Cow comfort and sustainability are probably two of the biggest buzz words right now in the dairy industry.

Just buying fans and hanging them haphazardly around your barn is not going to be very helpful in your fight against the rising summer temperatures. There are a few key concepts that you need to consider to get it right.

Biological systems are amazing. One can’t even begin to comprehend the number of signaling pathways and exchanges required for life to exist, and what is more profound is so many of those systems are involuntary.

How do we make sense of all these options available to dairy producers, when fan manufacturers and sales reps are all sure that they are the only ones with the best possible fan to offer and everything else is inferior to their product?

Designing a natural ventilation system for your dairy involves putting together two necessary elements that create optimum conditions for year-round cow comfort.

A cow’s core body temperature can rise very quickly in the holding pen without a cooling strategy in place. Therefore, the cooling strategy for the parlor and holding pen must be more aggressive to compensate for these heat abatement challenges. 

Choosing the right cooling system for a dairy farm will depend on various factors such as the climate in the region, the size of the farm and the cost of installation and maintenance.