Cooler

[RankeCattleCo]

What does everyone use for bedding in there cool room? Will chopped straw work?

Also, what do you guys like to keep the temp at?  We're in SE WISC where the summer days range from 75 to 95 and are typically pretty humid.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan

 

[blackcows]

I have never tried this in a cool room but I know of a large dairy operation that has tried many types of bedding thier calf huts and have found that bean stubble works better than anything.

 

[blinggirl]

we use fine chopped wood chips or sawdust ...just make sure you keep your filters clean if you are running a unit

 

[cpratz]

Use cedar fiber and keep tempeture between 50 and 55. Make sure you have good vents!

 

[RankeCattleCo]

Black cows-
We actually use bean stubble on our dairy farm, I think it would be to dusty for this though.

Bling and cpratz-  Do you use a central air house type unit or the cooler type you would find in a grocery store?  We're just looking to see what it would cost, as far as vents- Do you mean vents that would bring air into the grocery store type unit?  Filters... As in the filters that would clean the air before entering the cooling system?  Also, kind of a dumb question, but do you recirculate the air going into the cooling unit from the inside of the cooler or bring it in from the outside? I don't know much bout AC units in general but my dad does.  Is your cooler air-tight or do you have a fresh air vent? (If you circulate air from the interior)

Also, what type of unit do you have, how'd you find it, new, used etc. and what did you have to pay for it?

Thanks,
RCC

 

[RankeCattleCo]

Can anyone answer???  :-\

 

[farmboy]

chopped straw will insulate the calfs heat. plus straw sucks to clean up. I tried it in the cooler once and it was a bit toasty in there. Any type of sawdust or chips is your best best. See if you can find a tree trimming outfit. they should give the stuff away for free.

 

[GoWyo]

Black cows-
We actually use bean stubble on our dairy farm, I think it would be to dusty for this though.

Bling and cpratz-  Do you use a central air house type unit or the cooler type you would find in a grocery store?  We're just looking to see what it would cost, as far as vents- Do you mean vents that would bring air into the grocery store type unit?  Filters... As in the filters that would clean the air before entering the cooling system?  Also, kind of a dumb question, but do you recirculate the air going into the cooling unit from the inside of the cooler or bring it in from the outside? I don't know much bout AC units in general but my dad does.  Is your cooler air-tight or do you have a fresh air vent? (If you circulate air from the interior)

Also, what type of unit do you have, how'd you find it, new, used etc. and what did you have to pay for it?

Thanks,
RCC

I have been using an 18,000 btu window AC unit and put the vent on the unit open to draw in fresh air.  The room is only 10x11 and fits 2 steers.  Never had a problem with air as it is not totally sealed up air-wise (it is totally dark inside) so there is a way for air exchange.  The AC unit seems to draw in enough fresh air for the past 3 years of use and we muck out all the bedding when it starts to stink at all.  Use cedar mulch as a base and put in pine shavings on top and wet the shavings down so they don't blow around.  Clean the front filter on the AC unit daily and pull the cover and squirt water into the fins on the AC unit from front and back weekly (while it is off of course -- just give it an hour or so for the water to evap off anything electrical).  It stays a nice 60 degrees -- looking at a cool bot to take it down into the 50s.

 

[RankeCattleCo]

GoWyo- You can get it to 60 just using a window unit?  And Zach- we use local fresh tree chips in our tie ups mow.  Won't the moisture in those hurt the cooling factor?

 

[GoWyo]

RCC - the room has 3-4 inches of spray foam insulation, so the outside heat is not much of an issue.  I set the AC at its lowest setting and the compressor is working only about one-half the time on the hottest days.  The unit seems to keep up with 2 steers fairly easily.  This will be the 4th year, so will see if it holds out.  Currently planning a new cooler room in new barn and may go swamp cooler in that one.

 

[cpratz]

The window unit will barely get it there we put one in at first (it didn't work we left it in as a back up). Look up Cool Calf on google and call them they can tell you every thing you need to know

 

[farmboy]

if you put it in 3 feet deep it will. for bedding it should be fine and wouldn't affect the cooling a all. My dad trims trees so I've got an endless supple of chips to use and its fine. they'll spill water and pee all over it anyway.

Edit: don't put it in 3 feet deep. you only need a few inches

 

[blinggirl]

sorry im just seeing this we have a reefer that was converted to run off electricity ..we can drop it to 50 and keep it cold its as air tight as we can get it ...we also have a window unit we run if it decides to stop working ..we have a return air vent with a filter and as long as you keep the chips clean it doesnt smell..we bought ours from a friend that had it we bought it when they installed a cool calf

 

[I-69cc]

Check craigslist look up reefer, walk-in cooler freezer, a/c unit. This will let u search all over the US and compare prices. Also we have a friend who's a dairy guy and has a timer system on a old 220v unit and gets it 40s in his vet room to store his drugs. Good luck!