• Livestock

Water circulation central heating with renewable energy

The BroilerNet project involves a bottom-up approach to identify challenges and innovation needs for broiler farmers in Europe, and to collect promising and already successfully implemented Good Practices to meet the challenges in questions. The top Good Practices selected by experts within the three thematic areas (animal health management, animal welfare and sustainability) have been summarized in factsheets. In Finland, the use of water circulation central heating has been the most common form of heating for a long time. The benefit comes from its way of heating the rearing space and controlling moisture. This way of heating does not add moisture in the air and by using water circulation central heating there is no need to limit the ventilation to keep the temperature at the correct level . Warm air consists of more moisture so you can keep the correct humidity level with ventilation. With water circulation central heating the air humidity is lower and bedding stays dryer throughout the rearing period. The benefits are better rearing conditions and less footpad lesions. Healthier broilers do not havehaveaneed for antibiotics. With the right temperature, broilers do not need to eat to keep warm which results in a better feed efficiency.