I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.Cow Thermonitor: Data loggers installed to give UK-wide picture
KNOWING the ambient temperature and humidity around dairy cows can help farmers and consultants optimise cow comfort and production – but data is often either not available or difficult to analyse.
That is why Farmers Guardian has teamed up with Zinpro Performance Minerals for this new UK-wide project.
Four data loggers have been placed at dairy farms in the North, South, East and West of the country and will automatically take temperature and humidity readings every 15 minutes.
Every fortnight, these details will be downloaded and cross-referenced against the internationally accepted heat stress chart developed by the University of Arizona – (see chart).
The results will then be presented using the traffic light concept – (see traffic lights). Every fortnight, each region of the country will be set against one of the traffic lights to illustrate on-farm conditions.
Over the coming weeks, we will also look at what the nutritional and management options are for producers, advisors and vets to help cow comfort during the summer months.
Some of these will be quick and relatively easy to implement, while others may involve a degree of investment.
But Zinpro will give an impression of the ‘payback potential’ using a computer programme which looks at feed efficiency and how it is impacted by various factors, including temperature, walking distance, hours in direct sun and humidity.
Source:
Livestock news
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