Dairy Cow Cooling Paper Study

Identify opportunities for energy efficiency in dairy farms. The focus is on alternative methods to fans and soakers to cool dairy cows. Cooling technologies investigated will include hydronic heat exchangers embedded beneath free stall beds and water source heat pumps. Other areas to be investigated for energy efficiency opportunities include lighting, milk cooling, and milk harvesting. Economic impact of electricity and water consumption will be considered.

The purpose of this white paper is to provide a more thorough understanding of dairy operations, especially the overall electricity consumption by the dairy farm. The applications that use electricity on a dairy farm are lighting, electric water heating, ventilation, milk cooling, milk harvesting, as well as other applications. This paper identifies various literature surveys from the World Dairy Exposition (October 2012) that detail the share of electricity used by each of the categories; ways to improve the efficiency of operations using energy efficiency technologies also have been identified. Further, a review of water usage on dairy farms is included in this paper. Generally, milk production is reduced in summer months due to heat stress experienced by the dairy cows. The variation in milk production during summer and winter months is explained in this paper. Another area for new learning comes from the evaluation of alternative cow cooling methods such as ground source heat pumps (GSHP). Current cooling methods employed on dairy farms as well as some emerging cooling methods are described in detail in this white paper. Apart from cooling, there are other electrotechnologies that can help in the efficient operation of dairy farms. They are also listed and described in detail in this white paper. Finally, a market analysis section that discusses the financial state of the dairy farms across the nation is included.