CHILTON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Operating a dairy farm is normally tough work. And freezing temperatures make it an even bigger challenge.
So what’s being done to protect the animals while battling the sub-zero temperatures?
Farmers in Chilton are operating by a simple principle: If you’re cold, they’re cold, too.
Kurt Schneider owns Rivers Edge Dairy, and he tells FOX 11 the extreme winter weather doubles the time it takes to prep and complete chores. That includes making sure his animals are comfortable when they sleep.
“We’re giving them more bedding than we normally do, extra calories, making sure the waters are thawed out. We’ve installed windbreaks for the terrible winds we’ve had the last couple of days.”
And that’s just to name a few.
At Rivers Edge Dairy, bales also could be seen stacked high to try to keep things a little bit warmer for their cattle.
“They want to do their best to, you know, make sure that their cattle are healthy and warm because their future depends on it,” explained Amber O’Brien.
O’ Brien is a Calumet County UW- Extension Agricultural Educator.
Even though agricultural educators say cows tend to produce more in the cold, when temperatures drop this low, so does production, which means more work for dairy farmers like Schneider.
“We feed a little bit extra energy during the cold to keep the cattle warm, you know, to keep them getting through it, add the fat reserves just to keep them going.”
Older cows give off a lot of heat and are better at braving frigid weather. But the same can’t be said for the other cattle on the farm.
“Some calves just don’t quite weather the cold as well as some of the older ones, so we’ve taken them into warm areas you know, to heat them up.”
Aside from making sure the animals are warm and have more meat on their bones, one other issue Schneider says he’s run into is keeping the water for animals thawed. In addition to the livestock, farm machinery doesn’t like the cold either.
“As far as machinery, keeping the machinery has been a struggle also, you know, diesel fuel gelling up and things like that.”
Farmers say once warmer weather sets in, they’re hoping they won’t be dealing with a slew of other issues that can happen with their cattle, like pneumonia.
