ABSTRACT
Inhalation of potential toxic gas and bioaerosol enriched air within livestock buildings is typical in farm animal production. This impression is underlined by measurements, which partly recorded high concentrations of ammonia, airborne dust and microorganisms. Similar to maximum allowable exposure level values for occupational purposes, the control of harmful air conditions for livestock animals based on some few recommendations in the literature or their implication in official welfare regulations, although gases are only quantitatively considered but not so for dust. Seedorf calculated a Livestock Burden Index for pigs and chickens by using livestock-related air quality data from Seedorf. He has shown that 40.6% of all pig buildings and 37.5% of all chicken houses would fall in index class 3 or higher, indicating potential detriments to health and welfare. Due to the complex interactions between qualitatively and quantitatively different airborne pollutants, their impact on animals cannot be reliably evaluated by a mono-causal application of TLVs.
