ASB'vLancaster I4v2QQ3 Plan To Relieve Heat Stress On Cows UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Dairy farmers shouldn’t let the cool spring fool them summer heat will be here soon. They should plan now, accord ing to an expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, to provide their cows with relief from heat stress. The highest-producing cows are the ones most vulnerable to the damaging effects of heat stress, warns Dennis Buffington, professor of agricultural and bio logical engineering. Milk production decreases as heat stress increases. He points out that even greater economic loss results from the reduction in cows’ conception rates as heat stress rises. “First and foremost, the cows need to be protected from direct solar radiation,” he says. “The shading system must be designed so that the animals have full ac cess to quality feed and water while in the shade. Sufficient floor space needs to be provided under the shade structure so that the animals do not crowd together to stay in the shade. “The underside of the roof needs to include insulation ma terial to reduce the thermal radi ation load on the cows. Finally the shade structure needs to be high enough and include a ridge opening so that natural ventila tion will be enhanced.” Evaporative cooling systems to reduce heat stress levels on cows are common in the southern United States, but few are used Penn State Study Links Land Use, Property Values UNIVERSITY PARK (State College) Agriculture and other land uses that provide open space increase the value of houses lo cated within a quarter-mile radi us, while landfills and large-scale animal operations lower the value of nearby houses, according to a new study by researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricul tural Sciences. The study, summarized in the report “The Impact of Open Space and Potential Local Disa menities on Residential Property Values in Berks County, Pennsyl vania,” was authored by Richard Ready, assistant professor of ag ricultural and environmental eco nomics, and Charles Abdalla, as sociate professor of agricultural and environmental economics. The researchers collected sales prices and other information on more than 8,000 Berks County homes sold between 1998 and 2002, along with information on nearby land uses. A geographic information system and statisti cal tools were used to analyze the data. “This kind of information can be used by local officials to evalu ate the consequences of planning and zoning decisions and efforts to preserve open space in their communities,” says Ready. “Undoubtedly, there will be in terest in applying the Berks County results elsewhere,” Ab dalla says. “But until more re search is conducted in areas with conditions that differ from Berks County, care should be used in trying to generalize these re sults.” The study found that open space including for ested acreage and grass, pasture and crop land located within a quarter-mile of a house had the largest positive effect on the value of that by Pennsylvania dairy farmers, according to Buffington. He anticipates that evaporative cooling systems will become more popular in Pennsylvania as pro duction levels of cows increase and as producers search for effec tive ways to reduce heat stress. The evaporation of just one gallon of water per hour at 85 de grees provides nearly the same cooling effect as a V* ton air con ditioner unit. “This amount of cooling can handle the heat produced by, on average, two lactating cows,” he says. “The actual amount of water that can be evaporated de pends on the humidity level of the air.” Different approaches to pro viding evaporative cooling for dairy cows have been used over the past several decades. Buffing ton believes the use of a sprinkler or misting system in conjunction with forced ventilation is most ef fective. “It is not sufficient simply to cool the air with evaporative cooling and hope to significantly reduce the damaging heat stress effects on the cows,” he says. “It is essential to wet the cows and to provide forced ventilation to speed up the rate of evapora tion,” he adds. “The direct wetting of the cows cools them only a limited amount it is the rapid evaporation of the water that really does the cooling. The need for rapid evap oration is why it is essential to use fans in conjunction with sprinklers or misters. house. Large-lot, single-family resi dential land had a positive effect almost as large. Commercial, small-lot single-family residen tial, multi-unit residential, and industrial land uses were less fa vorable for nearby property val ues. Ready says these results can be used to predict the effect of land use change on nearby residential property values. “For instance, if a 10-acre farm is replaced by a shopping center, we would expect property values of homes located within one-quarter mile to decrease by 1.3 percent,” he explains. “Construction of a high-densi ty or multi-unit residential devel opment on that farmland would have an even greater negative im pact about two percent. But construction of large-lot, single family houses would have essen tially no impact on nearby home values.” For land uses farther than a quarter-mile but less than a mile away, commercial land had the greatest positive impact on a home’s value, followed closely by large-lot, single-family residen tial. The researchers found that landfills and large-scale animal operations have negative influ ences on nearby house prices. The study did not find a prop erty value impact for sewage treatment plants. Reports are available on the Web at http:// www.landuse.aers.psu.edu/. 4.90 Long Distance Service 4.90 per minute, first minute, every minute, in your state, and in all 48 states. 