A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 1,2002
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Capitol Region Dairy Team
REDUCING HEAT
STRESS IN
DAIRY CATTLE
PART TWO
Glenn A. Shirk
Extension Dairy Agent
Lancaster
Earlier articles focused on how
heat stress affects cattle, and the
use of shade and exhaust fans to
help protect cows from heat
stress. This article focuses on the
use of circulation fans evapora
tive cooling and some other ideas
for protecting cattle from heat
stress.
Circulation fans can be install
ed over bunk areas and over rows
of stalls. This method does not
exchange air as effectively as ex
haust fans, but it does take ad
vantage of some natural ventila
tion, and the barn is still
ventilated if the fans should fail.
How many fans are needed?
One fan will “service” a distance
of about 10 times its diameter. In
other words, four feet. Fans
should be spaced about 40 feet
apart (about 10 stalls) and angled
downward toward the stalls.
Evaporative cooling can help
lower air temperatures when the
humidity is low enough for evap
oration to occur. Otherwise, it
can raise humidity levels and
cause animal discomfort. The
idea is to introduce a very fine
mist into the air stream, or to
draw air through an evaporation
pad or a radiator-like heat ex
changer to cool the incoming air.
Another method is to wet the
cow and use fans to evaporate
moisture from her body (the
same effect you feel when get out
of the water and stand in a
breeze). Cows can be sprinkled at
Report To Guide Childhood
Ag Injury Prevention Efforts
MARSHFIELD, Wis.
Would you take your child to
work at a mine or construction
site?
Of course not. Yet children
routinely are exposed to danger
ous situations in production agri
culture, where the line between
home and worksite has tradition
ally been blurred.
A report designed to guide na
tional childhood agricultural in
jury prevention efforts has been
published by the National Chil
dren’s Center for Rural and Agri
cultural Health and Safety.
“We hope this report inspires
and motivates people to meet the
challenge of protecting the nearly
two million children who live,
visit and work on our nation’s
farms and ranches,” said Barbara
Lee, Ph.D., director of the Na
tional Children’s Center,
Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield,
Wis.
The report is an outgrowth of
the 2001 Summit on Childhood
Agricultural Injury Prevention, a
federally-funded initiative that
brought together nearly 100
farmers, growers, professors.
physicians, adolescents, and safe
ty professionals, along with rep
resentatives of agricultural or
ganizations and federal agencies.
These attendees used consensus
development to generate injury
prevention strategies and priori-
the feed bunk, with a low-pres
sure nozzle that delivers about
0.5 gallons of water per minute as
coarse droplets for 3-5 minutes at
about 15-minute intervals. The
idea is to soak cows to the hide
while they are at the bunk and
cool them off in the breeze of the
fans when they return to the stall
area to rest.
Other helpful ideas include:
• Minimize the time cows
stand in holding areas.
• Do not crowd cows. Give
them plenty of bunk space and
watering space.
• Minimize their exertion and
excitement. Don’t make them
walk great distances to feed and
water, and keep them quiet be
fore and after breeding and at
calving time.
Feeds dry out faster with in
creased air movement and spoil
more quickly when temperatures
rise. These problems can be mini
mized by mixing feeds more fre
quently to help keep them fresh
er, by feeding more frequently, by
keeping mangers and watering
devices clean, and by increasing
the moisture content of the ra
tion.
Feed cows a more nutrient
dense ration, while also being
sure to meet their fiber require
ments. Increase mineral intakes
to replenish what cows lost be
cause of increased sweating, slob
bering, and urination. Feeding
more buffers, niacin, and prod
ucts such as aspergillus oryzae
may also be helpful. In all these
matters, observe cows closely and
work closely with your nutrition
ist and veterinarian.
ties for the future.
The need for the summit re
port is underscored by the more
than 100 deaths and about 33,000
restricted-activity injuries that
occur to youth on farms each
year, Lee said.
Goals and recommendations
include:
• Adults will ensure that
young children and nonworking
youth can grow, play, leam, and
rest in protective environments
that are free of agricultural haz
ards.
• Young workers will receive
agricultural safety training, guid
ance, personal protective equip
ment, and adult supervision
based on child development prin
cipals.
• A strong public/private in
frastructure will be maintained to
ensure the vision, leadership, and
national commitment necessary
to prevent childhood agricultural
injuries.
The summit report can be
viewed and downloaded in .pdf
format by going to http://
research.marshfieldclinic.org/
children.
Printed copies are available by
contacting the National Chil
dren’s Center for Rural and Agri
cultural Health and Safety at
(888) 924-7233 or (715) 389-4999,
or by e-mailing nccrahs@mfldcli
n.edu.
The Dairy Farm Business Summary:
What Is It And What Can It Do For Yon?
Sarah Roth
Penn State Dairy Alliance
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co) What is the Dairy Farm
Business Summary?
The Dairy Farm Business
Summary (DFBS) is an analyti
cal program designed to allow
producers to improve accounting
and financial analysis techniques,
develop managerial skills, and
solve business and financial man
agement problems.
This is accomplished through
gathering the information neces
sary to complete the analysis and
then comparing their farm’s per
formance with top performing
businesses in Pennsylvania and
the Northeast. The information
required to complete the DFBS
includes: Cash receipts and ex
penses, accounts payable and re
ceivable, beginning and year-end
balance sheets, land resources
and use, depreciation informa
tion, feed and supply inventory,
livestock inventory, and machin
ery and equipment inventory.
