Button up your overcoat and your dairy buildings. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s weather watchers, suspect another cold winter in your future. Click here to read more.
Before the cold front blows in and around your cows, though, you can take timely precautions. Dr. Curt Vlietstra of the Pipestone Vet Clinic reminds you, “There’s nothing saved by waiting until it’s snowing and blowing. This time of year I offer producers steps needed to winterize facilities and precautions to take with their animals.”
Here are Dr. Vlietstra’s pre-winter to-do lists.
Take these steps to winter-proof dairy buildings
- Make sure barn curtains work! It’s easier to make adjustments or repairs in reasonably warm fall weather.
- Un-do whatever extras made your barn comfortable this summer. “Summer heat-abatement tools can double-cross you in winter. Make sure sprinkler lines are flushed and winterized. You don’t want cold, dripping water and ice in December,” Dr. Vlietstra cautions.
- Take stock of your bedding supply now. You’ll go through bedding more rapidly in winter—especially if you use straw or sawdust. And if you use sand, take provisions to keep it dry; damp sand collects in chunks and lumps that can damage cows’ feet or udders.
- Since they’re more susceptible to cold, calves need deep bedding. Dr. Vlietstra says, “When I walk through a calf building I know the little ones are comfortable if I see only their heads and backs above the straw.”
Follow these precautions to help cows and calves weather storms
- Review your calf-feeding procedure—you might be delivering cold milk to some calves. When you’re feeding a roomful of calves on a cold day it’s possible the last in line will get milk chilled by surrounding air. You may need to adjust mixing practices or feeding schedules to provide several small batches to control temperature variation.
- Ask your vet to check cows’ teat ends before temperatures drop. Wherever there is airflow in your buildings cows udders will react. “If, going into winter, there is already an issue with some cows, the irritation will only get worse,” Dr. Vlietstra stresses. “There are winter teat- dips containing extra conditioners—that’s one remedy. Or I could help you test methods of removing excess moisture from the dip, to keep it from freezing on the teats.”
One final tip: Whatever steps you take to winterize now, Dr. Vlietstra recommends you re-visit your checklist throughout December, January, and February. It could be another long, hard winter.
|