordable sensors suitable for measuring NH₃, CH₄, and CO₂ concentrations in regular livestock farms.

In this study, we therefore investigated the accuracy of sensors based on one year of measurements in dozens of regular dairy cow houses, using continuous sensor measurements combined with periodic standard reference measurements. By comparing sensor measurements with reference measurements, the accuracy of these sensors under practical conditions was determined, as well as the importance of regular checks or calibrations. Preliminary results show that, with an appropriate calibration strategy, it is possible to measure NH₃, CH₄, and CO₂ accurately over long periods in regular dairy cow houses using sensors. This makes such sensors a promising building block for emission monitoring in regular dairy farms.