Planning Next Years "Cool Barn"

[ChristaCheatham]

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas! One present I opened was a new misting set for my fan and it got me thinking on my barn for next years summer.  In my barn I have a 12' by 12' area with wood chips... but about 8' of the back is made into a gate that leads into another area.  Therefore, light comes in.  I was wondering if I could patch that up during the day with just wood, then cover the windows, and shut both barn doors.  I'm thinking that it would be dark during the day with my steer in there but I'm not for sure.... would I still need air from the outside coming in?? My plan is to hang two 24 inch power fans in the rafters above the 12 by 12 area. One of those fans would have a mister... then I would have a smaller circular fan and another small box fan.  All in all 4 fans and 1 mister.. all for one shorthorn steer.  Will he still grow hair with all that AND be washed, rinsed, conditoned every day etc....? Would I need moving air from the outside and therefore loose the darkness? ANY advice will be helpful for the set up of my new cool barn! If you have any questions just ask!!

 

[Hillcrest Show Cattle]

I'd say that should work for you. Should be able to grow some pretty good hair on your cattle!

 

[DLD]

That depends... What are the temperatures like where you are?  If it's very hot at all, I'd think closing the doors will make it that much hotter.  Just fans and misters aren't going to lower the temperature that much, especially in hot, stale air.  I won't argue that darkness is helpful in growing hair, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing cooler air for.  You might look at getting some shade cloth, either behind the calf or over the doors/windows or both - this will cut out a lot of light and still allow some fresh air to circulate.

Also you mentioned hanging your bigger fans from the rafters.  I like 'em that way, too - up and out of the way, and run 'em that way in the winter and early spring.  But remember that hot air rises... In our barn in the summer time, they just seem to be pushing that very hot air when they're up in the rafters.  We found it to be cooler when we put them on stands, 2 - 3' off the ground, than with them up high.

 

[ChristaCheatham]

I live in central Indiana so the weather is VERY hot and humid. That's what I was thinking on closing the doors.  So if cover the 9 feet by 8 feet doorway behind the steer with shade cloth intead of plywood, along with shadecloth in front of the open windows then shut the doors will that be good? Or would I still need to open the doors for adequate air flow? Covering the doors with shadecloth would be very difficulty bc the doors are very large. Where would I get shadecloth? Off an internet website? Is it expensive?? Are there different types? I've never used shade cloth before...

And about the fans, they are on wooden slabs connected about 3 or 4 feet above the ground so they are the same heigth as if they were on stands... we put them that way so we don't have to keep moving the stands out of the way.

 

[DLD]

Easiest thing to do would be to cover the back of the stall with shadecloth.  That alone might make it dark enough, especially if none of the doors or windows let light shine directly into the stall.  You can experiment with opening and closing doors and windows and see what gets you the least light and most air at the same time.  You can get the shade cloth (mesh tarps) lots of places.  Some we get from Harbor Freight (I believe they're a nation-wide chain and you can also buy from their website), others from local farm supply stores.

Sounds like your fans are good where they are. When we moved ours the afternoon temps here were running around 110 degrees...

 

[ChristaCheatham]

I will definitely look into that! Thanks!  I will experiment. By the way, when do you start bringing in your calves during the day? Last year I started at the first of May. I had to wake up at 4 in the morning before school, wash, blow dry and set him up in the barn for the day.... then wash/blow dry at night and repeat the next day.  At the first of May it was about 3 months before the county fair. My county fair is at the end of July and the first of August again this year.

 

[DLD]

Tulsa State Fair is our big steer show (premium sale) for the fall season, and it's the first full week in October.  Our pens have some big shade trees, and are situated to take advantage of the prevailing (that'd be south) winds in late spring and early summer.  We hang misters and let them stay out, usually 'til around the first of July.  Then we'll start tieing in and step up rinsing to 2 - 3 times a day.  So yeah, we start about three months ahead, too. 

 

[cpratz]

This was my first year for Tulsa and we built or own cooler. It didn't cost a whole lot it's a 10x10 good for two calves. They really help out if you want to grow some serious hair!

 

[DLD]

Coolers are nice to have, but it is possible to have plenty of good hair without 'em.

Just my opinion, but... If it's airtight enough to stay cold inside, then I feel like you either need to have someone there keeping an eye on them almost constantly (at least every hour) or you need to have the good system with electromagnetic doors and alarms, which does cost something.  Without it,  I've seen too many train wrecks. I know a lot of people use them for years and get along just fine, but I also know of some really bad incidents, most of which could only have been prevented by someone checking the cooler every hour.  Not saying we'll never have a cooler, but so far we've managed to get along fine without one (premium sale steers 4 out of the last 5 years at Tulsa, and believe me, hair was not the problem with the one that missed).

 

[ChristaCheatham]

Ya I'm not so sure on the whole cooler thing.. my parents won't let me have one... they just said to work hard at it and if you grow it fine if you don't fine... there's a kid in our county who uses one and he won grand steer last year. It worked... but I just feel like cheating if I used one... it just doesn't seem fair to the animals...

 

[ChristaCheatham]

*Bump*

 

[RankeCattleCo]

I don't have much experience with cool room but if you're going to make it airtight i would cut a hole in your barn wall, 12" x 12", and hang a fan directly on the inside of it.  Fresh air should circulate good, just put a screen over the opening. IMO

 

[ChristaCheatham]

*bump*