When you drive through Wisconsin today, the view is a little bit different than it was 50 years ago. Sure, you still see the iconic red barns dotting the landscape, but you also see a lot more of a different kind of barn – a freestall barn.
There are people who have dedicated their lives to studying the best, most comfortable freestall barn designs for cows. The freestall barns we have on the farm are tunnel-ventilated. Instead of walls on the sides, there are curtains. On one end of the barn, there is a wall of fans. The curtains are adjusted for maximum ventilation and airflow throughout the year.
Curtains fully opened on the left, and closed on the right.
At this time of year, the curtains are actually up, not down as you would think they’d be. With the curtains closed, we can control the maximum amount of air exchange and cooling in the freestall barn. It’s just like having air conditioning in the barn for the cows. Our goal is to get from seven to nine MPH of wind or breeze through the barn to cool the cows. Hopefully, the inside temperature of the barn is a minimum of ten to twelve degrees cooler than the outside of the barn.
The “wall of fans”
Inside the freestall barns, the cows are able to move around as they’d like, always having food in front of them. We do everything we can to make sure the cows are comfortable.
Freestall barns are the cows’ shelter, their shade, their protection, their home.
The cows’ view of the “wall of fans.”