Why evaporative cooling methods fit well on our farm. Growing up in the hot Kansas heat made it difficult to keep cows cool during the warmer summer months. When we decided to make modifications to our...
This is the season to start thinking heat abatement strategies as several southern states are already experiencing warmer temperatures and rising humidity. Meanwhile, it's warming up in northern states,...
To beat the heat, the nation's cows are concentrated in more temperate regions of the United States. know that cows tend to seek out the coolest places on the farm: beneath shade, under sprinklers and...
Additional milk per day is just the start. The signs of heat stress in dry cows are less obvious when there is no production to monitor. In the March Hoard's Dairyman webinar, Geoff Dahl, University of...
Global warming or not, the world's climate is changing. In the United States, greater variability in precipitation patterns, more pronounced differences in weather between regions, and rising average temperatures...
Flies become a nuisance in the summer, especially for our cattle. An unmanaged fly population can reduce milk production 10 to 30 percent and decreases feed efficiency
Shades, fans, misters and water make milk production possible even in the desert. Few places in the U.S. are as deadly an environment for cows as Arizona, but milk producers there have become masters at...
With high summertime temps looming, it is time to start paying attention to Temperature Humidity Index values to manage your cows' heat stress. Just like the kids at the local swimming pool who are cooling...
Heat abatement is not just for the milking herd. Dry cows that are cooled are healthier, breed back sooner and produce more milk. Heat stress has substantial impacts on milk yield during lactation
In the decades ahead, climate change is expected to make heat stress an increasingly bigger problem for dairy cows everywhere. Breeding animals with more natural resistance is one way farmers will cope,...
Do you group cows by production? If so, then you're a big step ahead in understanding why heat stress is worse than you may realize. THI (temperature humidity index; the "feels like" combination of temperature...
Record milk prices give milk producers a financial opportunity that is simply too good to ignore – dry pen and hospital pen cooling. They're no-brainer investments whose benefits touch every area...
Cooling cows is a simple-sounding idea that is hard to do well. The cost and attention to detail it requires can be great, but its financial rewards are even greater. An intriguing new approach –...
Usually out of sight in the back of the dairy, replacements are also often out of mind when it comes to providing cooling relief during hot weather. But research has repeatedly shown that younger animals...