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The summer periods are getting warmer and longer. In order to avoid the negative consequences of this, we offer dairy farmers advice and solutions on the theme “Cooling the cow”.
A good ventilation plan helps to improve your herd’s health and wellbeing! For you it means the milk yield will remain and therefore your operating results. But the investment costs money. So, where do you start?
Is there a return on investment? Are there differences between fans in the market to focus on when it comes to savings through energy consumption and maintenance?
Cross ventilation cools and brings fresh air into the house
It is clear that dairy farms with barn fans show better results than those without. With good natural barn ventilation and sufficient Abbifans, preferably applied in a cross ventilation system, you will achieve the best results in terms of improving the climate in the barn by ventilation. Cross ventilation is the only concept that simultaneously cools your cows and supports and improves the natural ventilation of your barn. Cross
ventilation cools your cows much better than other ven- tilation concepts, because the air movement is length- wise of the cows (in the cubicles and at the feed fence). In contrast to the cross ventilation concept, longitudinal ventilation draws not actively fresh air into the barn.
Fan placement is determined by choosing between cross ventilation and longitudinal ventilation, the type of fan, dimensions, barn layout and potential obstacles (rafters, pillars etc.). In contrast to the cross ventilation concept, fresh air is not actively drawn into the barn.
If the fan is mounted at least 2.70 m from the floor, a protective grill is not needed. This provides a more constant air flow and decreases the chance of dust build-up.
Cooling with water
Besides cooling the barn using Abbifans, additional cooling with water (misting or soaking) can achieve an- other cooling effect of 3 to 5 degrees in air temperature!
Abbi high-pressure misting systems add moisture to the air above the cows, not the cows themselves. The atomised water droplets evaporate immediate- ly, cooling the ambient temperature, which in turn allows the cows to release their body heat.
In contrast to misting, during soaking, water is ap- plied directly to the cows instead of the surrounding air. The system showers the cows with coarse drop- lets; fans then blow air over the cows’ bodies to cool them further. The water on their skin evaporates, providing a cooling effect.
Savings
A proper ventilation system in your barn, complete with energy-efficient, directly driven fans and fully automatic control, can easily cost you £1,450.00 per fan. That sounds like a lot of money, but this is a one-time expense.
It is not only the investment itself that counts but also the daily costs associated with it. This extreme- ly energy-efficient Abbifan 140-XXP-21 can easily provide savings of anywhere from £350.00 up to
£500.00 per fan per year! With an energy consump- tion of only 0.53kW at its highest setting as op- posed to no less than 1.1kW by the other fans on the market, this will lead to savings of £425.00* per fan annually. And if we increase the kW/h price by 3 pence, your savings can amount to up to £470.00 per fan each year!
Your return on investment is faster thanks to savings on your daily costs plus the maintenance costs you save on not having to replace bearings, belts, or pulleys.
* Based on an average price of £0.30 per kWh 13/6/2024.
The great advantages of Abbifans
