Lighting System Considerations and Design Options for Application of Photoperiod Management for Freestall and Tie Stall Barns

Reports from photoperiod manipulation studies mainly focus on cow related variables and provide little information relative to the lighting system designs employed. Light levels are generally reported but lack lighting uniformity information. Consequently, little dairy-specific background information is available for lighting designers to use when designing lighting systems for photoperiod manipulation. The objective of this paper is to provide information for designing lighting systems for photoperiod manipulation based on experience obtained from designing systems for six production dairy farms (three tie stall barns and three freestall barns) that are participating in a field trial in New York State

Assessment of Failures of Post-Frame Buildings in New York State Due to Snow Load

A series of winter storm events during early January, 1999 resulted in significant accumulations of precipitation in many areas of New York State. Several agricultural structures failed as a result of the excessive snow load. Many of these were post-frame buildings constructed to house dairy cattle. A field investigation was conducted with the objective of evaluating why the buildings failed

Ventilation Strategies for Environmental Control of Modern Milking Centers

Effective milking center ventilation is needed to provide comfortable conditions for the operator and the cows alike. Likewise, proper ventilation can help to prevent premature deterioration of building materials and equipment. Milking center designers need to be aware of the need for proper ventilation and incorporate its design into the normal design process. Natural or mechanical ventilation can be used to ventilate milking centers. Mechanical ventilation has advantages over natural ventilation for this application. Control of mechanical ventilation is more reliable and better suited to maintain a quality environment in most instances. A positive ventilation system is preferred for summer conditions and presented in this paper. To meet minimum ventilation requirements in the winter, a neutral system that is balanced between positive pressure heat transfer fans located in the mechanical room with cupola fans operating in the reverse direction seems to be working well in practice

Monitoring of Anaerobic Digestion Process to Optimize Performance and Prevent System Failure

The presentation was given at the 2012 Got Manure Tradeshow and Conference, where the opportunity was given to participants to learn about anaerobic digestion and other viable manure management, handling and treatment options. Softcover copies of the entire conference proceedings may be purchased at http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/dm/proceedings_orders.html or by calling (607) 255-4285

Environmental Conditions in Plastic Film Covered Calf Facilities

A fourteen-month study was conducted with the primary objective to quantify the environment in four similar central New York State plastic film covered facilities (greenhouses) used to house preweaned and recently weaned dairy calves. A secondary objective was to attempt to assess the effects of the environment on calf growth, health, and rearing costs and some of the health data is presented herein. Environmental assessment was accomplished by contrasting inside and outside black globe temperature, black globe-humidity index, humidity, and dry-bulb temperature. Data was collected for each monitored parameter using small, programmable, self-contained dataloggers

Economic Analysis of Mechanical Sand-Manure Separation of Flushed Sand-Laden Dairy Manure

An economic analysis was performed using a model developed in Microsoft® Excel of an integrated manure treatment system that included mechanical separation of bedding sand from dairy manure by commercially available equipment. For this analysis, sand-laden dairy manure was removed from a dairy barn by hydraulic conveyance (flushed)

Economics of Tunnel Ventilation for Freestall Barns

A cash flow analysis of the application of tunnel ventilation to four standard freestall barn configurations was conducted with the objective of determining the amount of milk production required to be sustained based on a break-even investment. Other variables that are negatively affected by heat stress were not accounted for in the analysis due to the high degree of intangibility associated with them. Analysis showed that relatively little sustained production is required to pay for a tunnel ventilation system based on a 5-year payback period including areas of the country where tunnel fans would be used as little as 50 fan days per year (1,200 hrs.). This is a cash only basis analysis and does not look at actual economic rates of return, which is necessary for individual businesses to determine if this investment should be made based on their unique circumstances