INFORMATION SHEET No.5.

1-1
Relative Humidity Inside the Swine Facility
Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. control relative humidity inside the swine facility
2. to contribute to improved levels of animal production.
3. control of major diseases to enable increase of animal production
Temperature levels that may not pose a threat at lower humidity levels can
become dangerous as humidity increases. For example, consider a 90-degree F
day. At 15% humidity, a watchful eye is needed; swine drift into the "danger"
level at 35% humidity, and are considered to be in an emergency situation at
65% humidity. At 100 degrees Fahrenheit, 10% humidity pushes animal into the
danger zone, with 30% translating into an emergency situation.

The general effects of high temperature-on swine, for instance-are easily

observed. The animals become lazy and tend to lie flat on the ground or floor. As
the ambient-environmental temperature rises above a certain point. The average
daily weight gain drops more rapidly than the daily feed consumption, and the
amount of feed required produce 100 pounds of gain

increases markedly. It is clear that high temperatures greatly reduce feed

utilization. the modern, well-ventilated and insulated buildings in which huge
sums of money are invested every year to protect swine from the
weather were designed with the knowledge of exactly how environment affects
the effeciency of feed utilization by the animals, these structures could be more
valuable and less expensive. A designer of a swine building should also know
how much heat from the animals is available for heating the structure in cold
weather and how much will have to be removed by the ventilation or air-
conditioning system in hot weather.
In an environmental research project carried on by cooperating agricultural
engineers and animal husbandmen, swine are being studied at Davis, where a
psychometric chamber controlled climate room-permits the measurement of the
effect on the animals of ambient temperature and relative humidity. The
chamber also makes it possible to measure the amount of heat loss from the
animals under various conditions. In conducting a test of the effect of
temperature on the weight gain of swine-for example-the animals are brought
into the psychometric chamber, where they are weighed and then maintained for
a week or two at a constant temperature of 70°F. This gives

them time to get adjusted to their new home and to become gentle enough so
that their respiration and pulse rates and rectal temperatures can be measured.

The animals are handled and managed-as far as possible-just as they would
be on a farm with good swine husbandry practices. Water is available at all times,
at room temperature, in a specially designed waterer which records the amount
drunk. The animals are hand fed twice daily in a trough. A careful record is kept
of the amount of feed eaten and water drunk. The animals are weighed every
week. The room temperature is

usually raised every week by ten-degree steps. Thus, a group of pigs might spend
two weeks at 70°F, one week at 80"E, at 90"F, and at 100°F before they are
brought back to 70°F for a rest period. Then they might be given the same
schedule of one-week studies at 60"F, 50"F, and 40°F. This would make a total
of eight or ten weeks in the chamber, during which time they would have
increased somewhat in size, as from 75 to 150 pounds. The reaction of a 75-
pound pig to a given air temperature is different from that of a 150-pound pig,
so the tests must be duplicated a sufficient number of times to give satisfactory
data for analysis. Such a procedure takes a long time but is necessary if the data
is to be sufficiently accurate to be of benefit to the farmer.

In experiments where environmental conditions were constant during one

week periods-and within the limits of temperature control-there was a regular
increase in respiration rate as the room or ambient temperature was increased.
Body temperature increased with the rising ambient temperature, but the
increase was relatively small until the higher temperatures were reached As the
temperature climbed, the pulse rate declined. The rapid and immediate rise in
respiration is notable and precedes any body temperature change. As ambient
temperature increases, feed consumption decreases, but-under the conditions
of these studies-there was no indication of complete loss of appetite. These
studies have supplied much data on water consumption by swine, but whether
it is reduced as the ambient temperature increases is still being investigated.

Average daily gain appears to reach a peak at a definite ambient temperature,

above which it rapidly drops. Heavy growing fattening hogs seem to reach this
peak for growth rate at a constant temperature of approximately 60°F. Lighter
feeding pigs weighing around 100 pounds reach the peak at about 70°F. Feed
utilization follows the average daily gain. Wetting by spray or other means a hog
distressed by heat produces q marked response of lowered respiration rate and
finally of body temperature. Increasing the air motion around a wet hog produces
an even more rapid change in lowered respiration rate and body temperature.
High humidity also has a marked effect on swine if at the same time temperature
is high. Wide-range experiments with humidity have not yet been completed. Air
motion has been studied in preliminary trials. When hogs are distressed by high
temperatures, increased air motion-such as by use of an electric fan is of no
benefit. This is to be expected of a non-sweating animal-such as the hog-when
the air temperature is higher than his surface temperature. Hogs, as is true of
most living organisms, have a heat-tolerance limit which depends on the weight
of the hog. Work with pregnant sows demonstrated that the fetuses were
relatively heat resistant and that the sow would die before abortion occurred
from high ambient or body temperature.

