To Shade or Not to Shade?

Thursday morning, Phil and I talked about shade v. no shade for the cows. All summer, we have given them no more shade than was naturally available from surrounding trees. And all summer, with temperatures in the low 100s, the cows have not appeared to suffer unduly.

But now, with temperatures a bit lower, the cows need shade? We were confused.

We have read that only black cows need shade. Phil read an Ohio dairy man who said that there are no studies that show that cows do better with shade. People want to give the cows shade, but the cows don’t need it.

Is Ohio that different than Virginia?

Joel Salatin, an hour or two away from us, doesn’t use additional shade for his cows.

We had figured we didn’t need it. We had not provided it, not by neglect, but by a sincere belief that the cows didn’t need it.
However, as we talked, we wondered if, perhaps, difference came from the actual earth. Joel has lush pasture. As we wait for our pastures to improve, we have a fairly long recovery time, which has meant that the cows go into a dry lot and eat hay. The dry lot ends up looking like a red clay parking lot.

And parking lots are much hotter than grassy fields.

Also, human babies do not regulate their body temperature for the first 24 hours, which is why newborns need their heads covered. If cows are similar, the calf was pretty stressed without shade that first day.

As soon as Ken and Cheri made them shade, Bianca and Beatrice headed there, and Beatrice, apparently, perked up.