A32-lanoster Farming, Saturday, February 18,1989
Maintain Milk Production Despite Uncooperative Weather
BY RANDY WELLS
Indiana Co. Correspondent
INDIANA Even though it
was snowing outside in Indiana
County on Friday, Feb. 10, inside
the Rustic Lodge, Penn State
Agricultural Engineer Dr. Robert
Graves was telling Indiana County
fanners how to keep their dairy
cows more comfortable during
periods of extreme heat and
humidity.
With memories of last sum
mer’s heat wave and drought still
fresh in their minds, and with pre
dictions of another hot summer on
the way, the local dairymen took
special interest in Dr. Graves’ tips
for maintaining milk production
even when the weather isn’t
cooperating.
Dr. Graves was one of several
speakers making presentations at
the Indiana County Dairy Day
sponsored by the Indiana County
Cooperative Extension. Keystone
dairy farmers lose more milk pro
duction in periods of hot weather
than cold weather, Dr. Graves
said, mainly because of cows’
depressed appetite in sultry weath
er, and in some cases because ol
insufficient water intake.
Back in the days when dairy
men only expected their cows to
produce 9,000 pounds of milk, it
was acceptable to keep them in the
pasture during the summer, and
bring them in only for milking or
extra feed.
“But you’re working those girls
a lot harder today then you were
10 or 15 years ago,” Dr. Graves
said.
The key to maintaining good
milk production, he said, is to
minimize stress on the cows dur
ing hot weather, by keeping them
as comfortable as possible. And
that involves four main steps:
keep the cows out of the hot mid
day sun; keep an air movement
circulating around the cows; pro
vide adequate air exchange to
remove foul air from bams; and
provide plenty of extra drinking
water.
Since most Pennsylvania bams
were built with more concern for
winter weather than summer
weather. Dr. Graves said dairy
men sometimes have to use imagi
nation to keep their barns comfort
able in hot, humid weather.
Removable windows and
sidewalls and open ridges help
vent hot air from bams and take
advantage of summer breezes.
Exhaust fans and extra ventilation
fans may be necessary, and a
breeze of two to five miles per
hour on the cows is best, he said.
The minimum distance from the
cows’ heads to the roof should be
at least six feet, to keep the radiant
heat off the roof as far from the
animals as possible.
A high-volume exhaust system
should provide 400-500 cubic feet
per minute of exhaust capacity for
every 1,000 pounds of cows. Dr.
Graves said. That could amount to
50-60 complete air exchanges
every hour.
In hot weather a cow will use
any available water first to cool
herself through sweating and
respiration moisture, and any left
over water will be used for milk
production. For that reason, Dr.
Graves said, extra water tubs may
be needed, and conditions sur
rounding feed banks and watering
areas should be as cool and pleas
ant as possible to encourage cows
to stay there longer. Care should
also be taken to avoid packing too
many cows into a small space,
such as a holding area .before
milking, for too long a time.
Another measure which gained'
popularity this past summer, espe
cially in the southeastern part of
the state, Dr. Graves said, was the
use of sprinkling systems for cool
ing cows. Sprinkling systems
work best along outside feeding
bunks or in well-ventilated bams
where the evaporation process
will be most effective, he said. A
three-quarter inch line, drilled to
accept a fan jet nozzle every four
to five feet, should be suspended
at a height of about eight feet
above the ground or floor, and
about 32 inches back from the
feed line.
The spray should be heavy
enough to wet the skin on the
cow’s back, not just the hair. But
the spray should not be so heavy
as to produce sloppy udders.
Under a properly adjusted spray,
Dr. Graves said, the water will
drop off the flanks of the cows,
and the udders will remain clean,
reducing the risk of any increase
in mastitis.
A timer to control the sprin
kling can prevent excessive water
usage, and alternating welting and
drying periods may actually
increase the cooling effect.
Dr. Graves also offered some
advice for increasing cow comfort
in bams during the winter. A spe
cial effort should be made, he said,
to provide a comfortable atmo
sphere for cows during stressful
periods such as calving.
“I’m amazed how well our
cows do when you consider some
of the conditions they’re calved
in,” he said. If the calving facility
doesn’t look like an inviting place
for the farmer to lay down and
take a nap in, it’s probably not
good enough for the cow when
calving cither, he said.
Since a mature cow will breath
out four to five gallons of moisture
each day during cold weather, an
effort should be made to keep
bams dry. And when a day of mild
weather suddenly pushes the
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temperature up to around 5C
degrees, bams should be opened
to vent ammonia generated by
manure packs.
“If you’re bam smells like a
bam, it’s poorly ventilated,” he
said, and added the weather never
gets so cold in Pennsylvania that a
bam shouldn’t smell fresh.
Also at the Dairy Day program,
a panel of local farmers discussed
their management programs for
semi-solid or liquid manure stor
age systems and fielded questions
from other farmers considering
such systems.
Ross Orner, Jr. of Rocklon,
Clearfield County, and Bill Ebert
of Blairsville and Rick Kemerer of
Latrobe, both in Westmoreland
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County, discussed the success
they have had with their systems,
and the differences between
gravity-out and pumping systems,
and the need for safety features
such as dual values on the outlet
line and security fences around
lagoons.
Other speakers for the day were
Colleen Armstrong of Pfizer Phar
maceuticals, Chuck Glasscr,
Indiana County ASCS director,
Wayne Bugovich, a USDA Soil
Conservation Service engineer,
and Roy Breneman, Agway dairy
and livestock specialist.
During the lunch break, parti
cipants were also able to visit dis
plays by a number of area agri
businesses.
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