Infrastructure

Introduction

There are three locations on a dairy farm where you can focus your cooling efforts:

• Paddocks and laneways
• Dairy yard
• Feedpad

Which of these locations works best for you will depend on a number of factors, including:

• Your herd’s susceptibility to heat stress – low / moderate / high – based on location, breed, milk production level and age profile of herd.
• Whether you need to deal with prolonged periods of hot weather or only need to manage infrequent heat wave events.
• How much tree shade you already have in your paddocks and laneways.
• Whether you are willing to wait long enough for shade trees to grow.
• What irrigation infrastructure and water you have available.
• Whether it is feasible to provide adequate tree shade in paddocks to all your cows each day, given the size of your herd.
• What feeding infrastructure and equipment you have? Do you have a feedpad and mixer wagon? Is the feedpad surface concrete?
• Which feeding system you use (see page 4 for systems 1 to 5 as classified by Dairy Australia’s Grains2Milk program). If you use a hybrid system (system 4) or a TMR system (system 5) and do not graze cows over summer, then how much tree shade you have in paddocks and laneways is irrelevant.
• Whether you have a shady loafing paddock available near the dairy.
• Walking distances for cows between paddocks and the dairy, and between the dairy and the feedpad (if you have one).
• How many hours your cows spend in the dairy yard before each milking.
• How many times a day you milk.
• Whether you own the farm or not, and how long you plan to be on the farm.

Wherever you choose to focus your cooling efforts, and whatever infrastructure option(s) you choose to set up, there are many things you need to consider before you invest.

This ‘Infrastructure’ section of the Cool Cows website describes the main options for shade, sprinklers and fans you should consider for your farm. For each option, its strengths and limitations are listed and the keys to success are described. The most interesting information is likely to be found in the case studies from farms across Australia.

Cool Cows also discusses an issue that is often not given enough attention – stock water supply.

Be sure to read about the design considerations that could mean the difference between a shade structure or evaporative cooling system that works extremely well for you for a long time and one that disappoints.