Helping the Cows Beat the Heat

Our cows don't have air conditioned barns or swimming pools in which to cool off...but when it gets hot out, we put the shademobiles to work.

Last summer when the storms went through, one of our three shademobiles was totally destroyed. Since we usually have 3 different groups of cows on the farm at any given time, we needed to come up with a third structure.

We had an old grain auger sitting around which wasn't being used anymore, but had not yet been turned into scrap metal. I had wracked my brain at different times trying to figure out whether the base at least could be useful for something, but couldn't quite come up with anything.

Then dad (Alan) found a youtube video online this summer of a guy in Wisconsin who had made a mobile shade unit using two grain augers. The idea began to form...

A local farmer had some old running gears for sale that used to carry anhydrous ammonia tanks. So we purchased one of those, and dad went to work designing and fabricating!

Others helped dad here and there. Like when we attached the shade cloths. When the auger section was not attached to the running gear, it was balanced enough that we could tip one end or the other down to the ground, so we could actually attach the shade cloths from the ground instead of up in the air on the tractor bucket! 

This shade cloth has strips woven in that allow more air flow and less wind resistance but doesn't change the shade percentage. So we're hoping this will help to prevent wind damage in future storms.

And here she is...ready for her maiden voyage to the pasture. Except that we didn't even get through the barnlot before some rusty bolts broke on the running gear and the front axle began to separate from the rest of the structure! So after finding some new bolts and reconnecting the front of the running gear, we were off and rolling again.

You can't (or shouldn't, anyway) drive these things very fast, so after a slow trip to the pasture on the north end of the farm that day, we finally got to let the cows check out their new movable shade tree!

These mobile structures can go a long way to helping the animals be more comfortable when it's hot outside, but in addition to aiding in creature comfort, they are also very useful for getting a dose of heavy animal impact where you want it. Unlike a tree that won't move, we can choose where we want to trample weeds or undesirable plants and add extra fertilizer from the cows. We love trees, and so do cows, but that animal impact and fertilizer will always be in the same spot--under that stationary tree. I still want more trees...but shademobiles are quite helpful!

Dad put in a lot of work on this project earlier this summer, and whether the cows know it or not, they should be extra grateful this week as the temps climb again. Not too shabby for a guy who just a little less than 11 months ago was virtually paralyzed from the effects of Guillain Barre Syndrome! It's hard to keep a good man down ;)