air quality and
RESPIRATORY health
Respiratory diseases cost the
swine industry a lot of money
something like $2OO million a
year, or about $2.50 for every hog
we produce.
Few herds are spared from these
economic losses, although some
producers are fortunate enough to
keep problems to a minimum.
What’s the cause of these dis
eases? Clearly, pathogens such as
Mycoplasma, Bordetella,
Pasteurella, and Actinobacillus
(Haemophilus) play a major role.
But just as important is the quality
of air that the pig has to breathe.
Let’s take a brief look at how air
quality affects hog performance.
Seasonal Variation FadUty Variation
Seasonal variation Studies show snout
Pigs bom in the winter months . „ .
° ...... .... and pneumonia scores tend to be
spend their early life in buildings
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Penn State Extension Swine Specialist
under minimum ventilation.
That’s because we exchange the
air very slowly to save on heating
costs during cold weather.
Coincidentally, atrophic rhinitis
(Bordetella and Pasteurella) gets
its start during the early weeks of
life. So it comes as no surprise that
snout scores (which measure the
damage from rhinitis) in a market
hog are worse during the summer,
since these pigs were farrowed in
the winter.
Pneumonia is the opposite.
Lung problems seem to arise if the
pig spends his grow-out period in
areas where air quality is poor. So
pneumonia lesions tend to be
worse in pigs that go to market in
the winter.
worse when hogs are raised in con
finement, compared to outside. So
the challenge is to keep the air as
clean as we practically can, and at
the same time keep the pigs warm
and comfortable.
Meeting all of those goals, espe
cially during the winter, is easier
said than done.
Particles floating in the air that
are less than 100 microns in diame
ter are generally considered dust
(If you piled up 65 of these
100-micron sized particles, they
would make a stack about a quarter
of an inch high.)
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Dust
Dust less than 5 microns in
diameter is called respirable,
because it’s too small to be filtered
out before it reaches the lungs.
And dust in the lungs is bad for a
lot of reasons. It contains irritating
gases as well as high bacterial and
fungal (mold) counts. Dust also
has a high protein concentration
which often creates an allergic
reaction. And endotoxins released
by the bacteria growing on the dust
may affect growth.
How much dust does a typical
hog bam have? Well, there may be
1-2 million particles (one-half
micron and larger) floating in
every cubic foot of air. But all the
particles in a 20-crate farrowing
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room taken together would weigh
less than a gram.
As any swine producer is aware,
dust affects people. A survey by
Kelly Donham shows that about
2/3 of all swine confinement work
ers complain of dust-related symp
toms (cough, phlegm, scratchy
throat, etc.).
Few studies have actually mea
sured the effects of dust on hogs.
Thp library is full of reports that
tell us what air is like in a hog bam.
And many articles even suggest
that pneumonia and mortality is
reduced in hogs coming from facil
ities with minimal dust
concentrations.
That’s helpful, but it’s not the
same as a controlled experiment in
which pigs are subjected to precise
and measured amounts of dust
One such study conducted by
Stan Curtis showed that dust
decreased growth rate, but only
when the concentration was about
200 times higher than normal and
only when it was combined with 50
parts per million (ppm) of ammo
nia. Other researchers using a filt
ration system were able to reduce
dust levels by more than half, but
found that it had no effect on aver
age daily gain.
So dust is bad stuff. But it
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appears to be a lot harder cm us
than it does on the hogs.
Typical ammonia levels in
swine facilities range from 10 ppm
to 35 ppm. Studies show that at 50
ppm, the pig loses his ability to
clear harmful bacteria from the
respiratory system. At 100 ppm,
the lining of the airways is
damaged. When the level exceeds
100 ppm, hogs sneeze a lot, and
lose their appetite.
At 40,000 ppm of carbon diox
ide, respiration rate increases. But
the concentration would never
reach this level in a hog bam. If it
did, there would probably be 100
other things to worry about before
you would think of carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide is produced
by incomplete combustion, which
occurs in hog facilities only when
fuel-burning heaters in a room are
malfunctioning or dirty. Levels of
200 ppm may cause baby pigs to be
sluggish, or in some cases lead to
stillboms.
This gas, which is incredibly let
hal, originates in the manure pit.
The good news is that it will gener
ally stay dissolved in the manure
unless agitated. So at the very
least, anytime you agitate a manure
pit under a barn, crank up the fans
to their maximum. Better yet, do
the agitation when pigs, and espe
cially people, are not in the
building.
Twenty ppm of hydrogen sul
fide is enough to cause pigs to stop
eating and be fearful of bright
light. Levels of 800 ppm are
deadly.
Although air temperature is dif
ferent from air quality, the two are
closely related. Your attempts to
maintain warm temperatures in a
nursery during winter often results
in poor air quality.
If you increase ventilation rate,
air quality improves, but air temp
erature goes down. Worse yet, as
temperature drops, the chances for
a draft go up.
An air speed of only .65 foot/
second at floor level will make the
pig feel like the temperature is 7
degrees less than what the ther
mometer reads. Increase the speed
to 5 foot/second and this “effec
tive” air temperature drops another
11 degrees.
Flooring also plays a role. Straw
will make the pig feel about 7
degrees warmer than the actual
temperature. Wet concrete may
make the pig feel 18 degrees
colder.
Wall temperature also changes
the comfort of thp pig. If the wall is
five degrees colder than the room,
a pig in the center of the room will
feel like it’s three degrees colder.
If the wall is 23 degrees colder than
the room, then the effective air
temperature will drop by almost 13
degrees something to keep in
mind the next time you think
you’re saving money by skimping
on the insulation.
We’ve completed three winter
trials in a grower-finisher house to
compare hog performance under
two environments. We divided a
conventional finishing house
(mono-slope, curtain sided) into
two rooms. The standard room
used a thermostat to raise and low
er the ventilation curtain. In the
Ammonia
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Hydrogen Sulfide
Effective Air
Temperature
Penn State
Air Quality Studies