How to spoil a perfectly good cow

[SSDreamin]

Anybody that knows me, knows I spoil my animals rotten. I have been told countless times that I should put my chickens in the house and live in their coop, because it's nicer ( ), so I decided to go the extra mile for my little princess today, Ice Cream. It hit 97 degrees here today - third day in a row of muggy hotness. Since I was in town anyway, I bought my little girl her very own fan I rigged it up in the corner of her hutch, and she is standing out there, slowly mooooving ( ) her head back and forth, sucking up on the air! (My chicken ladies already have their own fan) Ok, I admit I also put ice cubes in her water. Too much?! Wish I could get this computer to upload photos, cuz she looks just way too cute out there!

 

[the funny farm6]

Not spoiled at all!

 

[terri9630]

All our animals have fans. Its just to hot for some to not have them.


Dumb auto correct program.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

I am not familiar with large livestock, and I've only had chickens for just over a year. But this heat and humidity is crazy. If an animal can't sweat, what do you do?

I had my husband cut the window that was supposed to be out put in when we first did the coop. Now there are openings on all 4 sides, instead of just 3 with the open front (I have a woods open front coop with an extra window in the back of the house).

I fill 20 oz. water bottles 3/4 full and freeze them. I give cold water every morning. When its hot I change their water in the afternoon to give them fresh cool water, I put the frozen bottles in there. When they're melted I pat them dry and throw them back in the freezer for the next day. I don't have a fan, but there's good airflow so I feel it's enough.

I don't know if I'm spoiling them or being a worry wart, but id rather do that than have dead birds. I don't heat my coop in winter, though.

Good luck with the heat. It was 95 with high humidity here too. In JUNE.

 

[hqueen13]

I know it is safe for horses, but I am not sure about other animals/livestock, but you can put good quality peppermint essential oil into water, and also spritz horses with it, and it helps keep them cool. If you offer it in water, just be sure to offer both plain water and peppermint water so they can make the choice as to what they wish to drink.

 

[SSDreamin]

I know it is safe for horses, but I am not sure about other animals/livestock, but you can put good quality peppermint essential oil into water, and also spritz horses with it, and it helps keep them cool. If you offer it in water, just be sure to offer both plain water and peppermint water so they can make the choice as to what they wish to drink.

Thanks! I'm going to do some checking on this for cows! I've been giving her cool water baths the past two days, but it seems to make her hotter in the long run :/ Spritzing her with peppermint oil (by itself, or mixed with water? Ratio?) sounds so much better for her

 

[Denim Deb]

When you give her baths, do you scrape the water off, or just let it sit? If you're just letting it sit, it can make them hotter. The water (at least w/a horse) can more or less act like a wet suit and keep the heat in.

 

[hqueen13]

I was going to say what Deb said - it is important to scrape the water off that is trapped in the hair, otherwise, the sun heats the water, and it sits there on their skin hotter. Sweat scrapers are cheap, you can really just use your hand, or the edge of something that isn't too sharp.

I would dilute it with water, depending on the size of your water bottle I'd probably only put one or two drops in, shake good, and then spritz. Always shake, of course, to keep the oil in the water as much as possible. Test it on yourself first and see how it feels. Just be sure that you're using high quality oils. Often times oils that can be found at the health stores have a lot of carrier oil in them and very little actual essential oils. Check the labels and do your research. I only use therapeutic grade essential oils as I ingest them and use them on my skin.

 

[SSDreamin]

You ladies are so SU-per smart! That would explain why she started out happy then looked miserable!

I looked up peppermint oil/cows. It said you could feed it to them (a teaspoon mixed with mineral oil) for trapped gas/bloating, but nothing about applying it topically :/ Did find lots of uses for it for human's though!

 

[hqueen13]

SS, I'd say if its ok internally it is probably ok for her skin in small amounts. I wouldn't put massive quantities on neat (as in straight out of the bottle, full strength), but its probably ok misted on her. Start small and go from there. It sounds like you know her "happy look" versus her "not happy" look, so use that as your guide.

Yes, that is probably why she didn't look so happy any more. When I rinse my horse off I will frequently slick all the water off and then let him dry for a little bit before taking him to the sand arena to roll. I figure he's going to do it anyway, and I might as well allow him to do it in clean "dirt" and offer him the protection from the bugs and things. The dirt can also help shield their skin from the sun. (course too much dirt in horse's skin can also be bad...) Dunno if cows like dirt or not, but if she does, I'd allow her to be dirty!

Also a word of caution about essential oils (or all oils really): If for some reason you get too much on her or on yourself somewhere you don't want it, use OIL to take it off, not water. Grab whatever oil you have handy, olive oil, vegetable oil, etc, and use that to get it off. The oils will bind together to sooth the issue, where as if you put water on it, it will only emulsify the oil on whatever you already don't want it on, and make it worse.