6 second billing Call JDS Telecom 1-888-315-1179 “Natural ventilation is not suf ficient, at least in the climates of the Northeast, to provide the quick evaporation.” During heat stressing condi tions, cows must be wetted inter mittently so that the water can evaporate from the surface of the cows. Effective evaporative cool ing systems generally provide a spray of water for about a minute every three or four minutes with the fans running continuously. An evaporative cooling system should be developed with enough flexibility so that the wetting du rations and intervals can be easi ly modified in the field. The water spray should be di rected onto the back and sides of each cow, Buffington explains. “Ideally, all the water should evaporate on the back and sides of a cow so that none of the sprinkler water comes down to the udder because of the danger of contaminating the teat open ings with bacteria from the hide,” he says. “It also is important to keep the floor surfaces and bedding materials dry.” Buffington contends that in vestments in effective systems to relieve heat stress for dairy cows will pay dividends in increased cow comfort, milk production and conception efficiency. “As the production levels of dairy cows increase, they become more vulnerable to heat stress,” he says. “Therefore, it behooves dairy farmers to utilize evapora tive cooling systems to reduce the effects of heat stress on their ani mals.” Making No-TUI Work With Dairy Manure Systems ROBESONIA (Berks Co.) A field meeting to show the com patibility of dairy manure and no-till systems is set for June 18 at 10:30 a.m. to noon. The meeting will take place at Hiddenview Holsteins, Robeso nia. Dr. Sjoerd Duiker, Department of Crop and Soils, Penn State University, and Mr. Joel Myers, NRCS, will be on hand for the field walk. Directions to Hiddenview Holsteins: From Rt. 422, go north on the Bemville-Robesonia Road. Turn right onto Brownsville Road. Go tow miles. Sign for Hid denview Holsteins in on the right side. Mailbox is 1700 Browns ville Road. For more information, contact Berks County Cooperative Ex tension at (610) 378-1327. PFB Applauds Over- Order Premium Decision CAMP HILL (Cumberland Co.) Guy Donaldson, Pennsyl vania Farm Bureau (PFB) presi dent,praised the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board’s (PMMB’s) recent decision to raise the over-order premium for Class I (fluid) milk for the remainder of the year to $1.65 per hundred pounds of milk. “The long-term economic via bility < indusf leng( of T( aldsoi reau this • Crowd Gates (we Install) • Headlocks w/downed cow release • Tie Stalls w/stamless steel Curb Mount Ainypeioi CUSTOM MANUFACTURING and REPAIR Phone:6lo-488-7801 Fax 610-488-8873 USD A Appoints Milk Promoters Appointees Are From Calif., Neb., Ohio, Tenn., and Texas WASHINGTON, D.C. - USDA Secretary Aim M. Vene man recently announced the appointment of six incumbents and one new member to the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board. Reappointed to serve a sec ond term are James W. Turner, Memphis, Tenn. (Region 9); Richard Walrack, City of In dustry, Calif. (Region 15); and Robert E. Baker, Omaha, Neb. (at-large public). Appointed to serve their first full term after filling a vacancy lasting less than 18 months are: Michael F. Nosewicz, Cincin nati, Ohio (Region 3); William R. McCabe, Orrville, Ohio (Re gion 6); and Lawrence V. Jack son, Pleasanton, Calif. (Region 12). Newly appointed to serve her first term is Susan D. Mead ows, Dallas, Texas (At-Large Processor). The appointments expire June 30,2006. The National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board is composed of IS fluid milk pro cessors from 15 geographic re gions, and five at-large mem bers. At least three at-large members must be fluid milk processors and at least one crease prices paid to dairy farm ers in an effort to stabilize the dwindling milk supply within the state that threatens the industry,” PFB’s dairy specialist Joel Rotz said the PMMB decision was “the right decision consid ering the needs of producers, who have been experiencing extremely low prices for too long.” Manufacturers of Gates & Fencing w/Round corners for Safety & Strength Hot Dipped Galvanized, Gatorshield Galvanized Products • Gutter Grates must be from the general public. The board was established by the Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990 to develop and administer a coor dinated program of advertising and promotion to increase the de mand for fluid milk products. The national fluid milk pro gram is financed by a mandatory 20-cent per hundredweight assess ment on all fluid milk processed and marketed commercially in consumer-type packages in the contiguous 48 states and the Dis trict of Columbia. Processors who commercially process and market 3,000,000 pounds or less per month, excluding those fluid milk products delivered to the consum er residences, are exempt from the assessment. USDA’s Agricultural Market ing Service monitors the opera tions of the board. More informa tion is at http:/ www.ams.usda.gov/dairy/ dairyrp.htm. Mne Is Web-Based Marketing Program Upcoming KUTZTOWN (Berks Co.) A twilight program on develop ing farm marketing using the World Wide Web will take place June 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Rodale Institute, Kutztown. The Rodale Institute has been working with a number of organ ic farmers to develop Web based marketing and the program will be shared as part of the “Organic Agriculture in Southeast Pa.” se ries, organized through Penn State Cooperative Extension. Also, field trials will be viewed. The trials include work with cover crops, compost tea treat ments for disease suppression and developing a no-till organic cropping system. Participants are asked to meet in the parking lot. The program will take place rain or shine. There is no charge and no regis tration required. Directions to the Rodale Institute can be found at http:// www.rodaleinstitute.org. Future meetings in the series will be conducted on an organic vegetable farm and a circle dis cussion about new markets and new crops. For more informa tion, call (610) 378-1327. Aqua-Therm Outside Wood Burning Furnace - Clean f issri - Easy - Safe - Efficient u* Buy the top of the line! ’Stainless Steel Fire Box *Ash Removal Auger *l5 Year Warranty 'Thermostatically Controlled Heat your house, shop and/or hot water with one unit. For more Information, call 717-838-9270 or 1-888-382-8170 Email: mkpowell®paonline.com 1
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