It is a well-known fact that environment, air condition, lightning , temperature influence animals health. Heat stress brings its negative effect pretty fast.
It is a well-known fact that environment, air condition, temperature, lightning directly influence animal health. Heat stress brings its negative impact for dairy cattle pretty fast.
At 104°F feed intake decrease by 46%, ruminating by 22%, cows prefer not to move any longer, standing time climbs by 34%. Most sensitive cows – yielding >70 lb/cow/d- suffer most.
Temperature-humidity index (THI) of 68 is a crucial edge for high producing animals, causing various response in cows health. Cornell University has registered different reactions in body temperature under heat stress. The cow will stand up once her temperature reaches ~102.0°F and won’t lie down until her core body temperature drops to ~100.9°F. Arizona and Missouri scientists add – elevated core body temperatures force cows rest less time.
Experts recommend to pay may efforts on heat stress control, the focus of heat abatement need be to encompass the resting and feeding areas. Observations of Miner Institute evaluated a heat abatement system (Cow KühlerZ, Marietta, PA) that cooled cows in the stalls and feed alleys. A system that could effectively cool the stalls and the feed line ought to be ideal because it would optimize both feeding and resting behavior. More research will be run to compare the longer-term impact of cow cooling in stalls to enhance the ordinary cooling over the feed bunk.
Resting is the cow’s natural behavior, and we must create conditions for the cows to meet her natural resting needs for milk production.
Source – TheCattleSite News Desk