3 row dairy barn design with parlor
Interior view of the side wall with the air intake made of evaporative panels.
Exterior view of the side wall made up of fans. Interior view of the side wall made up of fans. Metal baffles placed in between two rows of freestalls. Example of a 667-foot long LPCV barn, with front doors to access each alley and a central alley that connects the pens with the parlor. The access doors to the alleys are situated on the front end, similar to conventional barns (Picture 5).įigure 1. On one of the side walls, there are exhaust fans (Pictures 2 and 3) and on the opposite side, there is the air intake (made of evaporative panels in some cases Picture 4) thus, the name cross-ventilated.
The height of the side walls is identical in both types of facilities (minimum 12 feet), but because there is less roof slope, the height at the center of the barn is lower in the LPCV barn thus, the name low-profile. To reduce the height in the center of the barn, the slope of the roof changes from a 4:12 pitch in conventional barns to a 0.5:12 pitch in LPCV barns. The function of these baffles is to increase the air velocity and redirect air toward the freestalls. The main difference is the presence of baffles that hang approximately half-way from the ceiling and are attached to the barn columns (Picture 1). The interior of the building is similar to the conventional barns. For example, when two traditional barns of 4 rows are merged, a new LPCV housing with 8 rows is developed (Figure 1). One peculiarity of this design is that it merges conventional barns (4 or 6 rows of freestalls) under the same roof, eliminating the space required to separate each barn. Please check this link first if you are interested in organic or specialty dairy production. This new facility design would be suitable for these larger dairy operations. In the United States, the number of dairy farms with more than 500 cows has increased in the last decade by more than 21%, from 2,795 dairies in 2001 to 3,400 in 2010. Although LPCV barns (enclosed, year-round controlled environment) are a new concept in the dairy industry, housing systems similar to LPCV barns have been used for a long time in the swine and poultry industries. Since the first low-profile cross-ventilated (LPCV) barn started to operate in South Dakota in the fall of 2005, at least six more facilities have been built in that state using this technology, and dozens of them have been built in the rest of the country. The most important factors that determine the selection of the type of housing for dairy cattle are cost, animal comfort, worker’s efficiency, durability, and a favorable return on investment.