The relationships between temperature and humidity outside and inside the permanently open-sided cow's barn

The aim of this research was to estimate relations between temperature and humidity outside and inside of a permanently open sides barn for cows. This study was carried out in the period from February 1^st, 2009 to January 31^st, 2010 at a commercial dairy farm located in the South-Moravian region of the Czech Republic. During the study period temperature and humidity inside and outside the barn were systematically assessed. The research batch had 98 ± 3 cows. The barn had permanently open sides and during summer the main doors were mostly open. The cows in the research barn were of Czech Fleckvieh breed. The air temperature (°C) and humidity (%) were measured every fifteen minutes during the whole study period using 4 data loggers (HOBO technology; RH/Temp/), out of which were three (L1, L2 and L3), located inside the barn (Figure 1) and one (L0) outside the barn. The values of temperature-humidity index (THI) were calculated using the equation proposed by HAHN (1999). Mean daily outside and inside temperatures corresponded with each other, with outside temperatures always being lower than inside temperatures. The difference between the inside and outside temperature was lowest in March (0.01 °C) and highest in October (3.48 °C). Mean values of humidity outside and inside also corresponded; however, they were sometimes higher outside and sometimes inside the barn. The smallest difference between the inside and outside humidity was recorded in August (0.18 %) and the greatest in March (13.21 %). Mean values of temperature-humidity index (THI) inside and outside the barn also corresponded, with outside values being in most cases lower than inside values. The difference between inside and outside THI values was lowest in December (0.07) and highest in October (5.96). The mutual relationships between the values recorded by individual loggers were very close (including the outside logger). Slightly weaker was the relationship between L2 and other, both outside and inside, loggers.

Keywords: temperature, humidity, THI, dairy cows, barn, climate, microclimate

Grants and funding:

This study was supported by the Research plan No. MSM6215648905 "Biological and technological aspects of sustainability of controlled ecosystems and their adaptability to climate change", which was financed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.