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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/.
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“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 <
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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.
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