The many values of "Cow Comfort"

Among dairy farmers the term "Cow Comfort" is one you'll hear often.  It means exactly what it says it just encompasses many areas within a dairy operation.  The first and most obvious benefit of making cows more comfortable is having happier and more healthy cows.  No different than some of you giving in to your dog and letting it sleep on the bed with you, dairy farmers want to make their cows happy. No, we don't let them sleep in our beds.  We have however designed several types of cow beds that range from compressed rubber to water bed mattresses for the cows to lie on.  Other popular choices for "bedding" as we refer to what they lie on, are sand and sawdust.
 
Another benefit to keeping cows more comfortable is the overall economic benefit it can have for a farmer.  I'm sure if money was not an object we would all stay in five-star hotels every time we traveled, but for most of us money is a major factor.  Well it's the same for dairy farmers.  We all have to find what amount of money we can spend on making the cows most comfortable.  The great thing about the research done of cow comfort over the past 20 years is that we now know it is worth it to spend more money.  At our farm over the past ten years we have seen the benefit of tripling the number of fans used during the summer time for keeping the cows cooler.  We also installed rubber flooring over the concrete where the cows wait their turn to be milked and where they stand to eat their feed.  Now don't any of you tell them I said this, but our cows weigh a lot.  On average our cows weigh about 1500 lbs. and the rubber reduces the stress on their joints. 

There have been many other new designs and practices used in the dairy industry in recent years.  New barns are built with higher roofs to improve air flow.  Plastic curtains that can easily be opened and closed depending on the weather have been put on the sides of barns.  Sprinklers and misters are used to cool down the cows during summer heat.  There are even automated back scratchers that spin a big brush whenever a cow stands under it.  We don't have on of those at Eastview so my favorites rely on me for the back scratching.  The result of all these advances is cows that have less incidents of illness, cows that eat more meaning they grow better and milk more, and cows that live longer. 

Now it's not all about the moms on a dairy farm.  Cow comfort refers to the babies too.  At Eastview I'm the primary calf feeder and keeping them comfortable is very important to me.  Seen in this picture here is Tickle wearing her calf coat this past weekend.  We've had a very mild winter in Va. so far this year but this weekend was a cold one.  Research has shown that when the temperature is below 50 degrees calves begin to spend energy on maintaining warmth instead their growth and development.  To prevent this we put on their coats as well as making increases in the energy of their diet.  The other thing we do all the time is change or add bedding to keep them clean and dry.  Tickle is just 3 days old in this pic wanted to look at me the whole time I was trying to take her picture.  It was just before feeding time so who can blame her for not being interested in posing for my pic.

There are many of large investments on dairy farms from barns to tractors to land but every dairy farmer knows their most valuable resources are the cows and calves.  Keeping them comfortable is not only good business but simply our top priority.  Happy cows lead to happy farmers.