The poor weather continues with some heavy rain disrupting outside pop-festivals and harvest alike. With the shelter from the rain the housed conditions are slightly poorer than the grazing conditions with about half of our monitor farms averaging milk heat stress conditions across the week. As before there looks to be a north-south gradient. Predicted milk yield losses are small averaging 0.28 l/cow/day and ranging from 0.1 l/cow in Scotland and N Ireland and up to 0.6 in E Devon and Berkshire.
The highest readings were from our monitor farm in E Devon. Here the shed is a straw bedded, low roofed monopitch building, surrounded by other sheds and rather too deep. It is used for fresh calving cows and those best kept back from going out to grazing. As can be the case over-crowding is a regular problem. Improving building design is high roofs, modern roofing and ample side-wall ventilation can improve the heat stress situation.
