Heat of the day

[pjkjr4]

Have a quick question for y'all. With the warmer weather around the corner, I was wanting to keep my kids' calves in front of misters and fans during the day. I paln to tie them up under a shed that is open to the south early in the morning, feed them in there, and just leave them all day. My problem is, I am gone from 7:00 a.m. (or before) until 6:00 p.m. (or later) for work. They will have small water tanks in there to drink out of. Do you think they will be ok in there all day. My kids can ride their bikes over a couple of time per day to check on them, but they both are too small (and wouldn't know what to do) to fix a problem.

Thanks

 

[knabe]

never tie up an animal and leave them unattended.  eventually, one will hang themselves.

not clear if that's what you mean when you say "I paln to tie them up under a shed".  do you mean they will just be loose in the pen?  i doubt that there will be any benefit of having them tied up directly in front of a mister as opposed to say being loose down wind from the misters, or with wind breaks on three sides of a pen with the misters at the closed end.

 

[pjkjr4]

Sorry...got a little dyslexic on my spelling of plan. Guess I need to use spell check. They would be under a 11'x11' shed (divided with a panel to have 2- 6 1/2'x 11' areas) with the opening toward the south end, so the south wind, along with the fans will provide ventilation. If I shouldn't tie them up (which sounds like the case), I will probably forget dividing the area in half.
Should I just leave the fans/misters on 24/7??

 

[knabe]

why not make the opening toward the north or to the north north west to keep the sun out?  at the lower sun angle we still have right now, the sun will get inside if the opening is to the south.

also, if the water tanks are too small, make sure they are cleaned if necessarily daily (from poop) and that they are secured.  being confined like that, it's pretty easy to upend a small tank, especially if they start rubbing on them or one rests against them to stay cool.

 

[pjkjr4]

Can't move the shed. Besides, in the middle of the summer, the wind will be out of the south or southwest. By the way, how much do you think the temperature will drop with mister nozzles? 20-30 degrees?

 

[mike]

Why couldnt she tie them so they were able to lie down just like you do in a cooler, we have done this for 6 years this way?

 

[knabe]

Why couldnt she tie them so they were able to lie down just like you do in a cooler, we have done this for 6 years this way?

i would do that as opposed to up.  a long time ago, had one hang himself while we were sitting there watching it and he jumped in the feed bunk and no one had a knife and he suffocated in about 5 minutes.  he was too heavy to roll out, and that was with at least 3 guys trying to get him out.  so maybe i'm just a little too cautious.

20-30 sounds optimistic. 

 

[shortyjock89]

Why couldnt she tie them so they were able to lie down just like you do in a cooler, we have done this for 6 years this way?

We've done it this way for a LONG time, but this year we're going to have small, individual pens for the heifers this year.  We did it some last year, and it seemed like the heifers were always in a better mood.  Something about being tied up for 16 hours a day doesnt really agree with them.  We've never ever had one hang themselves, but it scares me to death to think that one of ours would.  Where we tie them up, it would be VERY difficult for that to happen, but it is still scary when you think about how much money there is sittin in the barn. 

 

[vc]

My guess is he meant tie them, not tie them up, if they were tied up then the water would be a moot point.

 

[TMJ Show Cattle]

We have a 15 ft.x20 ft. pen inside with cattle on a mix of sand and cedar fibre,with 3 turbo fans running.Been doing it this way for over forty years. If you are trying to grow or save hair,remember this fact: Keep em DARK and as cool as possible.

 

[pjkjr4]

When I said "tie them up", I meant, just tie them when they are in there, so they can stand lay, whatever. We won't really be doing any showing until November or December, so hair is not a huge priority, but on the other hand, I would like them to look as good and fresh as possible. It's kinda dark, kinda light where they will be, so I just do the best i possibly can. I plan on putting a thermometer inside, as well as outside, just to see what the difference is.