Nitrogen dioxide (silo gas) poisoning in dairy cattle

Toxic silo gases are a potential danger to livestock housed in close proximity to roughage silos. These gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), may be produced during the early stages of (maize and grass) silage making. In humans, inhalation of these gases causes a condition known as 'Silo Filler's Disease' (SFD), which is a recognized occupational hazard for workers in upright forage silos in many countries. NO2 accumulates on top of silage, is inhaled by workers, and reacts with water on the airway surfaces to form nitrous acid, which damages the lung and causes pulmonary oedema, bronchiolitis, and death in severe cases. On a dairy farm, a cloud of reddish-brown NO2 gas (which is heavier than air) was noticed to escape from underneath the plastic sheet of a horizontal maize bunker and to enter a cubicle house for dairy cows 1 day after ensiling. Eleven cows became dyspnoeic, 3 of which subsequently died. A combination of weather conditions, an insufficient sand load on the maize bunker, the utilization of a lactobacillus starter culture, and the close proximity of the silo to the cubicle house may have caused the incident.