How can the DFBS help you?
The Dairy Farm Business
Summary provides an excellent
opportunity to work with a com
puter-based program that will as
sist in better data utilization and
interpretation, increasing the
soundness of management deci
sions. After completing the re
Soggy Fields May Promote Diseases
WOOSTER, Ohio Excessive
wet weather throughout Ohio the
past several weeks may cause
problems with disease develop
ment in the state’s wheat crop.
Pat Lipps, an Ohio State Uni
versity Extension plant patholo
gist with the Ohio Agricultural
Research and Development Cen
ter, said that growers should be
scouting their fields for such dis
eases as powdery mildew, Stago
nospora leaf blotch and head
scab.
“Stagonospora leaf blotch is
being favored by frequent rain
showers. We are not seeing too
much of it yet because its been a
bit too cool, but we are setting the
stage for some major problems
with continued rain,” said Lipps.
“The other disease is head scab
and the rains have provided satu
rated conditions for this fungus
to produce spores on old com res
idue. Whenever there are high
levels of the fungus in the field,
there is always the possibility of
having head scab in the wheat if
it’s in close proximity to the com
residue.”
Lipps said powdery mildew,
which was noticed earlier in the
season, is beginning to advance in
some fields and a return to
quired input information, a com
prehensive report is generated
which includes: profitability, li
quidity, solvency, labor and capi
tal efficiency, and dairy and
cropping enterprise analyses.
From the report, producers can
answer the following questions;
What are the effects of key ex
penses, production levels, and
price risk on the profitability of
the farm business? Is production
being maximized while control
ling expenses? Does the business
generate adequate returns to the
resources allocated to it? Are ac
counts payable and debt pay
ments creating a cash flow bur
den?
The greatest benefit is having
the ability to see what actual
business and production costs
are, thus allowing for tighter cost
control and better management
decisions, and achieving greater
control over the finances of the
dairy business.
In addition, producers have ac
cess to standardized benchmarks
for dairy businesses throughout
Pennsylvania and the Northeast.
By participating in the DEBS
programs, producers’ data will be
entered into the Top Dairies da
tabase. This allows the producer
to benchmark their farm’s per
formance against the perform
ance of dairy businesses across
the country.
warmer weather will favor its
continued spread.
“Scouting is probably the first
thing growers should do right
now. Over the next week, we’ll
probably start seeing some Stago
nospora develop on the upper
leaves of the plant,” said Lipps.
“About two weeks after heading,
growers should check their fields
again because that’s when head
scab will probably be seen.”
Wheat growth has been varia
ble throughout the state. The
crop in southern counties is in
hill bloom. Throughout central
Ohio, wheat heads are beginning
to emerge and in northern Ohio,
the crop is currently at the boot
stage with head emergence likely
to begin at any time. The crop
throughout the extreme north
west comer of the state is the
least developed, ranging any
where from flag leaf emergence
to the boot stage.
“The crop normally goes into
head in Ohio right before Memo
rial Day weekend. This year we
are a little bit ahead of that
schedule,” said Lipps. “What
we’d like to see is the wheat head
out as soon as possible and then
have a cool period through the
flowering and grain filling time.
Top Dairies also allows the
producer to specify the types and
sizes of farms he or she would
like to benchmark against, mak
ing the information all the more
valuable to the producer.
Dairy advisors and extension
agents also benefit from the pro
gram. Special reports can be
generated for a group of clients,
county(s), or regions provided
that data for the minimum num
ber of farms are available.
Completing the DFBS can be
an educational experience and
provides a launch pad for discus
sion within groups of producers
who meet regularly or those who
wish to form a group. Without
sharing sensitive information, im
portant issues such as efficiency
and specialization and their ef
fect on profitability can be dis
cussed.
How can you participate?
Becoming involved with the
Dairy Farm Business Summary
is simple. Producers and exten
sion agents can contact Sarah
Roth at Penn State University.
The phone number is (814)
863-8645 or email at sar
ahroth@psu.edu. To learn more
about the program visit Penn
State’s Farm Management web
site at http://farmmanage
ment.aers.psu.edu and click on
the “Dairy Farm Business Sum
mary” link.
This would provide us with extra
days of grain filling which we can
take advantage ofiand is essential
to adding more bushels to the
yield.”
In addition to disease develop
ment, Lipps said saturated soils
have produced some nitrogen de
ficiency in the crop. “We are
starting to see some yellow areas
in the fields,” he said. “Wheat
rapidly takes up nitrogen be
tween jointing and head emer
gence and this is the period when
we were getting all the rain.”
Unseasonably cool tempera
tures are also hitting the wheat
crop. Those plants with newly
emerged heads are most vulner
able to freezing injury when tem
peratures drop below 30 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Lipps said signs of freezing in
jury damaged florets and
shriveled tissue can be seen
several days after damage has oc
curred. “Yield loss wifi be mini
mal if only the top florets of the
head are injured. Otherwise, if
entire heads are affected, the loss
may be proportional to the num
ber of heads killed,” he said.
Lipps added that a forecasted
rise in temperatures should rap
idly advance wheat growth
throughout the state.