About

Tom Chamberlain originally trained as a veterinary surgeon and started investigating heat stress on UK dairy farms in 2014. Initial monitoring involved fitting sensors in May and returning to collect the data in October to assess how the summer had gone. Technology has since moved on and now data can be collected and uploaded through the cellular network in real time.

In 2022 we developed monitoring devices that could track heat stress risks in real time. These were set up as a world-first to measure heat stress in cow sheds and at grass. This year we are again working with Lallemand and are monitoring 11 farms throughout Britain from Edinburgh to Sussex and Devon.

Previously most schemes have only looked at heat stress in housing systems but with 75% of British dairy herds grazing during the summer it is important to assess the grazing situation separately as direct sunlight can have a major effect.