Special Issue "Housing Systems in Dairy Production"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Claudia Arcidiacono
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Università degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: agricultural buildings and related equipments and plants; conservation, rehabilitation and reuse of traditional rural buildings; buildings for agri-food industry; innovation in animal housing design and influence of housing environment on animal well-being and production using CFD
Prof. Dr. Matteo Barbari
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy
Interests: livestock housing; housing systems with respect to sustainability goals and technical innovations; freewalk dairy barns; climate control in livestock buildings; emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases
Dr. Patrícia Ferreira Ponciano Ferraz
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Brazil
Interests: precision zootechnics, handling, instrumentation, comfort and well-being of dairy cows in Free-Stall and Compost Barn system

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The welfare of dairy cows has been found to be significantly influenced by the housing system, with direct consequences on productivity and product quality, as well as on the efficiency of the system in terms of resources and energy expenditure. The main features of future housing systems should include housing conditions and facility design innovations that play a major role in enhancing animal comfort and the expression of the natural behaviour of cows, besides achieving effective indoor climate control, reducing emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases, and providing environmental benefits coming from making those systems more resilient and sustainable through waste reuse and reduced impact on the landscape.

This Special Issue aims to provide awareness of the role of dairy housing systems in improving animal welfare, dairy productivity, sustainability, and efficiency. To this aim, original contributions from researchers that apply innovative methods and technologies, and address issues of scientific relevance in the design, improvement, and assessment of dairy housing systems are welcome, as well as review articles of innovative aspects of housing systems.

The main topics of the Special Issue are included in the following list, which does not aim at limiting the research horizon of the papers:

  • Housing solutions for animal heat stress reduction;
  • Materials and equipment for housing systems;
  • Optimisation of building geometry and components of housing solutions;
  • Housing solutions and climatic zones;
  • Building design for resources and energy saving;
  • Naturally-ventilated and mechanical-ventilated building design;
  • New building and ventilation design and modelling;
  • Automated solutions for dairy production systems;
  • Information and communication technologies (ICTs) applications in dairy housing systems;
  • New technologies in housing systems for dairy production;
  • Reduction of noxious gas emissions in dairy houses.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Arcidiacono
Prof. Dr. Matteo Barbari
Dr. Patrícia Ferreira Ponciano Ferraz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Housing solutions
  • Dairy production systems
  • Technologies in housing systems for dairy production
  • Climate zones
  • Automated solutions

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Annual Nitrogen Balance from Dairy Barns, Comparison between Cubicle and Compost-Bedded Pack Housing Systems in the Northeast of Spain
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2136; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072136 - 19 Jul 2021
Viewed by 896
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine N recovery and irreversible losses (i.e., through NH3-N volatilization) from manure in two different housing systems throughout a year using an N mass balance approach. Dietary, milk, and manure N were monitored together [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to determine N recovery and irreversible losses (i.e., through NH3-N volatilization) from manure in two different housing systems throughout a year using an N mass balance approach. Dietary, milk, and manure N were monitored together with outside temperatures in six dairy barns during six months, comprising two different seasons. Three barns were designed as conventional free stalls (cubicle, CUB) and the other three barns as compost-bedded packs (CB). All the barns were located in the Ebro’s valley, in the northeast of Spain. Mass N balance was performed simultaneously in the six barns, during two three-month periods (Season I and II) and sampling at a 15-day interval. Results of ANOVA analysis showed that annual N retained in manure (kg/head per year) from cows housed in CUB barns was significantly higher than in manure from cows housed in CB (133.5 vs. 70.9, p < 0.001), while the opposite was observed for N losses (26.9 vs. 84.8, for CUB and CB barn, respectively; p < 0.005). The annual mean proportion of irreversible N loss from manure in relation to N intake was much lower in barns using conventional free-stall cubicles than the mean ratio registered in bedded pack systems barns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Housing Systems in Dairy Production)
Article
Assessing Influence Factors on Daily Ammonia and Greenhouse Gas Concentrations from an Open-Sided Cubicle Barn in Hot Mediterranean Climate
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1400; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051400 - 14 May 2021
Viewed by 699
Abstract
Measurement of gas concentrations constitutes basic knowledge for the computation of emissions from livestock buildings. Although it is well known that hot climate conditions increase gas emissions, in the literature the relation between gas concentrations from open barns and animal-related parameters has not [...] Read more.
Measurement of gas concentrations constitutes basic knowledge for the computation of emissions from livestock buildings. Although it is well known that hot climate conditions increase gas emissions, in the literature the relation between gas concentrations from open barns and animal-related parameters has not been investigated yet. This study aimed at filling this gap by evaluating daily gas concentrations within an open-sided barn in hot Mediterranean climate. The influence of microclimatic parameters (MC) and cow behavior and barn management (CBBM) were evaluated for ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Results showed that both MC and CBBM affected concentrations of NH3 (p < 0.02), CH4 (p < 0.001), and CO2 (p < 0.001). Higher values of NH3 concentration were detected during the cleaning of the floor by a tractor with scraper, whereas the lowest NH3 concentrations were recorded during animal lying behavior. Measured values of CO2 and CH4 were highly correlated (C = 0.87–0.89) due to the same sources of production (i.e., digestion and respiration). The different management of the cooling systems during the two observation periods reduced significantly CH4 concentrations in the barn when the cooling system in the feeding area was switched off. Based on methodological choices due to the specific barn typology, parameters related to animals can provide information on the variation of gas concentrations in the barn environment in hot climate conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Housing Systems in Dairy Production)
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