While parts of the country are dealing with spring snow and temperatures that feel like winter, spring is upon us, and summer’s intense heat is not far behind. At the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference, Bill Stone, D.V.M., shared some practical tips for gearing up to keep cows cool and comfortable in the days ahead.

Clean and maintain heat abatement systems. Stone advised assessing your entire evaporative cooling system from start to finish. He suggested taking a close look at hoses, nozzles, and sprayers to ensure they are clean, functioning, and in working order. In addition to water lines, he reminded attendees to look at fans and ensure all components are functional and serviced where needed.

Evaluate areas to add water access to encourage drinking after milking. Stone recommended looking at return lanes and giving cows ample space at water troughs, as water intake after milking is a key component to cooling. He emphasized this does not need to be a complex setup — it can be a simple water trough and hose to give more square footage of water tank space and opportunities to drink.

Provide soaking and fans while giving time for evaporation. Stone emphasized the importance of ensuring cows are both soaked and under fans to create evaporative cooling, but he shared a key “watch out” on heat abatement systems: Do not to use more water than necessary. Excessive water use can cause challenges for foot health, increase mastitis risk, and drive higher barn humidity. In humid environments, Stone has observed severe skin dermatitis in cows who have remained wet for too long. In severe cases, this infection can be deadly to the cow.

To prevent cows from becoming too wet, he advised farmers to reduce soaker line pressure and use a smaller nozzle. Another tip from Stone is to ensure fresh feed delivery upon returning from milking while soaking, allowing for ample evaporative cooling and drying time to follow.