# Official Poll: How do you keep your HERDS cool this summer?



## Support

The summer season has arrived and we surely welcomed it with a bang! However, no matter how much we love the sun, there will be days that it's going to be really, really hot and humid outside. So what do we do? We lock ourselves inside our house and cool down with our fans and air conditioners. Lucky, yeah?

But, how about our BackYard Herds? How do you keep them cool during summer time?

If your answer is not listed below, please choose 'Others" and discuss it below.


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## cjc

We always provide lots of water and lots of shade. No animal is the pasture without a shelter. Being in Canada our hot is not nearly what some of you face in terms of hot. Last year we had a huge heat wave which actually caused one of my calves to die. Mind you, she was sick but after the heat wave I could not keep her temperature down for the life of me. This year, all sick calves are moved to the barn. It's cool in there and we are not going to risk any sick ones in the field this year.


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## Alexz7272

Shade/shelter and water are also what we focus on during the summer!


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## goats&moregoats

Water, shade & shelter are the number one priorities. I also add a small pool for the pups to wade in if they want to. The older dog does not choose this option. I also include moving them around in the early morning or late evening for any additional things that need to be done. Such as hoof trimming and that is done under shade/shelter as well.


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## norseofcourse

It only let me give one answer, but I do at least three of those.

They have plenty of shade, and even though I want to clear the pasture so there's more and better grazing, I will still leave trees for shade (and food).

I check water more often, the weather has a big effect on how much they drink.

I try and do stressful things when it's cooler, whether that's morning or evening or just a cooler day.

Some of the sheep hadn't shed their wool yet, so I got that off of them.  I still need to get some belly wool off.


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## Baymule

This poll needs to be able to have more than one answer! I provide water, we have lots of trees for shade. I give the chickens a tub to wade in and they love it. I spray the horses down with the water hose. I have plucked the wool off the ewes, the lambs are still wooly and it won't come off. If I have anything to do with the animals, I do it in the early mornings or evenings.


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## MrsKuhn

I agree, this poll should have more than one answer allowed because I do more than just one thing to help my animals. 

For my goats, I provide shade and fresh clean cool drinking water. I freeze gallon jugs to put in there water on really hot humid days. 

For my chickens, I also freeze water bottles to put in their water and check it durning the day because they will be more apt to drink cold over warm water. I provide shade and dusting areas for them, as well as frozen treats on really hot days.


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## TAH

MrsKuhn said:


> I agree, this poll should have more than one answer allowed because I do more than just one thing to help my animals.


x2 

I chop-up a bunch of veggies and fruits that goats like and then put them in containers and freeze them animals love it. Also freeze water bottles. Spray them with a hose every now and then. Lots of shade.


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## misfitmorgan

We do shade, lots of fresh water, clean fresh cool water for the ducks, all activity including grain and milking is done at evening/night.

We also hose down the middle cement slab in the barn where the big livestock doors are so the wind blows in and creates a swamp cooler effect, the livestock love it and an added benefit is it makes a wallow for the pigs from the drains and sometimes in the drains the buggers.

Sheep were sheared already, goats will be shaved this week i hope.


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## parson45

It was hard to pick. Like other posters, I do more than one. I have a solar well that constantly provides cool water and 26 acres of woods for shade. The shelters are much too hot right now.


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## June2012

I've always read that sand is a great bedding to cool down animals... How come no one does this? Or am I missing something here??


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## TAH

@Baymule I used it on my chickens. I haven't tried it for goats of sheep.


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## June2012

For your chickens, did you find a significant difference? I like to think it wold keep animals cool, but living close to the beach, the sand is extremely hot to the touch barefoot.


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## TAH

We kept it pretty damp and they would lay in it for hours. It also works well for dust baths. I noticed a pretty big difference there egg laying and they were happier in the hotness.


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## babsbag

I have a sprinkler on a timer that comes on for one minute every hour. It just keeps the ground damp and the goats and dogs love it. Also we have a lot of trees for shade. The chickens and ducks have a pond. All the waterers are auto fill as well.


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## Support

Great discussion guys!


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## June2012

TAH said:


> We kept it pretty damp and they would lay in it for hours. It also works well for dust baths. I noticed a pretty big difference there egg laying and they were happier in the hotness.



From sand? Wow! How do you keep it damp? By auto sprinklers or do you mist it here and there a few times a day?


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## Baymule

We had a screened in porch added to our home, 12' wide and 54' long. It is so hot, we can't use it during the day even with the 4 ceiling fans going. But the chickens love it! They hide under it during the day like the dogs do.


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## Southern by choice

Change the water a bajillion times a day... you know... so we get hot so they don't 
Fans
Open up the walls of the barn for more airflow
Adjust diet
Shave our goats down
Put ceramic tiles (the kind for kitchen floors) in the deep freeze and take them out for the bunnies to rest on... also water bottles frozen for the bunnies, and a fan for the bunnies.


Wow. Just realized Bunnies are work. LOL 

The dogs go under the walkway and dig into the grit. They stay pretty cool this way.


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## rude_mare

I do any stock work like worming or trimming in the evening.  Every waterer gets dumped out and scrubbed at noon and topped that evening and the next morning.  With the high heat we have been having the water gets scummy fast.  The rabbits have a fan and frozen water bottles, the chickens have a fan and big blocks of ice.  The pigs have a small wallow the old water gets dumped into - it dries out overnight. The horses and goats have misters.  The horses would stand in it all day if I left in on.  I have never met a goat that liked getting wet, but I run their mister for a few minutes and turn it off, and they lay down where the dirt gets damp.  Everyone has plenty of shade as well.


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## promiseacres

Bunnies all get a icebottle in their cages when it's 80 degrees or higher. Also add water checks at noon and 10 pm. (Yes out there 4  times!!)


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## greybeard

i don't do anything different in july or august from what i do any other time of year. I raise only  heat tolerant breeds.


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## lcertuche

Living out of town and away from so much concrete/cement is cooler to begin with. My chickens free range so they find cooler places to hang out. They also will stand in a large water dish. I have frozen tomatoes that I give them everyday its hot.


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## DutchBunny03

I refill the rabbit's water crocks twice a day, put up a shade barrier, and put frozen water bottles in the hutches for the rabbits to lay next to.


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## Legamin

With sheep there are things that work to cool or warm but it upsets their delicate internal balance.  With the fans we installed a misting system.  Both systems (along with graduated daylight lighting that rises and lowers in intensity depending on humidity and heat) we set the entire system on wind speed, thermometer and hygrometer sensors (spaced every 12 feet from the last sensor in all directions). This means that if it is very hot but very dry and breezy we may mist but no fans…risk of chill… If hot and humid, fans only and lowered lights for calm and cool.  There are thousands of preprogrammed combinations designed to effect the breed need specifically and these change during breeding, season, angle of the sun, time of day etc. etc.  on pasture we set up mobile comfort stations with shade screens, fresh water, mist and fan and motion sensor lights that intensify if motion is outside the fence.  The changing light alerts the flock and guardian dog to coyote presence and motion sensors trigger the electric perimeter.  Less stress is always better and it is different for every breed…


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