title: Short communication: Comparison of ambient temperature, relative humidity, and temperature-humidity index between on-farm measurements and official meteorological data.
abstract: The objectives of the study were to compare the climate conditions of 7 dairy farms with the climate recorded at the closest official meteorological station. Specifically, we set out to compare the ambient temperature, relative humidity, and the resulting temperature-humidity index (THI) from 7 different barns with those data obtained from the closest official meteorological stations and to compare the climate conditions between 4 different locations within 1 barn. Measures of correlation and agreement demonstrated that climate conditions differ significantly between the barn and the corresponding official meteorological stations as well as between 4 different locations inside 1 barn. The ambient temperature was higher (6.4±3.6°C) in the barn than at the official meteorological station. The relative humidity was higher at the official meteorological station (0.2±7.2%) than in the barn. The THI was higher (11.1±6.5) in the barn than at the official meteorological station. Days with an average THI≥72 were 64 and 4 out of 756 experimental d in the barn and at the official meteorological station, respectively. Also, in a comparison of 7 different barns, ambient temperature and THI were significantly higher than at the closest corresponding official meteorological station. These results indicate that climate conditions should be obtained from on-farm measurements to evaluate potential heat stress and to develop effective measures to abate heat stress of dairy cows.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Animal Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Koenigsweg 65, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Schüller
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Burfeind
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heuwieser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D002980:Climate; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006799:Housing, Animal; D006813:Humidity; D007774:Lactation; D055904:Meteorology; D013696:Temperature
keywords: climate; dairy cow; heat stress; temperature-humidity index