Determinations of the heat and moisture lost by swine of various weights

under different conditions are necessary before workable animal-shelter
ventilation systems can be properly designed. Adequate buildings should
maintain-as near as possible the range of environment found to be most
conducive to animal health, gains, and efficient feed utilization. The primary
purpose of a ventilation system in a swine building is to remove the excess
moisture given off by the animals. The heat they give off is usually expected to
maintain building warmth, but part of it must necessarily be used to vaporize
some of the moisture to facilitate its removal in the ventilating. The heat and
moisture lost by the animals are highly important

factors in swine-building plans, and many tests have been made in the
psychometric chamber to study this phase of the problem. As the ambient
temperature rises, the animal's surface temperature also rises but at a slower
rate. Also, it becomes increasingly difficult for the animal to lose heat by
conduction, radiation, and convection. It must rely more and more on
evaporation until-at an ambient temperature of around 100'F-most of its heat is
lost by evaporation. In an effort to keep a a normal temperature, the animal cuts
down on his feed intake but finally-unable to dissipate all the heat-his body
temperature increases. To the farm-structures engineer, the recorded moisture
removed from the air provides a basis for the amount of ventilating air required
to remove all excess moisture from the building. From the heat-loss record, he
knows what animal heat will be available to warm the ventilating air and to
evaporate the moisture it must remove. The engineer is then able to design an
animal building to meet certain environmental requirements or to predict how
those requirements can be met in existing buildings. Findings of this nature,
while not so dramatic as other types, are just as important in the improvement
of our animal management economy.

Measure Hygrometer for Calibration

Relative humidity is measured using hygrometer for calibration. If you
have an analog few steps. hygrometer, you want to make sure it is as accurate
as possible for the best results and use. To achieve this, there is a simple
calibration test you can follow on your own to achieve maximum accuracy called
the salt test. The best part is, it only takes

You will need some supplies first:

 2 teaspoons of salt
 Distilled water
 Zip lock bag
 Hygrometer that can be calibrated

Once you have all these supplies, you are ready to go. The whole process will
take less than a minute to set up, but you must wait 12 hours for results!

 Place your 2 teaspoons of salt into a small dish/bowl (some use a container
cap of some sort)
 Dampen the salt with the distilled water, do not put more than a few drops
onto the salt, as you do not want it to dissolve.
 Place your hygrometer and salt into the plastic bag, and make sure it is
sealed shut After 12 hours, if the hygrometer is correctly calibrated, the
reading should be 75 percent humidity.
 If your hygrometer is not reading the correct number, do not fret, simply
use the manual dial to adjust your meter to 75 percent.
 Mission successful!

Adjust Curtains and blowers

 Curtains and blowers are adjusted following production requirements. No
more than two fans should be wired per circuit in an environmentally-controlled
swine room. With fractional horsepower motors, or when more than one fan is
included on a branch circuit, secondary fusing is necessary to provide adequate
overcurrent protection of individual fan motors with a locked rotor. The use of
automatic reset fans is not recommended because fans often continue to restart
until they finally burn out the motor. Also, there is a risk involved in that a
person who sees a fan not operating could begin to check to determine why it is
not running and the automatic restart could re-engage, causing personal injury.
The manual reset is a much preferable and safer protective measure for motors
that operate fans, feed and material handling systems.

A fused switch or properly sized circuit breaker installed in a corrosion

resistant box, and located within 5 ft to 10 ft of each fan is required for safety
during cleaning and maintenance. Fused switches are available to meet both
individual fan fusing and switching requirements. Use a time-delay fuse sized at
150% (125% for motors without thermal protection) of the motor full load current
rating. At least two fan branch circuits from opposite sides of the 230 V entrance
panel should be provided in each environmentally-controlled room. Then, if one
circuit fails, the room can still be ventilated.

Because of dust and corrosion, use only totally-enclosed motors for swine
buildings. Open motors are more prone to early failure, are more apt to cause
fire and explosions, and are not allowed in swine buildings. Fans and other
motors, for example, feed delivery augers, heaters, curtain controllers, etc.,
should be permanently wired. Do not use cord and plug connections. Permanent
wiring maintains the integrity of the watertight wiring system. Plugs require
receptacle covers to be open continuously, allowing moisture and corrosive gases
to enter the wiring system.