嘿嘿视频

Keeping Cows Cool With Less Water and Energy

New Cooling Technologies Tested at 嘿嘿视频 Dairy Facility

News
Cows cool off
Cows cool off at 嘿嘿视频. (Paul Fortunato/嘿嘿视频)

Innovative cooling technologies tested on dairy cows at the University of California, Davis, are addressing the long-standing challenge of keeping dairy cows cool in heat-stressed California.

Standard livestock cooling methods, such as fans and sprinkling cows with water, require significant amounts of electricity and water. The new technologies, being tested at 嘿嘿视频 by the and the , are designed to reduce water by up to 86 percent and electricity by up to 38 percent over conventional methods.

Milk production and heat stress

Milk is the most valued agricultural commodity in California, with $9.4 billion in retail sales in 2014. Roughly one in every five dairy cows in the nation lives in California. In addition to disturbing the cow, heat stress is a major cause of diminished milk production in dairy cows, with annual losses directly related to heat stress exceeding $800 million.

鈥淭he process of rumination, where cows ferment their food, produces a lot of heat, as does milk production itself,鈥 said Cassandra Tucker, a professor in the Department of Animal Science who focuses on dairy cattle welfare. 鈥淲hen the outside temperatures also rise, it鈥檚 a challenge for the animal in how she鈥檚 going to try to keep cool. This project is trying to reduce the energy and water use associated with that to help both the cows and the dairy producers.鈥

How it works

The technologies involve two approaches. The first is conduction cooling, where the bedding area is cooled using heat exchange mats placed where cows lie down. To reduce energy consumption, water flowing through the mats is cooled through a novel evaporative chiller called a Sub-Wet Bulb Evaporative Chiller.

The second approach is targeted convection cooling, which uses fabric ducting to direct cool air onto the cows while they lie down and when they eat. The air is cooled using a high-efficiency direct evaporative cooler.

cooling technologies for cows

鈥淭his is an exciting research opportunity for 嘿嘿视频 to combine our expertise in engineering with our expertise in animal science,鈥 said Theresa Pistochini, senior engineer at the Western Cooling Efficiency Center. 鈥淭here is significant potential to apply existing technologies in a novel way to reduce both energy and water used to cool dairy cows. Through this project we aim to design, test and demonstrate an efficient alternative.鈥

The project is part of a four-year, $1 million grant from the California Energy Commission to help improve water and energy efficiency in California鈥檚 dairy industry. The data being collected now will help determine which technology the team should use to pilot at a commercial dairy in a future phase of the project.

Media Resources

Kat Kerlin, 嘿嘿视频 News and Media Relations, 530-750-9195, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu

Paul Fortunato, 嘿嘿视频 Western Cooling Efficiency Center, 530-752-0280, pfortunato@ucdavis.edu

Primary Category

Secondary Categories

Environment Food & Agriculture Science & Technology

Tags