Proceedings available at: www.extension.org/67587 Monoslope buildings (Figure 1) are one type of roofed and confined cattle feeding facility that is becoming increasingly popular in the Northern Great Plains. However, little is known about the impact of these housing systems and associated manure management methods on the air quality inside and outside the barn. The objective of this study was to determine gas concentrations in monoslope beef cattle facilities and relate these concentrations to environmental and manure management factors.

1. Manure management and
temperature impacts on gas
concentrations in monoslope cattle
facilities
Erin Cortus
April 4, 2013
Waste to Worth, Denver, CO

2. Acknowledgements
USDA AFRI Air Quality Grant 2010-85112-20519
Project Participants:
South Dakota State
University
•Erin Cortus
•Dick Nicolai
•Steve Pohl
•Graduate and
Undergraduate Students
•Technical Staff
USDA-ARS Meat Animal
Research Center
•Mindy Spiehs
•Technical Staff
Iowa State University
Extension
•Beth Doran
•Kris Kohl
•Angie Rieck-Hinz
Livestock and Poultry
Environmental Learning
Center
•Leslie Johnson
•Jill Heemstra
•Rick Stowell
Stakeholder Advisory Group

3. Air Quality Concerns
• Related to Regulations
– Ammonia
– Particulate Matter
• Related to Cattle Production
– Time of Day
– Seasonal Effects
• Are they are doing it right?

4. Monitoring Methodology
• Two mobile instrument shelters
• Each mobile instrument rotates between two
barns in South Dakota or Iowa
• Collect data for one month each season from
each barn for two years
Weekly Scrape
Full Barn Monitoring
Bedpack
Partial Barn Monitoring

5. Monitoring Methodology
• Airspeed and concentration
measurements in north and
south wall openings
• Gases (continuous)
– Ammonia
– Hydrogen Sulfide
– Methane
– Carbon Dioxide
• Particulate matter (periodic)
• Airspeed measured by two and
three-dimensional anemometers
• Supporting environmental,
animal
and management data
• Weather station

6. Airflow Assumptions
South Wall
Opening Airflow =
Perpendicular
Velocity x Area
North Wall
Opening Airflow =
Perpendicular
Velocity x Area
Assuming constant air density:
South Wall Opening Airflow = North Wall Opening Airflow

7. Airflow Direction and Concentration
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
0:00 2:24 4:48 7:12 9:36 12:00 14:24 16:48 19:12 21:36 0:00
AmmoniaConcentration,ppb
Ammonia Concentration at the South Wall (Green) and North Wall (Red)
-600
-400
-200
0
200
400
600
Airflow,m3/s
Airflow Out of the South Wall

8. South Dakota Sites
Daily Mean Temperatures
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
7/6/10 1/22/11 8/10/11 2/26/12
Temperature,C
SD1 Ambient SD1 Barn SD2 Ambient SD2 Barn

9. Iowa Sites
Daily Mean Temperatures
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
9/17/10 4/5/11 10/22/11 5/9/12
Temperature,C
IA1 Ambient IA1 Barn IA2 Ambient IA2 Barn

10. Seasons
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter
Temperature,C
SD1 SD2 IA1 IA2

11. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum
Ammonia Concentrations
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppm
Average Temperature, C
Pack Systems Scrape Systems

12. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum
Ammonia Concentrations
y = 0.0917x + 2.0803
R² = 0.2151
p < 0.1 (Slope)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppm
Average Temperature, C
Pack Systems

13. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum
Hydrogen Sulfide Concentrations
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppb
Average Temperature, C
Pack Systems Scrape Systems

14. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum
Hydrogen Sulfide Concentrations
Pack Systems
y = 9.9561x + 26.514
R² = 0.6232
p < 0.01 (Slope)
Scrape Systems
y = 1.3257x + 14.275
R² = 0.6286
P < 0.01 (Slope)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppb
Average Temperature, C
Pack Systems Scrape Systems

15. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum Hydrogen
Sulfide Concentrations for Pack Systems
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppb
Average Temperature, C
Pack System 1 Pack System 2

16. Seasonal Mean Hourly Maximum
Methane Concentrations
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
AverageMaximum
Concentration,ppm
Average Temperature, C
Pack Systems Scrape Systems

17. On-going and Future Work
• Time of Day Impact
• Pack System Analyses by Ayadi and Spiehs
• Airflow → Emissions → Emission Database

18. More Information
• Websites Webinars
May 17
Monoslope Barn
Management
July 19
Research Project
Results
Cattle Housing
Conference
November 21
Sioux Falls