- Published
Dairy farmers are installing "cow showers" and giant cooling fans as hotter, drier summers become more common and an official drought has been declared.
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drought → publish → showers
Extreme heat has cut milk production by up to 20% and farmers are spending thousands of pounds to keep their cattle cool and protect milk yields.
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farmers → cut → yields
Sarah Godwin's family have invested £15,000 in a ventilation and sprinkler system at their farm near Chippenham, Wiltshire, to help their animals cope with the "nearly continuous heatwave we are living through".
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we → invest → heatwave
Professor Nicola Cannon from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester says drought-hit grassland is also forcing many farmers to use winter feed earlier than planned.
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grassland → say → feed
On a dairy farm near Swindon, Sam Woolford presses a switch on the wall of the milking parlour and 10 industrial-scale fans whirr into life.
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fans → press → life
"It's like a wind tunnel in here," he says.
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he → say → tunnel
It blows my hair back, like I'm riding a motorbike at speed.
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I → blow → speed
The cows like it too, it seems, and crucially, they linger in the milking parlour, clearly cool and relaxed.
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they → like → parlour
The system helps keep cattle comfortable during hot weather, but farmers say it cannot eliminate all of the effects of prolonged heat.
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it → help → heat
"Milk production is down by 20%," Prof Cannon says.
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Cannon → say → %
She explains that "cows feel stressed just as humans feel stressed when it's really hot and, as a response to that, their milk productivity goes down.
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productivity → explain → that
"So farmers are trying to help their cows, by putting in big fans, or sprinkler systems, to just try and cool animals down.
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farmers → try → animals
"
No grass in the pasture
Experts say prolonged dry weather is now becoming a regular challenge for dairy farms, leaving grass scorched, cattle heat-stressed and farmers relying on winter feed months earlier than planned.
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farmers → say → feed
"What we used to think of as extreme weather, we increasingly consider as normal." says Mike Kendon, a climate scientist at the Met Office., external
In Somerset, farmers have described this as the worst drought in 50 years, leaving crops struggling.
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farmers → use → crops
"Look at this stemmy nonsense," says Woolford, holding a bunch of thin grass towards me.
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Woolford → look → me
"There's no leaf to it, they don't get any nutritional quality from this rubbish."
His family have farmed dairy cows just outside Swindon for five generations.
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family → be → generations
They have seen hot summers and wet ones, but now Woolford, aged 20, and his dad and grandad have noticed a permanent change in the weather.
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Woolford → see → weather
"We're praying it's not going to become the new norm," he says.
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he → pray → ?
"But it looks like it will recur.
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it → look → ?
The cows don't enjoy it, we're down on milk production by 20%, we just need some rain for the grass."
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we → enjoy → grass
"Basically, soils are parched," explains Prof Cannon.
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Cannon → parch → ?
We call that 'permanent wilting point'.
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We → call → that
Grass can't rebound after grazing, or after cutting for hay or silage.
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Grass → rebound → hay
"
Woolford's cows still come out into the fields in the morning, but by midday they are back in the barns, sheltering from the sun and eating feedstocks that should have been saved for the winter.
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that → come → winter
Down the road near Chippenham, Godwin's family have gone a step further, installing a network of what they call 'cow showers'- sprinklers that douse the cattle with cool water.
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that → go → water
"Farming has got very hard recently," Godwin says.
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Godwin → get → ?
"It seems like one long heatwave this summer."
The whole system cost £15,000 and "a lot of elbow grease and hard work" to install but it is not unique.
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it → seem → grease
Even ice cream producers are having a tough time.
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producers → have → time
Just north of Bath, Marshfield Farm churns out some of the West Country's best-known ice creams using milk from its own herd.
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Farm → churn → herd
Rory Hawkins helps manage the herd that produces all the milk.
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that → help → milk
"The summers are getting hotter, which is great for the ice cream sales," he explains.
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he → get → sales
"But it affects the cows with heat stress, and we lose a lot of milk through the hotter summers now."
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we → affect → summers
Hawkins, 27, is one of three children working in the family business.
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Hawkins → work → business
Speaking to him and Woolford, aged just 20, I wonder why they would commit to a life in dairy farming.
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they → speak → farming
All the Met Office experts agree that these hot summers will be more common, grass will be harder to grow, cows will need cooling down.
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cows → agree → ?
"I love working outside, helping look after the animals," Hawkins says.
"Weather is changing, but we just have to crack on with it."
Woolford agrees it is the "variety" of farm work that keeps him interested.
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that → work → him
On his farm, I also meet Lara Browne, whose family run a farm near Trowbridge.
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family → meet → Trowbridge
"You just have to make the best of the situation, and make your farm as resilient as you can," she says.
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she → have → situation
While many in their 20s often worry about the changing climate, these young farmers seem determined just to change the way they farm, and get on with it.
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they → worry → it
"I've not got any kids," Browne says, "but I feel like I'm already farming for the next generation."
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I → get → generation
