Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / John F. Smith / A series of experiments was developed to investigate how Korral Kool® (KK) systems
work in arid climates to prevent heat stress on dairy cows. These experiments were conducted
during summer on a commercial dairy farm in eastern Saudi Arabia. In the first experiment, the
core body temperatures (CBT) of 63 multiparous cows were evaluated when KK were operated
for 18, 21 and 24h/d. Animals were housed in 9 different pens, which were randomly assigned to
treatment sequence in a 3x3 Latin square design. In the second experiment, 21 multiparous and
21 primiparous cows were housed in 6 different pens, which were randomly assigned to
sequence of treatments (KK operated for 21 or 24h/d) in a switchback design. In the third
experiment, 7 primiparous and 6 multiparous lactating cows were assigned to one of two pens,
which were randomly assigned to treatment sequence in a switchback design. Treatments in the
third experiment were KK used with or without feedline soakers 24h/d. In the fourth experiment,
20 multiparous cows were randomly assigned to one of two pens, which were randomly assigned
to treatment sequence in a switchback design. Treatments in this experiment were KK operated
for 24h/d while feedline soakers were operated for 12h/d. In the fifth experiment, 2 different
sizes of KK were compared (BIG and SMALL); 48 multiparous cows were randomly assigned to
8 pens and pens were randomly assigned to sequence of treatments (KK were operated for 21 or
24h/d) in a switchback design. Results demonstrated that for multiparous cows in desert climate
conditions, it is advisable to operate KK systems continuously regardless of the size of KK
system used, whereas KK operating time could potentially be reduced from 24 to 21h for
primiparous cows. Reducing operation time should be done carefully, however, because CBT
was elevated in all treatments. Feedline soakers complementing KK systems decreased the CBT
of dairy cows housed in desert environments. However, the combined systems were not adequate
to lower CBT to normal temperatures in this extreme environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/2293 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Ortiz de Janon, Xavier Alejandro |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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