To determine and estimate the dust burdens within livestock buildings in Northern Europe, field surveys of inhalable dust concentrations (IDCs) and respirable dust concentrations (RDCs) within cattle, pig and poultry buildings were conducted in the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands (NL), Denmark (DK) and Germany (D). The study involved about 80 surveys in each country.

For cattle buildings, mean IDC and RDC were 0.38 and 0.07 mg m-3, respectively. Mean IDC and RDC in pig buildings were 2.19 and 0.23 mg m-3, and in poultry buildings, 3.60 and 0.45 mg m-3, respectively.

Dust concentrations were affected by housing type and animal species, and their effects were different in the four countries. IDCs in cattle buildings were higher during day than at night. Both IDCs and RDCs in pig buildings were higher in winter than in summer, and higher by day than at night. Winter dust concentrations were higher than in summer within poultry buildings, but only IDCs were affected by sampling period, i.e. higher during the day period.