This article was #5 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2010. Summary: This new bale chopper mounts right onto a skid loader for a one-step method to bedding with straw. The idea came to Roy Marschall, owner of Skid-Chopper, LLC, and his son-in-law, Harlan Poppler, who runs a dairy farm in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, area. The square drum attachment allows the operator to drive into the bale. Once lifted, hydraulic power moves the drum back while gravity pulls the bale over three rows of rotating three-sided blades to chop the straw. The speed of the drum can be altered to change the length of the cut. Two fans are used to blow the straw from the chopper directly into a freestall, bedded pack or collection pile. Fan speed can also be adjusted to control the distance the chopped straw travels. “It can blow up to 30 feet if you want it to,” Marschall says. Because this article was so popular, we asked Marschall some follow-up questions:

The economic consequences of heat stress to the dairy industry have been calculated to be approximately $900 million annually. This sum reflects not only milk production decline, but reproductive losses, increased lameness, prematurely replacing animals in the herd, rumen acidosis, a decrease in milk fat, premature calving, retained placenta and many other health implications. While many producers consider only the decline in milk production in the economics of heat stress, the losses are indeed greater.

Historically, dairy barns were constructed like houses, striving to keep barns closed-in to protect cows from winter weather. But building them that way ignored the fact that cows have a different temperature comfort range than people. “Cows are much more cold- tolerant than we are and much less heat-tolerant than we are,” said Jeffrey Bewley, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture assistant extension professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. “Of course, even in the Southeast, we experience winter days where cold stress is a concern.”

In the dairy industry, it’s a commonly held belief that cow comfort contributes to healthier and higher-producing dairy herds. One additional way to increase cow comfort is to manage and control ectoparasites like mange and lice. Comfortable cows simply produce more milk. Dr. Brian Miller, professional service veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., says an annual whole-herd parasite control program is the best way to keep irritating and painful mange at bay.