I was visiting one of our Monitor farms in Devon yesterday and had the chance to see how the cows were coping with the current heat wave. These cows had been turned out after the morning milking finished at 8:30am. They had grazed until about 10:00am and when I arrived they were all sat or stood in the middle of the field. They had free-access back to the cubicles and when this photo was taken (at 10:40am) they had all got too hot and has chosen to come back into the yards. The black-globe (full sun) temperature was 34.6 ‘C and in the shade it was 27.4 ’C. Once indoors they hugged the shade around the yard and in the sheds. After afternoon milking they went back to grazing and stayed there all evening although the gates remained open.
