AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by the “father and grandfather of cow comfort”, Dr. Gordie Jones. Jones has developed his bovine veterinary career into a cow comfort consultant, designing facilities to maximize cow comfort. Today we discuss heat stress in dairy cows and how to cool cows in a variety of facilities and environments. We discuss that cows are happiest at around 40 degrees F and cooling cows and their environment is critical to manage the effects of heat stress which includes decreased intakes, reproductive efficiency and milk production losses. Jones states that reproductive losses are hidden and typically are equal to the losses that are evident from decreased milk production. It is critical that dairy farms soak cows in the holding pen, exiting the parlor and in feed lanes. Fans should provide 5-7 mph range over cows and are utilized to move air in the environment after evaporatively cooling cows with soakers. A good rule of thumb is to have cows away from beds or feed no more than 3.5 hours per day. Maintaining dry matter intakes is critical to maintaining production, and Jones reminds our listeners that fresh air brought to the cows will increase intakes and make sure that cows receive more than 50% of dry matter when exiting the parlor after the morning milking. We discuss different types of facilities that can be designed to manage heat stress and improve ventilation as well as evaluating cows' access to water. Jones encourages veterinarians to expand your impact on dairy farms through observation and to continue to speak for the cow and work with dairy producers to maximize cow comfort.
Links:
Cargill Heat Stress Relief Handbook – Jeff Brose
Elanco Dairy Heat Abatement Manual
Developing systems to minimize heat stress in dairy cattle
John Smith, Mike Brouk, Joe Harner