Calf Vent tubing system

[Lewis]

Looking into and had a quote for a calf vent tubing system, to put in our calf rearing building, The shed in question is our old dairy building and being a stone barn struggle with pneumonia in it due to lack of air flow.

anybody got experience with the tube systems and recommend them , did they make a difference they claim too in your calf building?

ive attached a few pics to hopefully show the shed layout. (Window top left for fan & tube hung from trusses )
.
The highlighted orange shoes the fan in the window and that’s the way the tube will be.


thanks

 

[Blue.]

We made our own tube using silage sheet folded over and stapled,went along with a hot tube and burnt holes in it,it worked well for 10 or 12 years.

With your shed I’d be opening up the ridge to let air out rather than a tube.

 

[PI Stsker]

They work very well but do need either Yorkshire boarding down the side or some way of the air getting out that the tube is blowing in. In your instance I’d of thought an open ridge or an extractor fan at the far end sucking air out of the shed drawing clean air in from the big open end.

 

[Lewis]

Like the simplicity of opening bathe ridge but doesn’t look simple with a slate roof,

removing the roofing caps doesn’t look like it would do a lot from the inside as the slates and battens are literally into the Apex .

my neighbour has a tube system and he was quite dismissive of it , saying all his does is stir up the ammonia into the air, which is why I brought it up with the sales guy about having enough release points for the stale air to escape and he was quite quick to dismiss my view and say yes there’s plenty….

 

[PI Stsker]

Like the simplicity of opening bathe ridge but doesn’t look simple with a slate roof,

removing the roofing caps doesn’t look like it would do a lot from the inside as the slates and battens are literally into the Apex .

my neighbour has a tube system and he was quite dismissive of it , saying all his does is stir up the ammonia into the air, which is why I brought it up with the sales guy about having enough release points for the stale air to escape and he was quite quick to dismiss my view and say yes there’s plenty….

The tubes from our experience are very very good AS LONG AS you have adequate air space to begin with and somewhere for the stale air to be blown too.
there far from the magic bullet that the sales guys make them out to be but they do an excellent job when combined with adequate pen space and natural air flow.
We went from a massive pneumonia problem, ending to vaccinate at a young age and again when older to zero vaccinations now and a very rare case. Granted this isn’t purely down to the air sock but down to less stock per pen, nice wide Yorkshire boarding and the fan blowing the dirty air out the side.

in your case the cheap way of trying it is to get a big parlour fan and hang it up the top somewhere to get some air movement, see what happens before investing properly.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

You're struggling for airflow both in and out there, especially when that sheeted door is shut.

I'm not sure there's a straightforward answer sorry.
Lovely roof tho.

 

[Slowcow]

Made our own out of some soil pipe and the biggest extractor Toolstation had.
Vet commented that we'd not used much antibiotics for pneumonia last year so I think it worked.

Do the sums before you do anything, was a while ago but I think you need to change the air in the shed 4 times a hour, so work out volume of the shed, get extractor/extractors to suit.

In our case I got lucky, drilled the same area of holes in the soil pipe as the area of the extractor then get someone to light a load of smoke matches into it, the smoke needs to stop just above the calves and go back up to work so they aren't in a draught

 

[TheRanger]

We fitted a tube system in a 60'x30' steel framed shed last winter, worked out around £1000 for the parts delivered and we fitted it ourselves. Included a variable speed controller to increase or decrease fan speed. Easy to fit and wasn't worth messing about trying to make something up ourselves to save a bit of money at that price.

Agrivent in Perth delivered all the stuff out on a pallet, very easy to deal with.

Definitely has made a difference, although still get the odd case of pneumonia. It doesn't need to save many calves to pay for itself.

May be easier/cheaper to do if you came in the big door at the end, rather than coming in the window and having a tee piece, and just had one straight run. As long as there is enough height to still get in and muck out.

 

[FarmerWasty]

Run a tube through rafters. Weve just put a hydor one up by ourselves. Wasnt too hard and seems to be doing the job.

 

[zyklon]

Made our own out of some soil pipe and the biggest extractor Toolstation had.
Vet commented that we'd not used much antibiotics for pneumonia last year so I think it worked.

Do the sums before you do anything, was a while ago but I think you need to change the air in the shed 4 times a hour, so work out volume of the shed, get extractor/extractors to suit.

In our case I got lucky, drilled the same area of holes in the soil pipe as the area of the extractor then get someone to light a load of smoke matches into it, the smoke needs to stop just above the calves and go back up to work so they aren't in a draught
View attachment 1145140

What sort of fan did you use?

 

[Farmeraduk]

Have thought about trying these, but wondered if a big extractor fan one end be better than blowing air in. What happens on a foggy day, blow moisture in?

 

[Slowcow]

What sort of fan did you use?

A bathroom extractor from tool station, they have the m³/HR or litres per min? On the website.

Airvent 150mm Extractor Fan

• IP34• Wall, window and ceiling mounted (not pull cord version)• Suitable for use in kitchens• Part F compliant• Airflow: 245m3/h, 68L/s• Sound: 45dBA at 3m.Requires wall kit (code 25504) HWD: 225 x 218 x 55mm.

www.toolstation.com

Our calf house isn't very big so one was enough do the job.

There's a garage next to the shed so it draws from dryish air.
Think air will always be higher humidity in a livestock shed than outside as they breath out a lot of moisture so as long as it's not pulling in rain (you'd have to box in the fan anyway if it's outside so it pulls from bellow and keeps motor dry) it will always improve the air in shed.

 

[zyklon]

So the pipe at the top of the apex sucks air out and you have another fan that blows air in?

 

[Slowcow]

No the extractor is blowing into the soil pipe, in our case used a 150-100mm reducer, then the pipe has 10mm holes drilled in it to blow down to the calves.

Idea is the breeze stops just before tops of their ears