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

[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??

 

[TAH]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Support]

Great discussion guys!

 

[June2012]

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?

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.