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While many producers involved in the dairy industry are likely familiar with the production benefits from cooling cows during lactation, less often do we think about cooling dry cows and its long-term impacts on cow performance, health and calves.
Have you ever watched your cows stand in a big group and wondered what kind of secrets they’re sharing or how much they’re costing you by standing and socializing instead of producing milk?
For people with jobs that require them to stand for long periods of time on hard floors or concrete, anti-fatigue mats are often placed at the feet of their workstation.
Of the four types of cooling (conduction, convection, radiation or evaporation), the most utilized are radiation and evaporative cooling, whether it is the environment or the cow.
Summer is just around the corner and with it high temperatures, humidity and heat stress. According to a 2019 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research study, the U.S. dairy industry experiences $1.5 billion in losses annually due to heat stress.
I recently dismantled two old wire corn cribs on the farm. We had not used them in over 20 years, and they were starting to show their age. I don’t recall the exact year Dad erected them, but it would have been close to 50 years ago.
While a blanket of snow covering the landscape may be a beautiful sight for some, it can also be a warning sign on some dairies if a building’s roof is not designed to handle heavy snowfall.
As summer heats up, water becomes the number-one topic of conversation. The lack or abundance thereof is critical to farms and dairies alike and is particularly important when considering intake in relation to milk production.
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