Mobile Shade Rack

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animal Products: dairy

Practices

• Animal Production: animal protection and health, manure management, pasture renovation, grazing - rotational, housing
• Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer
• Pest Management: prevention

My plan is to build and use a mobile shade rack for dairy cows in a rotational grazing system. In my grazing system, when the weather is hot and sunny the cows leave the pastures for shade under trees in a sacrifice area. Once under the trees the cows remain there until I go to move them for milking in the barn. This creates a nutrient build-up under the trees that eventually kills the shade trees. This gathering also produces crowding that raises animal body temperatures even higher. Bare areas from under the trees from this gathering and are prime areas for parasites and makes for dirty cows that take longer to milk. The 20 foot by 70 foot mobile rack will be kept on paddock to eliminate the social aspect of shade. It will be moved around the paddock to prevent bare areas from forming. Therefore allowing for more uniform nutrient transfer. By keeping the cows eating more and keeping them more comfortable milk production should not drop during hot and sunny weather.