Feel the breeze: Ventilating the summer barn

By Kevin Jacque, DVM, PAS, Ohio State University

Summer is here, and so is that classic Midwest heat and humidity. This month, we will discuss ventilation and how to keep barns well-ventilated. This was requested by a reader, and I happily agreed. Ventilation is an important component of our animals’ summer (and year-round) health.

Firstly, we should distinguish between ventilation and cooling. Ventilation is the exchange of air within a space to bring in new, fresh air – usually from outside of a building. Cooling is the reduction of air temperature or body temperature through various means, such as wind speed, humidity reduction, and conditioning. We cannot always address ventilation by the same means as cooling and vice versa. Ventilation is still important in the winter (sometimes more important due to the nature of our animal housing) and is imperative to animal and human health. We must remove old air. “Old air” will be stale in nature – it contains pollutants like bacteria, dust, allergens, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, VOCs, POCs, and small air particulates.… Continue reading