Guest blogger, Kara Stultz is the 2018-2019 PA Alternate Dairy Princess

Happy summer! Did you know that June is National Dairy Month? I hope you spent the past month (and every other month) enjoying some delicious dairy foods. 

Pennsylvania dairy farmers work hard to produce high quality dairy foods. As the days keep getting hotter, dairy farmers provide their cows several options to stay cool, comfortable and healthy.   

A dairy cow’s ideal outside temperature is 58 degrees. In order to keep cows comfortable as temperatures rise, farmers have large fans set up in all pens, free stalls and barns. Some farms even have sprinkler systems that mist the cows on hot and humid days! The sprinklers will run on a timed system allowing for the cows to be sprayed and then also have the fans blowing on them for additional coolness.

In addition, barns are well ventilated and allow fresh air to be flowing through at all times and farmers make sure pens and barns are not overcrowded to reduce the temperature as much as possible. Not only do farmers keep the living area as cool and comfortable as possible, they also make sure that the cows have an endless supply of fresh, clean cold water to drink at all times.  

Cows are much like us, they are more content and healthier when their environment is clean, cool and comfortable.