Homemade Sprinkler Keeps Cows Cool

Homemade Sprinkler Keeps Cows Cool DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Dairy Equipment & Ideas 7-4-9 "I used to lose a lot of milk production every summer because of heat stress until I hit on this low-cost cooling system. It really works," says John Moore, who milks 70 cows on his southeastern Missouri farm near St. Mary's. "I first tried a perforated garden hose, then an oscillating lawn sprinkler, but nothing worked. I finally strung a 1/2 in. garden hose above the alley of the free-stall barn and installed fogger or mist nozzles-the same ones used to cool hog houses. They work great. My cows stay cool and production holds up in hot weather.'' Moore uses nozzles with an output of 5 gal./hr. at 40 psi pressure. They're spaced 7 ft. apart in a single line running about 8 ft. above the alley. This height lets him work underneath with his tractor, yet covers the alley without getting the stalls wet. When outside daily temperature is in the 80's and 90's, he runs the misting system 8 hrs. a day. It's turned on with a timer, and could be equipped with a humidistat to automatically kick in when humidity reaches a critical point. In the fall he takes down the nozzles and screens, and drains the water lines. His investment in the home-made cow-cooling system is small ù a garden hose, plus 16 nozzles at $1.50 each. "I just nailed 2 x 4's to the joists and stapled the hose to them," Moore told FARM SHOW. In an 8-hour day the system uses 640 gals. of water. "With that amount of water, you have to be sure to have good drainage or you'll start to have problems," Moore cautions. His cooling system has been operating for several years with no problems. "In the hottest weather, it drops the inside barn temperature 15 to 20?. I figure avoiding hot weather slump in milk production can easily be worth $40 to $80 per cow," says Moore.

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