Evaluating Dust Abatement Potential of Stocking Density Manipulation at Open-Lot Cattle Feedyards
Channel: Livestock & Poultry Environ. Learning Community
Date: 2013-04-19

For more: http://www.extension.org/67576 
Fugitive dust abatement from cattle feedlots continues to be an area of concern for feedlot managers and regulators.  Currently, water application and manure harvesting are Beneficial Management Practices (BMP) commonly used for dust abatement.   Stocking density manipulation could be used as an additional BMP.   The moisture and compaction dynamics of an open-lot corral surface in a cattle feedyard depend strongly on the spatial density at which the animals are stocked.  Because the moisture content and bulk density of the corral surface are directly related to its intrinsic dust susceptibility (Auvermann, 2003; Razote et al., 2006), emission of fugitive dust from a feedyard surface should be sensitive to changes in stocking density and the moisture- dynamics changes that it induces.  Path averaged airborne dust concentrations were measured upwind and downwind of feedyard pens using an optical particle sizer OPS (model 3330, TSI inc., Shoreview, MN) and an aerosol monitor (model DUSTRAK II 8530, TSI inc., Shoreview, MN) mounted on  mobile sampling platforms.  Feedlot pens were stocked at two densities, 718 (control) and 1,435 hd ha -1.   Doubled stocking density was achieved in two different ways, by (A) confining cattle to half the pen area using electric cross-fencing and (B) doubling the number of cattle in the pens.  We will report differences in dust concentrations and corral surface conditions associated with pen stocking density.