The Bovine Bugle

When it's 20 below in the barn...

After enjoying last Thursday's 50+ degree temperatures, we spent this morning working in temperatures around -20 F and they never went above zero all day. Back near the end of December, Emily asked how the cows do in such cold temperatures. The fact is they do just fine, but we do take extra precautions to make sure of that.

We built the current dairy barn in 1970 and it hasn't really been changed since then. The east facing side is totally open and has been since we built it. Farmers probably thought my dad was crazy building this steel structure and leaving so much of it open. Our vets have always said this open environment is extremely healthy for the cows. They get outside for exercise and sunshine everyday if they want to. The temperature swings of this winter would have been difficult to manage in a traditional closed-in barn, but with our setup the cows have done fine.

During extreme cold weather we make sure to keep the stalls well bedded, to give the cows an extra feeding of hay inside the barn, and to put down some corse material on the concrete alleys for better footing for the cows. As long as the cows have shelter and can get out of the wind, they do just fine in the cool temperatures. We also use a powdered teat dip after milking instead of the liquid dip when the temperatures go below 20F. This powder dries up the small amount of moisture left on the teat ends which could lead to frostbite and mastitis problems in the extreme cold weather.

So even on this very chilly morning, the cows are out in the barnyard eating round bales, and once the frozen manure is scraped from the barn they line up along the open side of the barn to soak up the sunshine.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at January 19, 2005 11:40 AM